Project: Images of Security and Dreams. A Historical Analysis of Argumentation in Personal Finance Advertising
This project examines the history of advertising and explores how banks over time have argued to reach individuals in poster advertising messages related to personal finance. The project takes a rhetorical holistic perspective to analyze the different expressions of advertising posters - from language and visual elements to layout - to understand how these interact and have changed over time.
Project information
Project manager
Claes Ohlsson
Participating organizations
Linnaeus University; National Library of Sweden
Financier
Ridderstads stiftelse för historisk-grafisk forskning
Timetable
1 sep 2023–30 aug 2026
Subject
Swedish (Department of Swedish, Faculty of Arts and Humanities)
More about the project
Money and advertising are both timeless topics. Managing people’s money is at the core of banking, and since the 19th century, advertising has played a key role in its growth. This project explores the patterns of argumentation in advertising messages for services like savings, loans, and insurance. Taking a rhetorical perspective, it analyzes how language, visual elements, and design work together in these ads. The goal is to advance foundational research on advertising for personal finance and to uncover how patterns in argumentation have evolved, with a particular focus on visual and aesthetic dimensions, which have often received limited attention in past studies.
The project offers insights into both the social impact of advertising and the evolution of marketing within banking and insurance sectors. The material includes Swedish and international ads, primarily posters, from the 19th century to today, gathered from archives and past research. Guiding questions include: What defines argumentation in personal finance advertising over time? Which arguments recur, and how are they expressed—through language, visuals, or overall design? How are persuasive strategies shaped by different companies and services? Are there “typical arguments” used by certain brands or for specific services like savings? Do recurring visual patterns, such as rhetorical figures or topoi, emerge across different types of ads? How have argumentation and design interacted to create more or less distinct genres within personal finance marketing for banks and insurance companies?
The project is part of the research in the Centre of Language for Specific Purposes research group.