The journey metaphor in Huawei mobile phone commercials

This paper investigates the creative use of the structural, embodied journey metaphor within the genre of video advertising using Conceptual Metaphor Theory (CMT). Conducting a qualitative analysis of eight Huawei mobile phone commercials, I examine how multimodal resources — visual, verbal and written language, as well as music and sound — are orchestrated to construct and communicate the metaphorical narrative of using a Huawei mobile phone in terms of a journey. The analysis reveals a heavy reliance on visual elements, supported by the strategic use of sound and music, to create metaphors that communicate progress and exploration — themes central to the journey concept. This paper shows how the journey metaphor in audio-visual advertising diverges from its purely verbal varieties by drawing on medium-specific capabilities such as time and space compression, and on hyperbole. It is argued that the journey metaphor’s embodied nature and its potency in aligning the mobile phone with consumer aspirations contribute to the universal appeal and understanding of the commercials.