The use of rhetorical figures in advertising and Magritte’s paintings: An analysis of its effect in short term brand recall

Abstract

Information processing and memory have an important role in stimulating, encoding and recall of advertising stimuli. Through an experimental study the present article seeks to identify the impact on short-term memory of visual rhetorical figures, comparing real advertisements and works of artist Magritte intervened and presented as branded advertisements. The hypothesis states that rhetorical figures present in advertising designs should have a greater recall effects than artistic works. The results confirm the thesis, showing that the functional use of rhetorics as planned advertising elements achieve higher a recall rate compared to its use in Magritte’s art.