W ARM -UP Think about your favorite commercial and answer the following questions. 1. What company is the commercial for? 2. What is the commercial selling? 3. What makes it your favorite commercial?
A DVERTISING & P ERSUASIVE D EVICES How Are We Persuaded to Buy Things?
W HAT ARE SYNONYMS FOR THE WORD “ PERSUADE ”? Convince Influence Urge Coax Brainwash?
W HAT DO WRITERS TRY TO PERSUADE US TO DO ? Buy/not buy something Try/ not try something Go/ not go somewhere Stop/start doing something Vote for someone Step to action Believe or stop believing something Think or stop thinking a certain way
H OW ARE THINGS ADVERTISED TO US ? Commercials (TV and Radio) Print Advertisements Billboards On the sides of buses or tops of taxis Posters Can you think of any others?
1. W HAT IS B ANDWAGON ? Making it seem like EVERYONE ELSE is buying or using a product. Making you feel like you may be left out if you don’t use this product. “Everybody is doing it. You should do it too.”
E XAMPLES OF B ANDWAGON V2VJ0 &feature=related
2. W HAT IS F EAR ? Scaring you into buying into an idea or buying a product. Something bad might happen to you if you don’t buy this product.
E XAMPLES OF F EAR tch?v=cwOTJohWark tch?v=YOi5FclEh_Q&fea ture=related atch?v=cMpKDZDjBWM
3. W HAT ARE R EWARDS ? Giving you something for free if you buy a product. EX1: Buy one, get one free! EX2: Sign up for a one year gym membership and get your first three months free. EX3: If you purchase this now you will get free shipping and handling.
E XAMPLES OF REWARDS
4. W HAT IS T ESTIMONIAL ? When someone speaks about using the product. When an AD uses a quote by someone about the product. EX: “Proactive changed my life. I am more confident and happy.”
E X OF T ESTIMONIAL
5. W HAT IS T RANSFER ? Using a celebrity OR a person in power to sell something. EX1: Jennifer Hudson selling a weight loss plan. EX2: Katy Perry selling Proactive. EX3: A doctor selling cough medicine.
E XAMPLES OF TRANSFER
6. W HAT IS AN E UPHEMISM ? For Ex: “passed away” instead of “died” “correctional facility” instead of “jail” “letting someone go” instead of “firing them” A polite expression used in place of words or phrases that otherwise might be considered harsh or unpleasant to hear.
E XAMPLES OF E UPHEMISM MebjM5A
7. W HAT ARE G LITTERING GENERALITIES ? Ex: WONDERFUL OUTSTANDING FOREVER IN LOVE The use of words that contain good connotations without actually relaying any significant information.
E XAMPLES OF GLITTERING GENERALITIES v=YJ4B6MbVw9U
8. W HAT ARE L OGICAL FALLACIES ? Ex: Because of the possibility of a terrorist hijacking or a mechanical failure, flying on a plane is too dangerous and should be avoided altogether. Ex: Because of the possibility of poisoning of Halloween candy by some people who give it out to trick-or-treaters, communities should ban trick-or-treating. Definition: refers to the concept of making an error in terms of reasoning.
E XAMPLES OF L OGICAL FALLACIES FwggPsM (only show the first TWO commercial clips in this compilation)
9. W HAT IS NAME - CALLING ? Abusive or insulting language referring to a person or group, a verbal abuse. EX: Referring to a labor union supporter as anti-business EX: Calling a Policeman a Pig
E XAMPLES OF NAME - CALLING mZfR258s 8HBTABI
10. W HAT IS P LAIN - FOLKS TALK ? Plain folk propaganda tricks people into thinking that a corporation or politician is just like ordinary people. They have noble ideas and goals that will benefit your regular Joe. EX: if your local governor were to go out to a small college and talk about how he was once taking tests and exams too.
E XAMPLE OF PLAIN - FOLKS TALK 6E_fYlm54U Bpx3tV78W
W HAT IS T HE “ PROMISE ” OF AN ADVERTISEMENT ( AD )? Every time you look at an ad it is promising you something. The promise is the benefit you will get as a result of buying into what they are selling. EXAMPLES: Using this perfume will make you feel like a princess. Using this cologne will make women fall all over you. Eating this will make you thin.
W HAT IS A T ARGET AUDIENCE ? You cannot properly sell something unless you know who you want to sell it to. A target audience is the SPECIFIC group you are targeting your product/idea towards. EXAMPLES OF TARGET AUDIENCE Females between Males between Teachers Men and women senior citizens
W RITING G ROUP W ORK You will choose from 2 bags: Bag #1 = product Bag #2 = 2 persuasive devices Your Goal: Your writing group must write a commercial SCRIPT (incorporating ALL group members somehow) that sells your product using BOTH persuasive devices. You will perform this script tomorrow in class.