Abstract
In the weeks after 9/11, businesses sought to reconnect with their clients and colleagues through ads in the New York Times, a number of which were framed as letters. Drawing on the literatures of epistolary critique, visual meaning, and rhetorical criticism, we explore the strategy of framing ads as letters. We use Peirce's typology to classify the ads into iconic, indexical or symbolic frames. Our initial assumption that more graphically iconic ads would rely less on textual metaphor and vice versa, is confirmed. Finally, we encourage the consideration of epistolary rhetoric as a critical tool of analysis.
Journal Title
Iowa Journal of Communication
Volume
35
Issue
1
First Page
1
Last Page
17
Language
en
File Format
application/pdf
Recommended Citation
Larson, Gary W. and Mullen, Lawrence J.
(2003)
"Letters to America: Dialectical Epistolarity in Post 9/11 Advertising,"
Iowa Journal of Communication: Vol. 35:
No.
1, Article 4.
Available at:
https://scholarworks.uni.edu/ijc/vol35/iss1/4
Copyright
©2003 Iowa Communication Association
