Moc rozdźwięku, antonimii i kontrastu, czyli różne oblicza odwrotności znaczeniowej w multimodalnych komunikatach reklamowych

This paper focuses on contrast, dissonance, and shock in the realm of multimodal advertising messages, on a binary opposition in terms of both the visual and the textual in the discourse of advertising. It provides an overall description of the phenomenon of contrast in marketing communication, regarded from various standpoints. The analysis of a representative sample of Polish, English, and French press ads shows the way advertisers juxtapose apparently dissonant verbal or pictorial elements to create new meaningful harmonies and capture consumers’ attention so as to induce them to buy what is advertised. It is argued that the application of contrastive elements is high in significance, creativity, and appeal, as well as that it may seem even more persuasive when one considers relatively short processing time required to grasp the idea behind the process of contrasting selected pairs of related terms or images opposite in meaning. The examination conducted serves as clear evidence that contrast may be perceived as a basic system for making evaluative judgements and as a vehicle for readily understood shortcuts to symbolic, culturally anchored meanings.