THE DIGITAL SHIFT IN PERSUASION: A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF MOVES AND PERSUASION STRATEGIES IN TRADITIONAL AND MODERN ADVERTISEMENTS

Abstract

In the evolving digital marketing era, advertising also advances from mono-modal ( language) to multi-modal ways of persuasion. This digital shift plays a significant role in capturing the attention of consumers. To explore the transformation in persuasion, the study presents a comparative analysis of traditional and modern advertisements. The main focus of this study is to analyze the changes in moves, rhetorical strategies, and semiotic modes in traditional and modern advertisements. The study employs Hoey's SPRE(Situation-Problem-Response-Evaluation) model and Bateman's GeM model( Genre and multimodality). Hoey's SPRE model is used to analyze moves and patterns in advertisements. Bateman's model of multimodal genre analysis focuses on the rhetorical strategies and semiotic modes present in the advertisements. The data includes three categories of advertisements: Cleaning, Food, and Beauty products. Twelve television ads are taken as traditional advertisements, and Twelve Instagram ads are as modern advertisements. Findings show that in both types of advertisements, the focus is to influence the consumers and persuade them to purchase. However, there are observable differences in their ways of presentation and promotion of the products. The study is significant in the area of Genre and Multimodal Analysis as it provides insights into the application of GeM and SPRE frameworks in the traditional and digital real-world texts. It also provides insights into the digital shift in persuasion in advertising.