6. Persuasion and Rhetoric

Persuasion and rhetoric have its long history date back to Plato and Aristotle. In the two literatures Simons (2001) and Sonesson (2013) introduce us to the many different approaches and theories of persuasion and rhetoric developed through history.

Persuasion according to Simons (2001) is the “human communication designed to influence the autonomous judgments and actions of others.” (p.?) With the intent to persuade and use of communication, persuasion attempt to influence who others think, feel or act. Simons (2001) disguises 3 ways to influence others and indicate that persuasion is different from the 2 other forms (inducement and coercion) to influence. And indicate the persuasion differs in that “persuasion predisposes other, but does not impose.” (p.8) Simons emphasis persuasion as a practice, whether it succeeds or fails still account for a practice of persuasion. The study of persuasion is called rhetoric academically.

Plato considers rhetoric as the art of persuasion and discussed whether such is a corrupted art.For Plato and Aristotle rhetoric is linked to truth. Plato proposes that truth and persuasion, always lies in two different domains so that that can be no truth in persuasion. His student, Aristotle, however, defended persuasion as persuasion can be used in deceiving people, but as the same time it can also be used to communicate truth.

It is important that persuasion deals with matters of judgment rather than certainty. Persuasion requires communication work in two ways, with a persusader and a persuadee. Sonesson mentioned 2 people who renovated rhetoric as the theory of persuasion. There is Chaim Perelam (1977) as an attempt to get other to adhere to one’s propositions (p.8). Groupe (1992) with a new way of analysis the classical rhetorical figures into fundamental operations. There are 4 parts in the original, classic rhetoric – inventio, dispositio, elocutio, and actio.  They four is Invention: the art of finding out what to talk about (p. 9), disposition: “putting discourse in order”, elocutio: stylistic elaboration of the arguments. The purpose of rhetoric is to produce adherence. The second tradition of new rhetorics by Groupe: to discover a set of general operations responsible for the functioning of the figures in verbal language (p.10). Two two approaches are mentioned. Critical studies approach- (persuasion as a whole) treats it as an art, careful reading of the message, a critic assess to the message (artisty, logic, ethics, social consequences). And behavioral approach – (quantitate) treats persuasion as a science, methodologies- quantitative content approach.

Sonesson (2013) wrote his analysis on three brands/products, the Absolute Vodka “European cities series”, a Turkish advertisement for car service and IKEA.

Sonesson (2013) studied the Absolut vodka and the relation to Europeans values, he analyzed the Absolute Vodka in 2 levels. Sonesson relate the Absolut “European cities” series to the figurative rhetoric. He analyzes the design of vodka bottle of different cities in the series to see how it present a certain city.

At the second level, he looks at the Absolut publicity from the point of view of argumentation and persuasion to see how and why Absolute Vodka creates the image related to Europe with its topos being a rich cultural heritage.

In the analysis, Sonesson analyzed the figurativity of the products/ advertisements to see how he brand attempts to use figuration to relate its product to some (positive) values that can persuade consumers to buy the products. The figuration does not necessarily be “true” because the values behind a certain advertisement is highly related to the cultural values of different cultures and more importantly, the cultural values that one country project no other country.

An example of persuasion in the advertisement is the advertising from coca-cola: Coca-Cola Small World Machines – Bringing India & Pakistan Together can show how persuasion is used to link two opposed cultures. The advertising link used virtual machines with cameras and place the two machines in the two countries, one in Pakistan and another one in India.

“A moment of happiness has the power to bring the world closer together.”

This slogan together with the content of the advertisement create a very meaningful message that persuades the viewers.

In the advertisement, the people on the two sides joint hand and trace a sign together and they got a can of Coca-Cola. This advertisement persuades people that a tidy action can break the barriers between people, even from the conflicted countries. This is also to say, Coca-Cola can be the drink to ignite a moment of happiness and pull people close together.

Reference List:

Coca-Cola Small World Machines – Bringing India & Pakistan Together. (2013, May 19). Retrieved June 09, 2017, from https://youtu.be/ts_4vOUDImE

Simons, H.W. (2001). The Study of Persuasion. In: H.W. Simons with J. Morreale & B.E. Gronbeck, Persuasion in Society (pp. 3-24), Thousand Oaks: Sage.

Sonesson, G. (2013). Two strands of rhetoric in advertising discourse. International Journal of Marketing Semiotics, 1(1), 6-24.

 

 

 

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