Modes of Persuasion for Women in English and Arabic Advertisements

Abstract

This paper aims at exploring the different modes of persuasion used in English and Arabic advertisements that mainly address women. The research adopted a qualitative research design with the content analysis approach to prepare a study based on the modes like rhetoric, discourse analysis and persuasion strategies. The study hypothesized that language is a common factor and the content depends much upon the choice of words and phrases and their meaning. A total of fifty magazine advertisements (25 Arabic and 25 English) were randomly selected from different Arabic and English magazines which were published between the periods of September 2019 and March 2020. Findings The analysis suggests that both groups of magazine advertisements employed several modes of persuasion that prompt women to purchase their products and brands. With regards to Aristotle’s modes of persuasion of ethos, pathos and logos, it was found that both English and Arabic ads used them most creatively to address the women products. The study implies that any rational mode that uses rhetoric or persuasive strategies depends on providing scientific arguments and statistical information. It also implies that persuasive strategies can be applied to women products within the social and cultural limitations by making use of lexical and figurative aspects of a language.