Retórica y Consumo. Una propuesta metodológica

Abstract

Apparently,  rhetoric and consumption are   two   remote  concepts. Nevertheless, it is  enough to  deepen a  little in each  one  of  them to   observe that  they  are   just  two   manifestations  of   a  same   activity: advertising,  whose speech   argues in  favor of  a  product  (rhetorical) in order to  promote its acquisition (consumption). The  departure point of every argumentation  is  always a  deposit of  common  places (topoi).  In advertising  happens the   same, it parts of  an  arsenal  of  accepted general  concepts. If  we  make a  study of  the   purchasing  reasons given  every day  by  advertising, that is  to  say,  of  the  topics that  are  used  in its speech,  an  x-ray of  the   mentality of  the  man of  the  street can  be  obtained. And this is  the   proposal:  to  study  the   values  of  the   consumer  society through  the   topoi used  in advertising.