In today’s word, we are
bombarded with constant messages on what to buy, what to look like, and
messages created to change our point of view. Political ads are created to
persuade us to change our views and to vote for a certain candidate. With the
election coming up, it seems that we are surrounded with constant messages from
those ads. The persuasion techniques
used by these ads can be difficult to identify if a person does not know what
to look out for. The techniques shown in the ad presented here are Fear
+Direction=Action, rational thought, credibility, inoculation, reactance, and
the auditory and visual presentation of the ad.
This ad shows a very
common persuasive technique found in political ads. This technique is known as
Fear + Direction= Action. As viewers, we are listening and reading how
Davenport, Iowa’s economy did under Obama. The audience, which includes not
only people from Iowa but also those who worry about the economy, begin to fear
that the economy did not do better under Obama and that it will not improve if
he is elected again. By creating fear, the ad can cause individuals to change
their political choice Brader, T. (2005). We are then provide with a direction to
take from Romney as he declares to the audience that it is time for change and that Obama needs to steps aside. This leads to
an action, which in this case is voting for Romney. Connecting to this is a
second technique called rational thought.
Rational thought has two routes of persuasion. To take the central route
of persuasion means to persuade someone based on facts that are presented. The peripheral route of persuasion is based
on emotion. In the ad, we see that there is a mix of both routes. Romney
presents facts about the state that Iowa is in and he also presents everyday
people holding those facts. Aronson (2011) writes that when people are worried,
just presenting facts will not persuade them, it is important to connect to the
emotional side of the audience because by doing so, they are more likely to act
on it. Persuasion also depends on the level of fear that is placed on the
individual (Aronson, 2011). This ad creates fear by using statistics and
claiming that the situation in Davenport, and America, will not change if Obama
is reelected.
The next technique is credibility,
and this ad uses statistics to discredit Obama and to ad credibility to Romney.
By reading the facts and comparing them to the clips of Obama speaking, the
audience gets the impression that Obama broke his promise of creating a better
future. Also, since the statistics were taken from credible sources such as the
Bureau of Labor Statistics, Romney’s argument becomes stronger. This also ties
in with the technique of inoculation because in the ad we have Obama talking
about the future. Then we are suddenly cut off from hearing Obama and a
statistic is presented to us about the economy in Davenport. The audience now
has facts that help them ward off Obama’s argument that he can help create an
America for everyone. This in turn can lead the listeners to ward off the
bigger arguments that Obama might present now that the audience is armed with statistics.
In other words, by becoming exposed to a message that can be disproven, an
individual can become “immunized” against a bigger message that is similar to
the first (Aronson, 2011).
The fourth technique
used is reactance and when an individual feels that their freedom is being
taken away, they will try to regain it (Meirick & Nisbett, 2011). Near the
end of the ad, Romney begins to talk about how Obama has had “his moment” and
that it is time for America to have their moment. Romney’s use of words implies
that Obama was making all the decision and that the audience will finally be
given back their freedom to create a better vision of how America should be.
Another important
technique used to persuade people is through the use of music and through the visual
presentation of what the audience sees. In the beginning of the ad, the music
is slow, sad, and seems to create fear. Fear causes individuals to rely less on
previous beliefs and more on processing the incoming data to form a new opinion (Brader,2005). Obama is also presented in a small box the middle of the
screen. He shows up blurry and with a dark background which makes the viewer
see him as less important. The mood changes dramatically when Romney is heard. Brader (2005) found that ads having a positive message and presenting that message
with uplifting music and images changed their influence on voters. When Romney
appears, the music becomes more uplifting. He takes up the entire screen and
has a huge American flag in the background.
Understating that these persuasion
techniques are not only in political ads, but also in advertisements can help
show people how their opinions are influenced by what they see and hear. Becoming
informed can contribute to individuals making decision without constantly
falling prey to what an ad wants to persuade people with. It’s often a good
idea just to step back and really look at how an ad is trying to persuade us.
Hopefully, the techniques mentioned above will get individuals on their way to
seeing the sneaky ways that political ads try to sway our opinions.
Adaivet Martinez
References:
Aronson, E. (2011). The Social Animal. (11 ed). New York:Worth Publishers
Brader, T. (2005). Stricking a Responsive Chord: How Political Ads Motivate and Persuade Voters by Appealing to Emotions. American Journal of Political Science. 49(2). DOI: 10.1111/j.0092-5853.2005.00130.x
Meirick, P.C., Nisbett.G.S., (2011). I Approve This Message:Effects of Sponsorship, Ad Tone, and Reactance in 2008 Presidential Advertising. Mass Communications and Society.14(5). DOI: 10.1080/15205436.2010.530381
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