Multimodal- Stylistic Representation of Comparison in Airtel Nigeria 4G Visual Commercials

Abstract

In semiotics, a code of communication which is a set of conventions used for meaning making can be spoken language, written language or an image. Modes of communication are used to accomplish a desired effect in daily social interaction. This social interaction can be found in the communication between the advertiser and the consumer, and the writer and the reader. This study analyses some of these modes used in the Airtel Nigeria 4G visual commercials and examines how the advertisers make use of the concept of the composition of elements in a multimodal text which bases on the idea that the advertisers and the viewers are abreast with what information is mutually known and understood. This view is explicitly shown in the composition of elements, words and images, combine aesthetics and persuasion through meaningful elements that form a coherent text of code-specific structures that produce meaning. The study follows the survey research design and the data is analysed following four steps of assigning incidents to frames, elaborating frames, relating themes to frames and interpreting the data as a coherent structure. The study concludes that the advertisers of Airtel Nigeria 4G visual commercials make ample use of metaphors associating 3G with negative frames and 4G with positive frames, drawing inspiration from gargets used daily by their audience. They vividly and successfully create a demarcation between 3G and 4G, persuading consumers to go for the Airtel Nigeria 4G products.