Throughout the book, we have discussed the various purposes of persuasion, from how we see it in our day-to-day haggling, to the television commercials we see every day. When dealing with such a powerful tool, many ethical issues arise. In many cases, my opinion towards persuasion is not fully aligned with Perloff's, but for the most part, we agree on a few things. His definition of persuasion for example (Perloff, 2014), persuasion is a powerful tool—one that has strong effects on society, and one that's used by companies to raise profits. In my previous journal entry, I have brought up how it is difficult to differentiate persuasion as a tool or weapon. I have begun to think of it this way, persuasion is a tool that can either be used for
…show more content…
In the beginning of the chapter, Perloff (2014) states that the message is what influences people, but it shouldn't be dismissed so easily. Just thinking about a message and how influential it is, has me wonder, what makes a persuasive message? Perloff (2014), covers the basics of what makes a message influential (structure, content, framing, and language). What stood out to me was his reference to having individuals jump to their own conclusions as it is more persuasive, which had me thinking...Let's go back to the Nike commercial, Nike never states that someone can achieve the level of skill the promoting athlete has, but that is the conclusion we jump to when we see a well-known athlete wearing their product on television. Nike leaves their commercial open to interpretation, allowing the audience to come to conclusions, only making it more convincing to buy their products. Nike also uses the credible athletes as evidence, so as the audience, we begin to assume, subconsciously and unintentionally, that the athlete could not have gotten to where he is today without the advertised product. It is astonishing to see that all this is taken into consideration by these corporations to convince us to purchase their products. I have spoken a lot about commercials, only because they are easier to reference, but what Perloff (2014) discussed in the book can be used in …show more content…
Personally, I feel that we tend to forget that our beliefs are made up of some form of persuasion, whether it be from a news article, PSA, friends, tabloid, and so on. Persuasion, like Perloff (2014) mentions, is a powerful tool that has strong effects on society, understanding how it works can be the difference between falling victim to a scam or building on one of your beliefs. In sum, we each process persuasive communication differently (cognitive response method, ELM, etc.), and persuaders play a vital role in persuasion as well. Lastly, the message a persuader delivers is of great importance, a well delivered/executed message can be a major contributor to having a persuaded audience. There isn't much we can do about persuasion, but be aware that these advertisements/persuader's messages do exist, while some of it is used for good, others are used for evil. Some may say the ethical boundaries that many advertisers and persuaders touch upon are unethical, what do you
In the beginning of the chapter, Perloff (2014) states that the message is what influences people, but it shouldn't be dismissed so easily. Just thinking about a message and how influential it is, has me wonder, what makes a persuasive message? Perloff (2014), covers the basics of what makes a message influential (structure, content, framing, and language). What stood out to me was his reference to having individuals jump to their own conclusions as it is more persuasive, which had me thinking...Let's go back to the Nike commercial, Nike never states that someone can achieve the level of skill the promoting athlete has, but that is the conclusion we jump to when we see a well-known athlete wearing their product on television. Nike leaves their commercial open to interpretation, allowing the audience to come to conclusions, only making it more convincing to buy their products. Nike also uses the credible athletes as evidence, so as the audience, we begin to assume, subconsciously and unintentionally, that the athlete could not have gotten to where he is today without the advertised product. It is astonishing to see that all this is taken into consideration by these corporations to convince us to purchase their products. I have spoken a lot about commercials, only because they are easier to reference, but what Perloff (2014) discussed in the book can be used in …show more content…
Personally, I feel that we tend to forget that our beliefs are made up of some form of persuasion, whether it be from a news article, PSA, friends, tabloid, and so on. Persuasion, like Perloff (2014) mentions, is a powerful tool that has strong effects on society, understanding how it works can be the difference between falling victim to a scam or building on one of your beliefs. In sum, we each process persuasive communication differently (cognitive response method, ELM, etc.), and persuaders play a vital role in persuasion as well. Lastly, the message a persuader delivers is of great importance, a well delivered/executed message can be a major contributor to having a persuaded audience. There isn't much we can do about persuasion, but be aware that these advertisements/persuader's messages do exist, while some of it is used for good, others are used for evil. Some may say the ethical boundaries that many advertisers and persuaders touch upon are unethical, what do you