VISUAL METAPHORS IN SOCIAL CAMPAIGNS

My study, entitled Visual metaphors in social campaigns is set out to explore the world of visual metaphors in relation with social campaigns. Starting with one of the most known theories about metaphor, my paper is willing to explore every small piece of this mechanism of thought. Considering the fact that metaphor is central to various types of communication, I want to understand more about the inner structure of metaphor in social campaigns. More specifically, I want to understand more about the way different emotions are conceptualized in this type of materials. Metaphor helps us understand abstract concepts as love, fear, freedom, death in terms of another concept. In advertising, for example, the metaphor can be an easy way to attract the target or to send a message, but we need to know how this mechanism works in order to use it properly. The main research questions are the following: what is the inner structure of metaphor and what do we need to know about it? How are visual metaphors structured in some cases of social campaigns, what particularities can we encounter in different cultures and finally how does metaphor actually become visual? Research involvesanalyzing campaigns where metaphor seems to be the main strategy to create a bond with the public and various visual creations relevant to my theme. The structure of my research is based upon the balance between theory and practical study: first part explains the structure of metaphor, main theories that explains parts of this process and then I will present relevant case studies.