Visual Argumentation in Commercials: the Tulip Test1

Abstract

Argumentation theory used to be concerned exclusively with verbal arguments, but in recent years visual argumentation has become a new field of study. After explaining why the notion of visual argument makes sense, we will explore how visual arguments can be reconstructed and compare this with the reconstruction of verbal arguments. We will argue that the reconstruction of visual argumentation follows broadly the same method as that of verbal argumentation. Finally we are going to show how the steps of reconstruction look like in practice by analyzing the visual arguments presented in a commercial for a Dove cosmetic product.