Exploring Visual Argument from Latent Authority in Short Video Advertising

Visual argumentation has attracted the attention of argumentation theorists for several decades, with research focus evolving from the legitimacy of the use of visuals in argumentation to exploring how images can function as integral parts of argumentation. Scholars (e.g., Kjeldsen 2015b, 2016) have noted that images perform dual functions in argumentation: as symbols contributing noesis and as phenomena invoking aesthesis. Building on this foundation, the present study focuses on latent images that are overlooked in current argumentation studies. It is argued that latent images are conveyed in an “expressed implicit” manner. These images not only serve as visual flags to capture the audience’s attention and harness the advantages of visual representation to deliver direct sensory stimulation, but also reshape the original structure of visual argumentation and argument schemes. Short video advertisements for financial management courses are discussed as a case study to demonstrate how one specific type of argument by latent images—visual argument from latent authority—achieves an interplay of noesis and aesthesis, thereby transforming the original argumentative structure, establishing various forms of authority, and maneuvering strategically to deliver a direct emotional impact to the audience and shift the burden of proof.