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Persuasion
Analysis
Analyzing ads is the easiest
way to learn about all persuasion techniques. Ads
are usually seen in carefully crafted packages (30-second spots on TV,
radio, or in print) with coherent messages, involving simple transactions
("buy this"). Other kinds of persuasion (political, social, religious)
are harder to analyze because the subjects are more complex, the emotional
issues are more involving, and we experience them in bits and fragments
(in headlines, TV news, in random discussions) often edited
by others.
Apply these ideas about pattern recognition also to other persuaders,
but try to analyze ads first.
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 "The
Pitch" is the name for this simple 1-2-3-4-5
pattern - - with an easy to remember "fingertip
formula" - - useful to analyze the basic
pattern of persuasion of commercial advertising. (The
30-Second-Spot Quiz is a one-page summary for
a classroom printout or self-study.) Variations of the basic
pattern (such as "soft sell" and "feel good"
ads) and the details are further explained online in these links:
1.
Hi ----- 2. Trust Me ----- 3. You Need ----- 4. Hurry -----
5. Buy
The Pitch is a smaller part (Intensify / Composition
/ Structure) of the more compehensive Intensify/Downplay
Schema.
The ABCs of TV Ads
For Middle School & Above:
In an alphabetical format, these 26 links presents many
of the same ideas as in The Pitch (above), plus
much more about the wider context of ads. The
opening list may be used for class printouts.
If you plan to divide student
assignments into smaller groups
or individuals, consider what would be appropriate. Note
that these concepts vary in degree of difficulty and amount
of illustration.
Related one-page classroom
printouts:
The
30-Second-Spot Quiz
Suggestions: How
to Analyze Ads
Useful advice and hints ( 2 pp.) about some basics
of analysis based on classroom experience
Suggestions: Why Analyze
Ads
Rationale, purpose: the usefulness, advantages, rewards,
benefits to the person spending time and effort.
Questions You
Can Ask About Advertising
200+ prompter questions organized using the basic pattern
of the Intensify/Downplay schema
 What's
Wrong with Advertising?
This section surveys the most
common complaints and criticism: Intrusion, Deception,
Offensive, Personal Problems (e.g. debt cycle, self-image,
food); Social
Issues: Materialism, Social Justice, Environment.
With links to such responses as Voluntary Moderation
and to the Counter-Propaganda Axioms.
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Channel
One
Caveat: Although I advocate the
fair academic analysis of ads, I also advocate against
the unfair commercial intrusion of Channel One into
the inappropriate venue of classrooms. Students need to
be taught in the schools how to analyze persuasion
from all sources, not to be delivered as a captive
"target audience" to commercial advertising during
an extremely valuable "day part.". Here are
my own essays, and links to organizations, in opposition
to Channel One
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A
Companion to Composition
An
online companion for College "Composition &
Rhetoric" & High School Advanced Placement
courses: a 10 chapter section of 40 parallel, split-screen
pages of principles of classical rhetoric (e.g. Aristotle's
ethos): as seen in TV ads and as applied to one's
own writing. Suitable for self-study.
Analysis (the taking-apart process) is the counterpart
of composition (the putting-together process). Students
can learn a lot about rhetoric by analyzing ads as "
the best compositions of our era."
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