Assessing the Nuance Gap: A
Comparative Analysis of Gemini AI and Human Expertise in
Interpreting Commercial Slogans Across Industries
Kang Che Chang
ABSTRACT
Commercial slogans serve as compact rhetorical
artefacts that convey brand identity, persuasive intent, and
culturally embedded meanings across industries. As large language
models (LLMs) become increasingly integrated into advertising
discourse analysis, important questions arise regarding their
ability to interpret not only linguistic and persuasive features but
also deeper cultural implications. This study examines Gemini 3’s
analytical performance on 30 globally recognised commercial slogans
drawn from multiple sectors and compares its interpretations with
those of a human expert. The analysis reveals that Gemini
consistently identifies explicit linguistic strategies—such as
imperatives, ellipsis, and evaluative phrasing—and recognises common
persuasive techniques including emotional appeals and rational
positioning. However, the model demonstrates clear limitations in
detecting culturally grounded symbolism, historical references, and
socio-ideological subtexts that frequently inform slogan meaning.
Human interpretation, in contrast, provides substantially richer
contextualisation but requires markedly greater time and cognitive
effort. In response to these complementary strengths and weaknesses,
the study proposes a hybrid interpretive framework that integrates
AI-driven efficiency with human cultural and rhetorical depth. The
findings offer methodological insights for advertising scholars,
branding practitioners, and AI developers seeking more culturally
attuned and rhetorically robust approaches to slogan analysis.
Keywords: Commercial slogans, Linguistic strategies, Persuasive
techniques, Cultural interpretation, large language models (LLMs),
Human–AI comparative analysis.
