The survival and evolution of commonplaces and values of argumentation in graphic advertising

Abstract

Drawing on both classical and contemporary sources of rhetoric, advertising and design, together with an qualitative analysis of examples, descriptions are offered of the types and characteristics of the most important commonplaces (or topoi), whether conceived of as containers of arguments or as stereotypes. The future possibility of specific research into visual topos is also proposed. The study confirms the importance of the hierarchical organization and variability of values based on their context: depending on the subject, the potential addressees and social groups, as well as their evolution with society itself. The traditional advertising promise of profit connects with values in their argumentative role and has seen an evolution from the rational argument that was privileged in advertising in the mid-twentieth century towards the idea of personal connection with the brand, through emotional, sensory or aesthetic experience. It is precisely these experiences that are the effects sought by graphic or rhetorical strategies, revealing the need for argumentation to be creative, as well as the inseparable relationship between argumentation (inventio) and verbal and visual expression (elocutio). Keywords: