Visual Wine Metaphor and Metonymy in Ads

The aim of advertising is to persuade consumers to buy a product or service. A distinct feature of advertising is its reliance on pictures to achieve this aim. Many ad images encode a metaphor. In this paper we posit the view that visual metaphor relies upon perceptual similarity, conceptual similarity, or in the combination of both types. We shall examine the ways in which visual metaphors in Spanish ads for wines are construed on the basis of formal and conceptual criteria. Two issues will be addressed: (i) the representation of the target and the source; (ii) the role of visual metaphor as a persuasive strategy which enhances the appeal of wine.