Cultural Differences? Visual Metaphor in Advertising: Comprehension and Tolerance of Ambiguity in Four European Countries

Not all types of visual metaphors are equally easy to understand. As can be seen in Figures 1 to 3, all ads make use of the same visual metaphor, which suggests that the exclusivity of a pearl is similar to the exclusive taste of the depicted chocolate. However, whereas Figure 1 visually juxtaposes the source (pearl) to the target (chocolate), and Figure 2 combines the target and the source in one pictorial element, Figure 3 only visualizes the source (and leaves the representation of the target to the imagination of the receiver).