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Think about TV ads. Analyze. Ask questions. |
Consider these ideas for your own compositions. |
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DO THEY FEEL?
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HOW
DO THEY FEEL?
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Advertising writers know that audiences may have existing strong feelings, both positive and negative. Ads often relate to our deepest desires and feelings: not only our hopes and dreams (love, success, popularity), but also our fears and nightmares. Radio and TV are with us very closely and constantly in our homes and cars. The voices we hear and the faces we see in ads are carefully chosen to stir up appropriate emotional responses. Some audience research analysts use the terms "F factor" and "Q factor" to describe people who audiences are familiar with ("F") and those who audiences like ("Q"). For example, Hitler has a high "F" factor but a low "Q" factor. Most ads try to use actors with high "Q" factors. In some "scare-and-sell" ads (tires, insurance) our fears are aroused by problems depicted. Then, solutions are offered: relief, if we use the product. Some ads (greeting cards, gifts, phone calls) are designed to trigger our nostalgia, memories, and strong emotional responses. However, most ads simply make us "feel good" about the product by using all kinds of pleasant associations with nature and beauty, family and friends, cute kids, and happy times. You'll see more smiles and happy faces in a few minutes of TV ads than in a few days of reality. Negative feelings also exist about advertising itself and ad writers have to consider these as they write. Not only is there a general distrust of advertising as being deceitful or manipulative, but also many people have strong feelings against ads for specific products (feminine hygiene, toilet paper, laxatives, contraceptives). Ad writers are not expository writers seeking neutral transfer of information. They are persuaders seeking response and very alert to the emotional situation of their audiences. Ads should be analyzed both for their informational content and for their emotional components. Be aware of how you feel about certain ads.
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Whenever you deal with a controversial subject (any social, political, economic, or religious issue), remember that audience feelings pre-exist. Even though you may seek only to inform, as objectively as possible, you are still entering into an emotional situation in which readers may already have intense feelings. Don't ignore this reality, nor simply imagine yourself as the Voice of Reason, able to resolve the whole argument in a few well chosen words. Pre-existing attitudes and prejudices are powerful and hard to change. People often ignore, block out, or filter out the things they don't want to know. Whenever you enter into an ongoing controversy, even as a neutral, you cannot disregard the existing prejudices and antagonisms. As a writer, observe first how the opposing groups in any controversy use words. Note their slanted language (the "God" words and the "devil" words), the key "code words" (phrases which seem to have special emotional connotations), and the variety of attack words (vulgarities, ethnic slurs, or any sneering put-downs, such as "so-called"). Note also any strident and self-righteous language. In contrast, much expository writing deals with non-controversial topics. Here, writers encounter a different problem: the audience is often apathetic, passive, unconcerned, uninterested, lacks any feeling: "So what? Who cares?" In this situation, you may be dealing with something you believe to be significant, important, or meaningful. But your audience doesn't know or doesn't care about your topic. Here the writer's problem is how to stimulate interest in a passive audience without overtly becoming a persuader. When you analyze an audience, don't forget their feelings.
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| | Welcome | Purpose | Audience | Limits | Structure | Attention | Confidence | Explicit | Implicit | Response| Omission | |
