“Sustainable development”; in visual imagery: Rhetorical function in the Jeep Cherokee

The United Nations discourse of sustainable development attempts to “balance”; development motives with environmental awareness. This “balancing act”; weighs “development”; motives more than “sustainable”; motives because it focuses on human protection and comfort. In this essay, I interpret the UN discourse of sustainable development as promoting protection and comfort human development themes. These themes are extremely visual. Using Foss's concept of rhetorical function in visual imagery, I argue that the images of nature and technology found in advertisements for the Jeep Cherokee, function as a visual metaphor for the UN discourse of sustainable development.

Key concepts:

• sustainable development
• rhetorical function
• visual imagery