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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