Analysis of Baby-Boom Promoting Billboards in Iran
297having siblings and spending time with them in the nature, which is
motivated by the REAL (HAPPINESS AND ENTERTAINMENT) FOR UNREAL
metonymy.
Figure 9. A young family of 6 paddling a boat on their vacation.
Results
The statements of the Iranian top officials are directed to persuading
Iranian families to procreate. This major goal is pursued by simultaneous
negative evaluation of the previous family planning policy and positive
evaluation of the current plan.
Ayatollah Khamenei relies on the DISEASE metaphor to target both
couples sticking to single-child policy/advocates of family planning
(BELIEVING IN FAMILY PLANNING IS DISEASE) and the consequence of
family planning, that is, an aged society (AN AGED SOCIETY IS A DISEASED
BODY). Entailments of the conceptual mappings open up different
scenarios (Mussolf 2006). The metaphor addressing the advocates of
family planning provides the interpretation that the disease can be cured
by expanding the family size. However, in the metaphor pointing to the
results of family planning, curing is not possible and the disease is fatal,
leading to the extinction of society.
The other metaphor is ACTION IS MOTION ALONG A PATH. Different
elements of the source domain are applied to evaluate the family planning
as a method (‘if we move like this’), the amount of loss the method has
caused for the country (‘we have moved far in the danger zone’), and the
necessity of ending the plan (‘we must go back’). WATER CONSUMPTION
scenario (in the FAMILY PLANNING METHODS ARE WATER CONSUMPTION
METHODS metaphor) is another important source domain in the leader’s
statements, which highlights the appropriate (‘leaving the tap open for a
limited time’) and inappropriate (‘leaving the tap open and going away’)