Visual Argumentation in Scandinavian Political Advertising: A Cognitive, Contextual, and Reception Oriented Approach

Abstract

In a Danish election campaign in 2001, the party Venstre published an advertisement whose visual argumentation caused offence and debate. But what exactly was the argument? And how do we best locate such visual arguments? This essay argues for a cognitive, contextual, and reception oriented approach to visual argumentation. It illustrates such an approach by briefly analyzing the context and rhetorical potential of the advertisement and by establishing which arguments the public actually reconstructed from this advertisement.