Persuasive Speech and Our Emotions
04 Feb 2012 5 Comments
in History of Rhetoric, Real World Applications
The following excepts are pulled from the C. Smith reading and begin the path of deductive reasoning that this post walks along…
“Every time we vote for a political candidate, we do so in part because of our perception of that candidate. That perception, no doubt, is influenced by the candidate’s rhetorical skills…”
and then…
“Our state of mind or mood affects how we hear and understand things. Thus, discourse that deals with human emotion is more effective than discourse that fails to take it into account. Since rhetoric does deal with emotional and psychological states, it is invaluable to survival and success in the world.”
…therefore the person or organization who can skillfully communicate while manipulating their audiences’ emotions will be a powerful force.
According to T. Smith’s article this type of emotionally-tied rhetoric is referred to as pathos (p. 118-119) and should be used morally. She notes that misuse can be both “unethical” and “manipulative.”
So what would be an extreme use of persuasive communication that plays on its audiences’ emotions? The first answer in my mind is the obvious – advertising. Perhaps an even better answer would be campaigns used in a certain genre of advertising – guerrilla marketing.
Does this play to your emotions?
Magazine advertisement for a South African charity.
Mine too. How about this?
Over-sized poster advertisement for a plastic surgeon.
Yes, an entirely different emotion, but yes.
It isn’t that other forms of advertising don’t use the pathos approach – they do. Possibly it is the unexpectedness of guerrilla marketing campaigns that play to our emotions in a stronger manner. Interestingly enough, a guerrilla marketing campaign only becomes truly successful if it gets its audience talking. If a campaign can become liked, tweeted or pinned then the ad moves well beyond its geographic location and into each of our technology-tuned homes. Brilliant.
For me it now makes more sense why the ancient Greeks were so consumed by the ethical use of rhetoric. The problem they saw play out within their court system is the same one we fall prey to with today’s advertisers. Persuasive speech coupled with emotionally-charged messages or imagery carry with them a great deal of influence. As an audience our emotions can be skewed on an issue quite differently (p. 21-22, J. Williams), whether the delivered message is one of truth or not.
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Feb 05, 2012 @ 23:16:18
Although I would’ve liked a definition of guerrilla marketing, this is such a great post for so many reasons! Namely, for the way you walk your readers through the concepts and images. And asking questions of your audience is always bound to get comments
Speaking of pathos, if you’re a fan of Mad Men, you may be familiar with Don Draper’s way with words, but I’m sharing this just in case you haven’t seen it: http://youtu.be/suRDUFpsHus
As a pedagogical aside, I’d been hesitant to use a course blog in Rhetorical Theory because I felt the Emerging Media class would have so many more obvious online connections, but this post proves that once we are aware of the classical rhetoric concepts, we can’t help but see them everywhere and, as you put it, “like,” “tweet” and “pin” our favorites to start our own viral campaigns!
Feb 06, 2012 @ 20:34:07
Excellent! I’m so glad it is successful. I definitely can see your point on the needed definition. Thanks!
After watching that clip, I may just have to start watching Mad Men. That was great!
Feb 08, 2012 @ 17:58:25
After this week’s readings I have been paying more attention to commercials on TV and thinking about the “ethical” use of messages. Here in Baltimore there is a local Dental Office who has a commercial that comes on during the 6am news every morning. The main point of the commercial is for dental services provided by this office, but they use a woman who appears to be in her early 40′s to provide a testimonial. She begins by saying “I used to never have a reason to smile; and then I came to _____ Dental Office” the picture than pans out to a full body image and the woman states “and their work caused me to lose over 75 pounds, so I could be happy about myself”.
I get so annoyed by this commercial because of the ethical dilemma I see in having a dental office using weight-loss as a strategy to get more patients into their practice. As an audience it completely turns me away from their business because I find this message to be a form of emotional abuse. “Get your teeth fixed here, and you will lose 100 pounds, so everyone will love you”… maybe that isn’t what they intended the message to be, but it carries an influence on the audience, especially young women who are already consumed with body image and eating disorders.
Emotionally driven messages are a hard thing to overcome in the technology enhanced society where we currenly reside.
Feb 08, 2012 @ 22:19:26
I thought this was an excellent post, and really drives home several points from our reading. I studied advertising in college, and have a slightly skewed view of entertainment because of it. So many shows use guerrilla marketing that is kind of shocking. I’m not talking about movies and shows from the 80′s and 90′s where it was filled with blatant advertisements for Nike, Pepsi, and Sony. Watch a Back to the Future movie or Total Recall and you will understand what I am talking about.
I’m referring to shows like Extreme Home Makeover. On the surface, it’s a show about giving a family in need a new home and new appliances. When you look at it from an advertising or marketing standpoint, it’s a brilliant concept. You create a feel good show, and then you have a bunch of companies donate time, appliances, building materials in exchange for a half hour (or hour, not sure of the duration) of prime time advertising. I can promise that Sears pays more for a single ad than it costs them to donate a kitchen and laundry room full of appliances. Something to think about.
Christine, I didn’t interpret that dentist ad as going to the dentist will help you lose weight. I interpreted it as the person has already lost weight and feels more confident. Now people are noticing and complimenting her, and she is feeling self-conscious about her teeth that might not be so great. Maybe a subtle difference, but I kind of get the commercial.