A Study Of Metaphors In The English Claims In Cosmetics Product Labels

Metaphor is a fundamental cognitive phenomenon. Seen as one of the specific techniques of human kind, it is more than a sole act of computing all possible similarities in between Domain A and Domain B. Nor should it be taken as a unidirectional working process of understanding the abstract in terms of the concrete. One of the possible explanations to the metaphorical decoding process is that the recurrent stimulation from direct/indirect experience excites the brain to an experiential storage, before the brain gets all the inputs appropriately packed, classified and suspended in its varied corresponding areas. According to Damasio (1989:194), the conjunctive neurons in such association areas capture and store the input features for later representational purpose in language, memory, and thought. In this sense, metaphor can be viewed as a cognitive device. Thus, when we attempt to decode a metaphor, we are actually asked to revise the conventional perception that treats metaphor as a pure rhetoric figure. We are also required to pay more respect to the solid foundation which in one way or another governs the mapping scope from SOURCE to TARGET. Evidence shows that the study of metaphors, identified as part of cognitive linguistics, has been employed in a vast field of investigations.According to the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act (FD&C Act), and Law Article7and Appendix List3of the ASEAN Cosmetic Directive (ACD), the scope of the expression as to the ingredients and the effect or efficacy of cosmetics shall not be put in advertisements that are likely to lead to understanding contrary to the facts in that cosmetics are defined as articles intended to be applied to the human body for cleansing, beautifying, promoting attractiveness, or altering the appearance without affecting the body’s structure or functions. Such constraint to the ad puffery inspires new research into the realization of English advertisements in their verbal forms. In current studies concerning multimodal representations of metaphor, pictorial/visual metaphors in advertising seem to be in the popular mind; yet, little has been achieved in research on metaphors in specific advertised individuals, especially on those in verbal forms. Owing to such absence, this thesis is intended to find out, within the framework of Lakoff and Johnson’s Conceptual Metaphor Theory, how ontological metaphors operate in the English product claims applied to cosmetics. Emphasis is to be given to the significance of metaphorical highlighting for certain features of the advertised products, taken into consideration the physical basis for varied mappings from SOURCE to TARGET. Conclusions are expected to be drawn from some viewing facts within the metaphor processing.Among the examined corpora, it is noted that besides some metonymies of SKIN FOR MAN and a very small amount of container metaphors, there is a number of SKIN CARE IS WAR metaphors functioning as the super-ordinate metaphors in most of the claims of cosmetics, especially in the beautifying and repairing series. Often, these three types of metaphors group in two or more to support one single product, whereas some work in solitude. It might be a key question as to which metaphor functions as the super-ordinate, because the valence of such metaphor clusters is more or less determined by the super-ordinate when the latter mainly serves to promote the prime efficacy of certain brand of goods and at the same time is constrained by some doctrines of marketing.After examining the metaphor SKIN CARE IS WAR, we conclude WAR as one of the prominent notions potentially occupying the human brain. This can be traced back to the primitive stage of life when WAR happens to be, at least apparently, the most effective solution to all difficulties. In this sense, the WAR concept can be further explored into two versions: the STRONG WAR and the WEAK WAR. Provided with more convincing evidence, this argument is likely to help us decode other viewing realities as well as cosmetic sales promotions. In addition, since WAR is strengthened in the FORCES processing, it fits into the extended comprehension of FORCES. In other words, WAR is a universal concept, regardless of contexts; and both WAR and FORCES are derived from man’s perceiving and understanding the concrete world.We found two sub-concepts of HUMAN, the concrete HUMAN and the abstract HUMAN, when we were analyzing the metonymy of SKIN FOR HUMAN within the metaphtonymic processing. The concrete HUMAN is derived from various activities necessary to life, while the abstract HUMAN is constrained by FORCE. We then classify the abstract HUMAN into three types, i.e. the feminine, the neutral and the masculine, according to the different intensities of FORCE required in maintaining different human necessities. This actually helps us understand better both SKIN and the physical foundation of HUMAN. It is also noted that there involves pair-work of THE SKIN FOR THE PERSON and SKIN CARE IS WAR in some of the claims, which is likely to change the valence of the clusters when one masculine concept overlaps the other of feminine. From the perspective of the advertiser, it might suit certain expectations of the target consumer. Such collocations are perhaps, according to some cognitive theories, the result of interaction between HUMAN and the physical world.The CONTAINER metaphors are realized in a series of trajector movements. In the metaphorical processing of THE BODY IS A CONTAINER, if we concentrate on the cognitive tracks left by the moving trajectors instead of focusing solely on the motions, we will find that under certain context, the three basic elements of the BODY CONTAINER can be directly simplified into fixity/location (for INTERIOR), content/restraint (for BOUNDARY), and orientation (for EXTERIOR). It is assumed that by simplifying these three basic elements of CONTAINER into direct trajector motions, we can easily recognize the essentials as well as their significance in further interpreting the cognitive effects of CONTAINER.Under the highlighting effects of POWER in WAR, CARE&RELIEF in HUMAN, and PROTECTION&SAFETY in CONTAINER, the metaphorical messages applied to cosmetic products guide the consumers to a better understanding of the efficacy of the captioned goods and aid their purchase decisions. Consumers’curiosity is aroused to witness the promised effect, and the latent and emerging need is elicited.In order to achieve the goals of the study, approximately230first-hand cosmetic product claims were collected from Reili (dated from2011to2013), which is considered as one of the well-published magazines of cosmetic advertising and clothes of fashion in China, and from a number of official websites of the celebrated brands of cosmetics. With the aim of revealing the importance of metaphor used in our daily life, this thesis is supposed to have fulfilled its task in testifying the viewpoint held by Lakoff and Johnson (2003:3) that metaphor is pervasive in everyday life, not just in language but in thought and action. If such study was convincing in viewing metaphor as a quick dock between the mind and the external world, these230pieces of evidence would be of certain use for further study of metaphor in advertising and for the possible solutions to those problems remained unresolved.