Persuading with Emotional Appeal By: Alexa Ulrich

I chose an advertisement featuring celebrity actress Jessica Alba to persuade individuals to vote and “Declare Themselves”. The ad prompts an emotional connection to those viewing by emphasizing that “only you can silence yourself, make them hear you. Register to vote…”

Effectiveness To me, the strategy used is effective because where a video advertisement has more room/time to persuade emotionally, this is a print advertisement with less mobility and it is still able to move the viewer immensely. The advertisement also plays off our human desire to be independent and heard in a society dominated by the rich and powerful. It harbors emotional honesty. Voting also is a powerful subject that most people already feeling emotional ties to when the topic is brought up.

Heart Strings Pulled Words that come to mind when I am reacting to this ad are weak, strong, motivated, sad, important, and responsible. Weak/Sad: I feel weak/sad because of the caged image of Jessica Albas mouth and how that’s symbolizing how we can underestimate ourselves when it comes to being heard. Especially in politics we become almost afraid of making a statement.

Heart Strings Pulled Strong/Motivated: I feel strength and motivation because the image reminds me that I am independent apart from the general population and my opinions should matter. After initially feeling weak an emotion of anger flooded my mind that society has the control to put us in that demeaning state, and from that emotion I transitioned to the feelings of strength and motivation to NOT be a part of that category. Important/Responsible: This advertisement pushes me to want to engage more in politics. I vote anyway but I wouldn’t call myself someone who is heavily involved in Politics at all. This ad makes me want to represent myself more in that realm as well as represent those who are too fearful to take a stand themselves.

Graphic I feel that while evaluating the effectiveness of this print ad the graphic plays the largest role in reaching out to the audience. The image is polished, and edited to perfection so much so it looks like the image is popping out at you. The image of a person, more so a famous person adds a really personal feel to the overall intended message.

Bold Statement In the emotional strategy used to persuade people to vote, the bold risk taking image catches the viewers attention adding to the overall message in the organizations favor. The advertisement was relevant in representing how some people feel during elections but wont admit it. It was also rational, when you can have the balance of emotional and rational benefits it becomes much more effective. Sometimes being too bold can have adverse effects and turn on an organization or company for being too racy, or over the top. You have to constantly keep your audience in mind so you don’t offend them.

Emotions Guide Attention What we feel is important to us we naturally tend to focus our attention on. I feel this print ad exemplified the importance of voting in our society and in the most inspirational way possible. “The decision of which facts were evaluated was probably guided by how they felt about them”. (Gordon,2006) This is an important statement because it demonstrates how important emotion is when deciding on what is important and what isn't. I wanted to use the quote from Gordon’s Book because it illustrates perfectly how we guide our attention to things, ads, people, what have you that we FEEL are important.

Belief and Values Emotions are the basis for our beliefs and values in life. This advertisement is about voting which when it stands alone isn’t about emotion, but when you add the values and beliefs we all have and apply that to voting that’s when the emotional tie becomes present. When looking at this advertisement the audience is reminded of what their beliefs and values are. To elaborate a bit more. Not every day do I think about my voice in society and if I am being heard or how important voting is to me. Although, when I look at this ad I am reminded that, “Oh yeah, I value my opinion and so should “they”. The image and the emotions I felt as a result to it formulated my values.

Likeability Jessica Alba is a well known actress, and a liked one at that because she stays out of the trashy tabloids and has what seems like a loving family. Her values are in line with most others and I believe that is why she was chosen for the ad. She is relatable and people like to be able to relate to celebrities, it reminds them they are human just like us and in this case, want to be heard, just like us. People like to made decisions or buy things from people they like or look up to, if this image was just a regular person it would still be profoundly moving, but the fact that it is a likeable celebrity was a big help too.

Conclusion To sum up, this print ad communicating the message to get others out there and vote, to have their voices be heard was an inspirational image and persuaded me. All the elements of persuading by appeal were present and were formulated in such an efficient way by whoever created the advertisement. Emotions will always be powerful, like I said in my discussion post about it, Emotions are the realest part of us all.

Source Gordon, J. (2006). Presentations that change minds. New York: McGraw Hill.