Specific Response

Think about TV ads. Analyze. Ask questions.		*Consider these ideas for your own compositions.*

IS A SPECIFIC RESPONSE SOUGHT?		*DO YOU* SEEK A SPECIFIC RESPONSE?**
Response is the goal, the basic intent, and the final purpose of persuasion. Advertising, for example, is meant to sell a product. Some ads may be clever, witty, entertaining or educational, but if they don't sell the product, they are not effective. Certainly any "image building" ad, or any "soft sell," or even any pleasant, inoffensive ad could be defended or justified (by its creators) as achieving some kind of vague goal. But, most commercial advertising is designed to sell specific products, during a specific time, at a specific cost-effectiveness. If this isn't achieved, agencies lose their customers. People lose their jobs. Ads usually seek a simple response such as "buy," or the simple first step of a buying sequence: "Send for..." or "See your dealer..." or "Call (800)...." Making the response easy is one of the persuader's most important jobs. It's not very useful to call for a difficult, complex, or impossible response. Removing obstacles to a response also includes removing any fears or mistrust; thus, the importance of building confidence in the speakers and the products. Persuaders seek to make response easy, to limit our options, and to use triggering words, or simple directives telling us what to do. Common response verbs include: act ask your doctor buy apply call (toll free) choose click come to drink eat enjoy experience fill out get go to join mail this card make your offer obtain order pick up your phone purchase register see your local select send for shop at smoke subscribe taste use write.		Exposition usually does not seek an immediate specific response. In exposition, the goal is information-transfer and this information is usually a means, later, to another end. However, in addition to such specific utilitarian purposes, much expository writing transfers information which may have no specific identifiable purpose other than the reader's general understanding of the subject. Yet, such general understanding is a vital part of any civilization, and of the "liberal education" of an individual. People need to accumulate and pass on a great deal of information, and a great variety of histories, analyses, and interpretations of events in order to get a broader understanding of a complex world. The response that exposition usually seeks is that of assent, belief, and acceptance. Thus, the ideals of accuracy, credibility, and reasonableness can be helped by the clarity and coherence of composition. Persuasion is audience-centered, usually seeks a specific response, and is judged on its effectiveness. Exposition is topic-centered, often seeks a more general assent, and is usually judged on its intrinsic merits.

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