Auditory arguments, advertising, and argumentation theory

Abstract In this essay, we explore the ways in which argumentation theory can be applied to multimodal advertising. In our discussion we emphasize “auditory” advertisements: advertisements that depend on non-verbal sounds. We show how key tools developed by argumentation theorists (KC tables, argument diagrams, and argument schemes) can be used to analyze and assess advertisements of this sort. Doing so demonstrates one way in which standard methods of argument analysis and evaluation can be applied to one important multimodal genre.