Persuasive Techniques in Media By: Ms. Hambleton and Mr. Sebek

Two Main Types…  Emotional Techniques – focus on getting you to WANT something. Plays on your emotions, desires, and ideals – buying with your heart  Rational Techniques – focus on what you NEED. Plays on rational arguments – buying with your mind  Most commercials will use a combination of BOTH techniques.

Emotional Techniques

Purr Words  Choosing words that positively influence the audience of an item or issue.  Voice and tone are positive  Example: Is a hamburger juicy or greasy? Is a government program an investment or a waste?  What other examples can you think of?

Repetition  Ideas repeated over and over and over and over and over and over again!  Can come in form of musical tune (jingle), logo, slogan, or mascot  Getting the idea stuck in your head!  Examples: McDonald’s “I’m lovin it!” “Eat Mor’ Chikin!”  Can you think of other examples?

Humor  The use of funny situations, comments or jokes to convince the buyer to purchase the product  Makes it memorable  GEICO, cell phone commercials, Jack in the Box ads  Can you think of any other examples?

Celebrity Endorsement  The use of a celebrity to sell a product.  The viewer wants to be like the celebrity and thinks that by buying the product, they will be more like him or her.  Examples: Milk Ads, Air Jordans, Toby Keith and Ford trucks  Can you think of any others?

Expert Testimonials  Because someone is an expert, you are willing to believe what they say  Examples: Golden Globe winners (movies), doctors recommending certain medications  What products are you most likely to buy based on expert testimonial?

Individual Testimonial/Anecdote  Anecdote – plain people say it is good, so it must be good  Uses REAL people, not actors!  Examples: Diet commercials, Church’s Chicken “I know what good is”.  What others do you know?

Emotional Appeal  An appeal to fear or anger to sway the audience. May also add climax or excitement (negative emotions)  Uses images and dramatic situation  Examples: Starving children in Africa commercials, Pet adoption commercials  What else can you come up with it?

Snob Appeal  Plays on the idea of individuality, being better than everyone else  Examples: Lexus ads, Gucci, Rolex  What other ideas can you come up with?

Bandwagon  PEER PRESSURE – everybody wants to do it, so you should too!  Peer Pressure can be POSITIVE!!  Examples: anti-drug commercials, clothing lines/brands, new show hype  Where do you see bandwagon used in advertising?

Word of Mouth  “grapevine” talk; gossip  Advertising something through talking with friends, etc.  Example: gossip magazines, movies, clothing, food  What is the latest word on The Jonas Brothers?

Rational Techniques

Factual  The use of facts to sell a product or idea  Facts cannot be disputed but may not tell the whole story  Audience is overwhelmed with information  Example: car commercials, anti-drug commercials, medicines

Statistics  Statistics—deals with collection, analysis and presentation of masses of numerical data  Use of statistics to persuade audience to buy product or idea  Use of NUMBERS to sell an item (percentages, ratios, etc.)  Sometimes one-sided  Example: drug ads, toothpaste ads

Bargaining  Creating situations where the viewer feels he must make a decision quickly  Attempting to create an impulse buy, creating a “good deal”  “But Wait! There’s More!”  “Order within the next 10 minutes and…”  Examples: Infomercials, CD collections, coupons, sales papers

Group Activity  In groups of three: use magazines and/or newspapers to find examples of both EMOTIONAL and RATIONAL techniques  Cut out: 3 examples of emotional techniques 2 examples of rational techniques  Paste onto chart paper and label the techniques being used.