Download Terms for Persuasive language ch. 2

Language and Mass Communication
The Language of Persuasion
Public Opinion: Collection of opinions & beliefs held by adult population of a nation
Bias: presentation of a story from a particular perspective (all writing is bias)
Media Literacy: skill of analysing various texts in relation to the media in which they are
published
Manufactured Consent: Describes phenomenon that a small ruling elite can shape public
opinion in their favour by controlling the media
Sensationalism: Exaggerated, emotive and controversial style of writing
Emotive Language (also known as loaded language): Where writer uses an emotional tone
that also has an emotive effect on the reader
Censorship: Information intentionally removed by a government or media agent for reasons
of controversy, sensitivity or harm
Euphemisms: a word or phrase used in place of another to be less offensive or unpleasant
Tabloid: newspaper that is smaller than a broadsheet usually refers to a sensational/biased
newspaper
Broadsheet: newspaper larger than tabloid, format often associated with in-depth reporting
and balanced representation of opinions
Super Crunching: Process of data driven decision making (opportunity cost)
Crowdsourcing: Asking people what they think – the larger the crowd the more on target the
suggections
Pay-per-click: Advertisements get paid by the websites they’re on only when the ad is clicked
on
Long Tail Marketing: Selling a wide range of products for which there’s a small demand in a
small quantity. Total number of people with specialised interests is greater than the number of
people with popular interests
Virals: Adverts travel like viruses on internet (viral videos)
Copycat crimes: People who commit crimes to copy previous crimes (sometimes seen in film
or media)
Propaganda: is the conscious effort to shape public opinion to conform to an
ideological position.
Stereotyping: is the act of presenting a person or group in a certain way, though
simplified and biased media.
Argumentation fallacies: are common but invalid syllogisms or poor strings of logic.
Brand: is a product’s identity. The feelings and values the customer associates with the
product. Popularity often linked with advertisement technique.
Marketing: is the process of creating, developing, selling and promoting goods and
services to customers, managing customer’s interests in and need for the product.
Negative ads: ads that carry and attack and are often used in political campaigns when
opponents vilify or criticize each other often using the ad hominem argument.
Ad hominem: a type of argument that attacks a person rather than their ideas, words or
actions making it a personal attack rather than ideological attack.
Seven Propaganda techniques:
1) Assertion: the technique of making bold statements. The public is not invited to
question the validity of such statements delivered with confidence and energy.
2) False dilemma: the speaker claims that there are only two answers to one
problem. The string of logic presented is simple and binary i.e. George Bush
suggests that either America can confront the enemy now or deny the problem or
ignore it thereby passing it on to the future generations. The public is presented
with two extremes and told to choose between them even though there is no real
choice because the dilemma created is does not exist or is much too complex to
be resolved either way.
3) Plain folks argument: the technique of distancing oneself from the common
person who are less intelligent or informed about the subject matter. This
enables an information gap that leads makes the person to sound superior giving
them authority and greater power to persuade the audience.
4) Name calling and pinpointing the enemy/vilification: the technique of
referring to an opponent or and enemy commonly used during war to stir up
public anger and uniting the people through strong emotional reaction a form of
manufacturing the people’s consent. This speaker is able to suggest that they
have a clear sense of what is right or wrong giving the speaker greater authority
and persuading the audience to agree with their obviously morally sound
opinions.
5) Simplification: the technique is used to make a complex situation appear very
simple and easily solved creating stereotypical images which are often distortions
of the truth and which can lead to opinions that are based on prejudice and little
logical connections. Generalizing ideas often leads to misconceptions that can
create a favorable or unfavorable image amongst the public of the concept
discussed.
6) Glittering generalities: words connected to worthy or noble concepts such as
freedom, democracy and justice that would be difficult to refute such as universal
declaration of rights.
7) Card stacking: the technique of referring to facts or events to argument the
validity of their views. The act of selectively using arguments or facts that support
the view and completely ignoring the facts against this opinion.
Rhetoric techniques:
1) Appeal: There are three types of appeal that are considered the fuel of
persuasive speeches:
a. Ethos: refers to the trustworthiness of the speaker or writer. The speaker
must have confidence delivering their speech and ensure they have won
the credibility of the audience.
b. Pathos: is the appeal to emotions such as for example the evocation
patriotic, frightened, joyful or guilty sentiments to create an emotional
response and often to unite the speaker and the audience such as
Obama’s victory speech 2008.
c. Logos: is the appeal to logic, a fundamental element of all good speeches
which includes the form of an argument with several premises and a
conclusion. The reasoning usually is considered valid and certain.
2) Rhetorical devices: gives the speech its strength
a. Parallelism: writing structures that are grammatically parallel helps the
listener understand the points conveyed due to the rhythm and flow that is
created as a result e.g. “who still doubts… who still question…”. This also
helps add weight to the clauses.
b. Hypophora: a technique commonly used at the start of a speech in which
the speaker asks a question that is then answered. Obama repeats the
word “answer” to clearly indicate his intention to give his audience
answers. The question may be within the same sentence as the answer
but gives the speaker validity and authority in the eyes of the public due to
the confidence and power in which the answer is delivered.
c. Repetition: can be effective at creating a sense of structure and power,
helps emphasize an idea and place importance by ingraining the phrase in
the minds of the audience.
d. Antithesis: the technique used express their views by presenting the
exact opposite point with the result of a creating a contrast between the
two views. Defined as: a figure of speech in which an opposition or
contrast of ideas is expressed by parallelism of words that are the
opposites of, or strongly contrasted with each other.
e. Figurative speech: technique of using imagery or metaphors to strike the
imagination of the audience making the speech more poetic and dynamic.
f. Tricolon: a list of three words or a sentence constructed using three
parts/clauses. The cumulative effect of three has a powerful effect on an
audience and emphasizes the point of the speaker with the common link
between each.
g. Polysyndeton: using “and” many times in a list of clauses which is used
to stress the importance of every item and adding rhythm, slowing down
the speech to give it a more profound tone.
h. Juxtaposition: technique used to present to ideas of opposing nature
mentioned together to emphasize the contrast i.e. “scorching heat” and
“bitter cold” in Obama’s speech emphasizes the extreme conditions or
often to reveal the range of the idea to persuade the audience by referring
to the enormity of the scale.
i. Allusion: using a phrase from another famous speech or a quote from an
icon that allows the speaker to associate themselves with the ideas of the
original speaker or speech and to create a more intimate connection with
the audience by evoking shared knowledge which as a result makes the
audience more inclined to agree with the speaker’s opinions as a result of
this persuasive technique.
j. Sentence length: strengthens the style of the writing by varying the
length and creates an interesting flow and dynamics.
k. Use of Epithets: an adjective or descriptive phrase expressing a quality
characteristic of the person or thing mentioned makes the speech more
emphatic, vivid, expressive and engaging.
Focus Group: Group of people asked by a company to talk about their likes and
dislikes concerning a product/ad
Brand Loyalty: Someone’s allegiance to a certain product which they buy on a regular
basis
Advertising Techniques:
1. Problem & Benefit: Identifying a problem & offering a solution. Blurring the line
between needs & wants
2. Bandwagon Effect: When something quickly becomes popular and people
follow the example set by others
3. Testimonials: Statements from ordinary people recommending a certain product
4. Celebrities: Products are often endorsed by celebrities – people want to identify
with the people in the ad
5. Association: Linking a product with certain values
Image: Placement and construction of image is crucial also colour contrast is very
important to catch the person’s eye
Slogan: Should be short, catchy and poignant because the audience’s attention span is
usually brief
Copy: Text along with the ad which could be a story. It gives some product information
and aims to persuade people to buy the product
Signature: Sometimes no image or company name is given on the ad & nowadays the
website is the signature of an ad
Counter Advertising Techniques:
1. Anti-ads: Ads that break all the conventions and are sometimes unrelated to the
product to either shock or get people thinking
2. Philanthropic Ads: Ads that aim to convince consumers that they care about a
cause and not just selling their product. Gives Large companies a good image &
consumers don’t feel guilty about consuming commercial products
3. Culture Jamming: When people change ads by large corporations (using the
internet or grafittiing billboards) to change the message of the ad or draw
attention to something the corporations are doing wrong
4. Parody & Pastiche: When individuals take a well-known ad and change it to
give it a different message