Associations between multimodal metaphor functions and signals in Chinese video ads

Most existing studies analyze the manifestation and functions of metaphors in multimodal video advertisements from a qualitative perspective, focusing on the content of selected examples and leaving potentially generalizable structural traits underexplored. Addressing this issue contributes to the systematic and empirical development of multimodal metaphor studies. This study demonstrates how quantitative analyses can provide insights into the structural traits of metaphors in video ads by examining the associations among metaphor signals, functions, and product types in 197 metaphors from 66 metaphorical Chinese video ads. Reliable procedures for identifying metaphors and coding functions and signals were applied. Results from a set of categorical data analytics showed i) a significant association between metaphor functions and product type, ii) a significant association between metaphor functions and signals, and iii) a non-significant association between product types and signals. This provides empirical evidence for stable structural traits across large metaphor samples.