Role of Animal Metaphors in Indian Advertisements
byMeraj Ahmed,
Dept. of Asian Languages and Literatures
Date: Wednesday, May 2, 2018Time: 3:30 PMPlace: 537 Heller HallSeries: South Asia Seminar Series
Abstract:
Metaphors are concerned with making a connection between the two things. The literal meaning of the expression carries an abstract identification or a quality which gets connected to concrete entity which has a physical existence in the world. One such connection is done between the nature and us with the help of animal metaphors. Animals always have a huge impact in the South Asian literary culture as well as the communicative pattern of South Asia. From the stories of Panchatantra to daily communicate discourse, we see the how animals are metaphorically used to communicate information. One domain that has been untouched from a linguistic study is the use of animal metaphors in the Indian Advertisements. When we talk about animal metaphor, questions comes in the mind; Why animal metaphor for advertisements? At a cognitive level what are the cultural impacts behind the use of animals to relay information and at the same time appeal to consumer. The work will talk about how in the Indian advertisements we have different segment for different animals which conceptualizes their cultural identity. As the CMT argues about literal and metaphorical concepts being culturally motivated, taglines in Indian advertisements like “No Ullu Banaying” (Don’t make a fool of us) map the idea of being fool or stupid from the cultural and literary ideas of Owl being a stupid bird. This paper will attempt to study the role of animal metaphors with relation to the Indian advertisement with the help of the concepts of Conceptual Metaphorical Theory (CMT).
Bio:
Metaphors are concerned with making a connection between the two things. The literal meaning of the expression carries an abstract identification or a quality which gets connected to concrete entity which has a physical existence in the world. One such connection is done between the nature and us with the help of animal metaphors. Animals always have a huge impact in the South Asian literary culture as well as the communicative pattern of South Asia. From the stories of Panchatantra to daily communicate discourse, we see the how animals are metaphorically used to communicate information. One domain that has been untouched from a linguistic study is the use of animal metaphors in the Indian Advertisements. When we talk about animal metaphor, questions comes in the mind; Why animal metaphor for advertisements? At a cognitive level what are the cultural impacts behind the use of animals to relay information and at the same time appeal to consumer. The work will talk about how in the Indian advertisements we have different segment for different animals which conceptualizes their cultural identity. As the CMT argues about literal and metaphorical concepts being culturally motivated, taglines in Indian advertisements like “No Ullu Banaying” (Don’t make a fool of us) map the idea of being fool or stupid from the cultural and literary ideas of Owl being a stupid bird. This paper will attempt to study the role of animal metaphors with relation to the Indian advertisement with the help of the concepts of Conceptual Metaphorical Theory (CMT).
Bio:
Dr. Meraj Ahmed received his PhD from Aligarh Muslim University. He teaches Hindi-Urdu language and literature in the Dept. of Asian Languages and Literatures at UMN.
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