Are ads the poetry of the corporation?

Classical rhetoricians have traditionally used the term "figures of speech" as a general term to describe any out-of-the-ordinary variation in the meaning of a word (trope) or in the arrangement of words (scheme). Quintilian defined a figure as anything "artfully varied from common usage."

Scholars have labeled over 200 such possible variations with Greek and Latin names. But, today, except for a few terms (e.g. alliteration, assonance, rhyme) used in analyzing poetry, not much attention is given to these ways of intensifying words.

Tropes commonly seen in advertising include: simile (explicit comparison, using like or as: e.g."solid as a rock"); metaphor (implicit comparison: e.g. "a tiger in your tank": synchedoche (part stands for the whole: e.g. "wheels" for car); metonymy (related attributes: e.g. "bench" for judges; "Wall Street"): periphrasis (descriptive phrase instead of a proper name: e.g. "the Real Thing,"): personification (giving inanimate things human qualities: e.g. "Charlie" perfume); apostrophe (direct address to an absent person: e.g. "You've come a long way, baby."); onomatopoeia (sound related: "plop, plop, fizz, fizz"): oxymoron (linking contradictories: "cool fire"); rhetorical question (indirect statement, no external response expected: "Aren't you glad you use Dial?"); irony (saying one thing, but meaning another: context cues needed); puns (witty word play on similar sounds or meanings ); litotes (understatement); and, perhaps most common in ads, hyperbole (overstatement, exaggeration).

Schemes (word order variations: i.e. adding, subtracting, repeating, rearranging elements) commonly seen in ads: parallelism and isocolon (repeating similarities); antithesis and juxtaposition (opposing ideas put close together): climax (increasing order of importance); parenthesis (inserting ideas); apposition (adding modifiers); ellipsis (omitting items); anaphora (repeating openings); epistrophe (repeating endings).

For centuries, in the distant past, poets and artists were often paid by the wealthy of church and state, thus producing a large body of religious and patriotic literature supporting and praising their patrons. So many poetic "figures of speech" (such as alliteration and rhyme in word pairs) are used today that ads can be seen as the "poetry of the corporation" and advertising copywriters can be seen as the paid poets working for their patrons.

Don't Bother

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Philosophize.
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Or just ramble on about
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Discuss, take your time.
There's no need to rush.

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And long distance calling
For one low monthy price.
So you can call anyone,
Anytime, across town or
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Full page newspaper ad, words superimposed upon
picture of cheerful young girl on cellphone. 1/21/04

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