This research examines the visual metafunctions employed to construct video images in Arabic advertisements.
Additionally, it scrutinizes the accompanying verbal captions present in these visual images. The study aims to elucidate the
collaborative interplay between visual and verbal strategic choices and their collective contribution to the overall efficacy of
the video advertisements. To this end, the study analyzed 100 Arabic video ads from three telecom companies — Umniah, Orange, and
Zain — using Kress and van Leeuwen’s (2006) multimodal analysis framework and Hyland’s (2005) interactional metadiscourse. The findings reveal that advertisers
strategically position visual elements, such as focal placement, close personal distance, frontal eye-level contact, and gaze,
alongside verbal cues, including direct address pronouns, directives, interrogatives, and attitude markers, to foster viewer
engagement, establish social relationships, and convey key promotional messages effectively. The findings indicate that the
strategic positioning of visuals, combined with verbal interactional markers, significantly enhances the persuasive impact of the
ads. This research extends the existing literature by focusing specifically on Arabic-language advertisements and offering
insights into how multimodal cues collaboratively enhance persuasive communication. It also offers valuable implications for
practitioners and scholars aiming to optimize ad effectiveness across diverse linguistic and cultural contexts.
Advertising through social media platforms, such as YouTube, Instagram, and Facebook, has become increasingly popular for
promoting and selling their products and services to target audiences. Video ads are financially beneficial, as 88% of advertisers
reported satisfaction with the financial return on their video marketing (O’Neil 2018).
They have become a formidable marketing channel for generating monetary income (Al-Ali and Hamzeh
2024). Given the massive number of viewers and the time spent browsing videos, these videos need to be informative,
engaging, and visually appealing (Koh and Cui 2022) so viewers can easily choose what to
watch.
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