PERSUASION TECHNIQUES
PERSUASION TECHNIQUES
PERSUASION TECHNIQUES
PERSUASION TECHNIQUES
PERSUASION TECHNIQUES
100
People use good-looking models (who may also be celebrities) to attract our attention. This technique is extremely common in ads, which may also imply (but never promise!) that we’ll look like the models if we use the product.
What is Beautiful People?
100
(A type of Testimonial – the opposite of Plain folks.) We tend to pay attention to famous people. That’s why they’re famous! Ads often use certain people to grab our attention. By appearing in an ad, these people implicitly endorse a product; sometimes the endorsement is explicit. Many people know that companies pay these people a lot of money to appear in their ads (Nike’s huge contracts with leading athletes, for example, are well known) but this type of testimonial still seems to be effective.
What is Celebrities?
100
Advertisers make us laugh and then show us their product or logo because they’re trying to connect that good feeling to their product. They hope that when we see their product in a store, we’ll subtly re-experience that good feeling and select their product. Advocacy messages (and news) rarely use this technique because it can undermine their credibility; an exception is political satire.
What is Humor?
100
Media messages often show people talking about the value or quality of a product, or endorsing an idea. They can be experts, celebrities, or plain folks. We tend to believe them because they appear to be a neutral third party (a pop star, for example, not the lipstick maker, or a community member instead of the politician running for office.)
What is a Testimonial?
100
A type of Testimonial.) We rely on experts to advise us about things that we don’t know ourselves. Scientists, doctors, professors and other professionals often appear in ads and advocacy messages, lending their credibility to the product, service, or idea being sold. Sometimes, Plain folks can also be experts, as when a mother endorses a brand of baby powder or a construction worker endorses a treatment for sore muscles
What is Experts?
200
Unproven, exaggerated or outrageous claims are commonly preceded by "weasel words" such as may, might, can, could, some, many, often, virtually, as many as, or up to. Watch for these words if an offer seems too good to be true.
What is Maybe?
200
Many ads show lots of people using the product, implying that "everyone is doing it" (or at least, "all the cool people are doing it"). No one likes to be left out or left behind, and these ads urge us to "jump on the...
What is Bandwagon?
200
No one can tell the whole story; we all tell part of the story. This technique, however, deliberately provides a false context to give a misleading impression. It selects only favorable evidence to lead the audience to the desired conclusion.
What is Card stacking?
200
This technique tries to persuade us to buy a product by promising to give us something else, like a discount, a rebate, a coupon, or a "free gift.” Sales, special offers, contests, and sweepstakes are all forms of bribery. Unfortunately, we don’t really get something for free.
What is Bribery?
200
No one can tell the whole story; we all tell part of the story. Card stacking, however, deliberately provides a false context to give a misleading impression. It "stacks the deck," selecting only favorable evidence to lead the audience to the desired conclusion.
Card stacking?
300
This technique is used to escape responsibility for something that is unpopular or controversial. It can be either direct or indirect. A politician who says, "I won’t bring up my opponent’s marital problems," has just brought up the issue without sounding mean.
What is Denial?
300
This technique works because we may believe a "regular person" more than an intellectual or a highly-paid celebrity. It’s often used to sell everyday products like laundry detergent because we can more easily see ourselves using the product, too.
What is Plain folks?
300
This is the opposite of the Association technique. It uses something disliked by the intended audience (like bad breath, failure, high taxes or terrorism) to promote a "solution.” Ads use use this technique to sell us products that claim to prevent or fix the problem. Politicians and advocacy groups use this technique to get elected or to gain support.
What is Fear?
300
This persuasion technique tries to link a product, service, or idea with something already liked or desired by the target audience, such as fun, pleasure, beauty, security, intimacy, success, wealth, etc. The media message doesn’t make explicit claims that you’ll get these things; the connection is implied
What is Association?
300
This technique links a person or idea to a negative symbol (liar, creep, gossip, etc.). It’s the opposite of Glittering generalities. Persuaders use Name-calling to make us reject the person or the idea on the basis of the negative symbol, instead of looking at the available evidence. A subtler version of this technique is to use adjectives with negative connotations (extreme, passive, lazy, pushy, etc.).
What is Name-calling?
400
Extremely powerful and very common in political speech, this technique blames a problem on one person, group, race, religion, etc. Some people, for example, claim that undocumented (“illegal”) immigrants are the main cause of unemployment in the United States, even though unemployment is a complex problem with many causes. This technique is a particularly dangerous form of the Simple solution technique.
Scapegoating?
400
DAILY DOUBLE Persuaders love to complement us. Politicians and advertisers sometimes speak directly to us: "You know a good deal when you see one." "You expect quality." "You work hard for a living." "You deserve it." Sometimes ads complement us by showing people doing stupid things, so that we’ll feel smarter or superior. Complements work because we like to be praised and we tend to believe people we like.
What is Flattery?
400
Within an ad or advocacy message, words, sounds or images may be repeated to reinforce the main point. And the message itself (a TV commercial, a billboard, a website banner ad) may be displayed many times. Even unpleasant ads and political slogans work if they are repeated enough to pound their message into our minds.
What is Repetition?
400
Something that is directly, fully, and/or clearly expressed or demonstrated. For example, some ads state the price of a product, the main ingredients, where it was made, or the number of items in the package. These statements are specific, measurable promises about quality, effectiveness, or reliability, like “Works in only five minutes!” These statements can be proven true or false through close examination or testing, and if they’re false, the advertiser can get in trouble. It can be surprising to learn how few ads make clear, direct statements. Most of them try to persuade us in ways that cannot be proved or disproved
What is Explicit claims?
400
, people are more suspicious of a small lie than a big one. This technique is more than exaggeration or hype; it’s telling a complete falsehood with such confidence and charisma that people believe it.
What is The Big Lie?
500
This technique builds up an illogical or deliberately damaged idea and presents it as something that one’s opponent supports or represents. Misrepresenting the opponent is easier than confronting the opponent directly.
What is Straw man?
500
While the Glittering generalities and Name-calling techniques arouse audiences with vivid, emotionally suggestive words, these words try to pacify audiences in order to make an unpleasant reality more palatable. Bland or abstract terms are used instead of clearer, more graphic words. Thus, we hear about corporate "downsizing" instead of "layoffs," or "intensive interrogation techniques" instead of "torture.”
What is Euphemism?
500
This is the use of so-called "virtue words" such as civilization, democracy, freedom, patriotism, motherhood, fatherhood, science, health, beauty, and love. Persuaders use these words in the hope that we will approve and accept their statements without examining the evidence. They hope that few people will ask whether it’s appropriate to invoke these concepts, while even fewer will ask what these concepts really mean.
What is Glittering generalities?
500
Persuaders sometimes draw huge conclusions on the basis of a few small facts. This technique works by ignoring complexity. It’s most persuasive when it predicts something we hope can or will be true.
What is Extrapolation?
500
The language of ads is full of these words, including superlatives (greatest, best, most, fastest, lowest prices), comparatives (more, better than, improved, increased, fewer calories), hyperbole (amazing, incredible, forever), exaggeration, and many other ways to hype the product.
What is Intensity?
M
e
n
u