PERSUASION SOCIAL INFLUENCE & COMPLIANCE GAINING Robert H. Gass & John S. Seiter
Chapter 13 Visual Persuasion
IMAGE IS EVEERYTHING We are living in an increasingly visual society As of 2018, 85% of all marketing is visual* Corporate logos and insignia Social media images; GIFs, emojis, Youtube, selfies “bad optics” in politics *http://www.toolbox-studio.com/blog/creating-visual- content-consumer-preferences-2017/
VISUAL PERSUASION HAS BEEN OVERLOOKED Persuasion’s traditional focus has been on oral and/or textual messages emphasis is on persuasion within the “world of words” the role of images in general, and art in particular, has been neglected Picture superiority effect: images are more easily recognized and recalled. Students hold a “lie in” in Washington, D.C., to protest the lack of gun control laws. Joseph Gruber / Shutterstock.com
ART AS PERSUASION Art serves more than an aesthetic or decorative function Just as “rhetoric” is more than mere eloquence Artists express their opinions in and through their work Art serves social and political ends Awareness through interpretation Awareness through participation The “Fearless Girl” statue received praise and scorn when it was installed near Wall Street. quietbits / Shutterstock.com
ART AS PERSUASION Art can promote social change by Increasing awareness of an issue Promoting central processing in interpreting the meaning of a work Graffiti art by Banksy in a West Bank village, Ryan Rodrick Beiler / Shutterstock.com
Iconicity HOW IMAGES PERSUADE Images stand for and resemble the things they represent Images can sum up a concept: the “trash can” icon on a computer silhouette of a disabled person on a restroom door Icons needn’t be accurate; they can distort, manipulate what they represent Lady Liberty stands for, or represents the USA. Steve Collender/Shutterstock.com
Indexicality HOW IMAGES PERSUADE Images, especially photographs, have a documentary quality A photo or video implies that an event took place Bigfoot photo Abu Ghraib photos JFK assassination Holocaust images “truth claim” of photography: the assumption that the camera never lies
Syntactic Indeterminacy HOW IMAGES PERSUADE Syntactic Indeterminacy Unlike language, images lack logical operators deduction cause-effect reasoning Pictures can create associations, however Associations can equate one thing with another This image equates driving a jeep with friends and fun; AlessandroBiascioli/Shutterstock.com
CINEMATIC PERSUASION Movies are influential Movies reach large numbers of people potential for mass influence Movies are told in a narrative form stories possess an aura of believability People may not expect to be persuaded during a movie “willing suspension of disbelief” Dean Drobot/Shutterstock.com
HOW MOVIES PERSUADE Viewer identification Product placement Stereotyping Social proof, modeling behavior Exporting values abroad Promoting popular culture Cultivation theory
ADVERTISING IMAGES Consumers are exposed to hundreds, if not thousands, of advertising images per day. Advertising is pervasive billboards TV commercials print ads pop-ups, banner ads Ads must stand out against the background of media clutter Superbowl ads: visual extravaganzas Shock ads: edgy, controversial Anti-ads: satirize traditional advertising
IMAGE ORIENTED ADVERTISING Common themes Social status and elitism Cause-related Power, speed, strength Youth culture Safety, security Sense of place, belonging, nostalgia
PHOTOJOURNALISM AND PERSUASION Photographs tell visual stories Photographic evidence is powerful, convincing Photos sum up social controversies Photographs can evoke emotions anger, compassion, fear, pity Joseph Sohm / Shutterstock.com; Kim Kelley-Wagner / Shutterstock.com
PHOTOJOURNALISM AND PERSUASION--continued Photographs are not objective representations of reality Photos can be altered, manipulated Photographers have a major say What to shoot, angle, lighting, zoom, focal point, which pictures to develop, how to edit, etc. Seeing is not believing Photo before and after retouching, goldeneden/Shutterstock.com