A Comparative Study of Persuasive Language in English and Persian TV Advertisements

Advertising is a channel via which the producers wish to introduce their products. Believing that the advertising discourse of two different languages might be different due to cultural variations, the present study investigated the similarities and dissimilarities between English and Persian TV advertisements with regard to the realization of the persuasive language through undertaking a qualitative research. The data were recorded from English and Persian global TV channels for a period of one month and the appraisal model (Martin White, 2005) was the analytical framework grounding the data analysis. The data were categorized and then the representations of the appraisal resources via the persuasive strategies were distinguished. As the findings of the study revealed, Persian TV advertisements tend to employ repetition and explanation through instances of appreciation, monoglossic positions and representations of force while the English advertisements exploit various persuasive strategies through all the appraisal resources. Accordingly, despite the variety and creativity noticed in English TV advertisements, Persian advertisements seem to pursue a pattern in which they manifest less variety and creativity.