Introduction to Persuasive Techniques

By: Mrs. Lange

Emotional Techniques

Purr Words Choosing words that positively

influence the audience of an item or issue.

Voice and tone are positive Example: Is an oil spill an accident or

an incident? 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 or statement

Getting the idea stuck in your head! Examples: McDonald’s “I’m lovin it!”

TV show promos Can you think of 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?

Humor

The use of funny situations, comments or jokes to convince the buyer to purchase the product

Makes it memorable Raisin Bran Crunch with Johnson,

phone commercials, Burger King ads Can you think of any other examples?

Testimonials Expert testimonial – because

someone is an expert, you are willing to believe what they say

Examples: Golden Globe winners (movies), doctors recommending certain medications

Where are you persuaded to buy products because of expert testimonial?

Anecdote

Individual Testimonial – plain people say it is good, so it must be good

Examples: Diet commercials, Subway commericials with Jerrod.

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, Happy Feet, Volvo commericials – Safety Happens

What else can you come up with it?

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?

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?

Propaganda

“Half-truths” Persuading the audience to believe in

something or buy it because the evidence shows they should

Example: political ads show only one side of the issue; candidates show “best side”

Negative example: drug/medicine commericals

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 Orlando

Bloom?

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

Sometimes one-sided Example: drug ads, toothpaste ads Where else do you see statistics used

to sell products?

Group Activity

In groups of three: use magazines, newspapers to find examples of both EMOTIONAL and RATIONAL techniques

Cut out:3 examples of emotional technique

2 examples of rational technique--- and paste onto construction paper