A Comparative Study On Persuasive Strategies Between Chinese And American Automobile Commercial Advertisements

The automobile manufacturing industry is one of the symbols of national economic strength.As a common means of publicity for automobile manufacturers,automobile commercial advertisements have attracted more and more attention.Aristotle's rhetorical theory centers on persuasion as its theory,and it has become the theoretical basis for many discourse researches;however,the research on automobile commercial advertising discourse based on Aristotle's rhetorical theory is still rare.The thesis takes the Chinese and American automobile commercials released in 2018 and 2019 as the research objects and employs Aristotle's three rhetorical appeals as the theoretical basis.Through the combination of qualitative and quantitative methods,the thesis compares and analyzes the similarities and differences in the use of persuasive strategies between Chinese and American automobile commercial advertisements,as well as discusses the reasons for these similarities and differences.The research shows there are many similarities and differences in the use of persuasive strategies between Chinese and American automobile commercial advertisements.The similarities are as follows: in the overall persuasive strategies,Chinese and American automobile commercial advertisements frequently use the three persuasive strategies to persuade the target audience,and the rational persuasive strategies have been the most widely used in Chinese and American automobile commercial advertisements,followed by the emotional persuasive strategies and the moral persuasive strategies;in the specific strategies,the similarities are showed in the following two aspects: first,scientific and technological terms are most used in the rational persuasive strategies;second,the authority strategies are the least used in the moral persuasive strategies.The reasons for these similarities are determined by the similarities of the target audience in China and America and the characteristics of automobiles.The differences are as follows: in the overall persuasive strategies,Chinese automobile commercial advertisements are inclined to use the emotional persuasive strategies,while American automobile commercial advertisements are inclined to use the rational persuasive strategies and the moral persuasive strategies;in the specific persuasive strategies,the differences are showed in the following three aspects: first,Chinese automobile commercial advertisements tend to use cause and effect language as well as progressively related information,while American automobile commercial advertisements tend to use numericalfigures,scientific and technical terms as well as logical and complex sentences;second,Chinese automobile commercial advertisements frequently use the lyrical prose and the poetic language,while American automobile commercial advertisements use emotional words,rhetorical questions and exaggerating the effect of products to arouse the audience's emotion;third,Chinese automobile commercial advertisements use the celebrity strategy more,while American automobile commercial advertisements use the ordinary people strategy more.The differences are mainly caused by the different educational ideas,thinking models,context cultures,and the advertising development rates between China and America.It is hoped that the research will supplement and expand the application of Aristotle's rhetoric theory in advertising analysis and provide a new perspective for the analysis of similar discourses.