“Simply Lemonade, Honestly Simple”: A Comparative Study of Persuasive Language in English and Persian TV Advertisements

Knowing that advertising discourse might vary cross-culturally, this study qualitatively investigated English and Persian TV advertisements with regard to the realization of persuasive language. The data were recorded from global TV channels for a period of one month and, following the Systemic Functional Grammar, the appraisal framework was the analytical tool grounding the data analysis. The data were categorized and then the representations of the evaluative resources via persuasive strategies were distinguished. As the findings of the study revealed, Persian TV advertisements tend to employ repetition and explanation through instances of appreciation, monoglossic positions and representations of force while English advertisements exploit more diverse strategies through different appraisal resources. Accordingly, it is argued that compared to English TV advertisements, Persian advertisements pursue a pattern in which they manifest less variety and creativity.