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The discourse of advertising, along with its functions and structure, has been studied for many years from several points of view. Modern communication relies both on explicit messages and, more frequently, implicit messages, which can be more effective in delivering an intimate promotional essence. The germinal idea behind this paper stems from the prototype theory—formulated by Rosch (1978) and developed by a number of other scholars (e.g., Geeraerts 2006; 2016; Ross and Makin 1999; Aitchison 1994)—and, more specifically, from the prototypical paths it generates (scripts). We explore the possibility of applying scripts to advertising. Of particular interest are the effects that changes to the script produce in terms of the promotional message and consumer perception of the advertised product. The advertising sphere chosen for this study is the US mineral water market; a corpus of Instagram advertisements, retrieved from the pages of the main US producers of bottled mineral water (2,223 tokens), was selected and both their verbal and non-verbal aspects were analyzed. The results confirm our hypothesis of the presence of script change in advertising: such results offer a basis for further research to establish a predictive model for advertising communication that can be applied to various advertising channels (commercials, digital advertisements, etc.) and different products.

The contribution of this study is expressed in the following research question: is it possible to identify some implicit-explicit textual or visual elements that catalyze or distract audience attention on or from the advertised product? An analysis of a corpus of advertisements taken from the Instagram pages of the major companies operating in the US food and beverage market reveals that attracting or distracting attention on or from a product’s use or function is a frequent strategy. These elements may contribute to changing scripts in advertising and mental patterns in consumer perceptions. The items that signal the distraction or the catalyzation of consumer attention in the advertising message have been identified via the ARCO model (St.Amant forth., St.Amant 2022), based upon the concept of usability of products, which helps decode the process of recognition of a product in the consumer’s brain. Results are promising, as this theory may help advertisers make more effective moves in the dual, cooperative relationship with consumers and review promotional strategies to engage the audience in advertising communication.