Professions requiring the practice of persuasion have been recently increasing, to illustrate; since 1991 the number of lawyers tripled in a decade (Simons, 2001). It is the fundamental way of exerting influence or making a difference in any kind of environment. The practice can be found by hearing it in a lawyers office, to a politician convincing his view to be the right one or within the private sphere (eg: a daughter persuading she is old enough to stay out longer). For the purpose of this blog, we will look at the practice of persuasion found within marketing. In other words this blog will try to answer how do agencies persuade to sell a product? To do so we will first look at an explanation of persuasion and rhetoric, applying it all to a case study done by a professor of semiotics G. Sonesson (2013).
The academic study of persuasion is rhetoric. Stemming from Ancient Greece (where the mode of communication was primarily oral), and still standing “for centuries alongside politicians, literature, law, and ethics” (Simons, 2001, p.14). In a discussion with Socrates, Gorgias poses that persuasion is the surest way to reach influence and power. As usual, this is not enough for Socrates; he argues rhetoric is the art of gulling the ignorant, without enlightening any real knowledge, resulting in a catastrophic reaction of masking the worse as better for certain agendas. The argument of Aristotle shines a more positive light on the matter. To put shortly; potential dangers of rhetoric can be avoided as it should can be used as a tool for “giving effectiveness to truth” (p.4).
It is true rhetoric can be used to deceive, mislead or oppress, but it can also be used to serve the interests of a public; achieving power with, rather than over others. Therefore, as defined by Simons (2001), persuasion is “human communication designed to influence the autonomous judgement and actions of others” (p.7). Important to point out: persuasion has to allow the freedom of individual choice, thus not imposing potential judgement and action taken by others. This means forms of rhetoric, which may seem to be persuasion, like; coercion (playing on various forms of torture), inducement (incentive to do a task for material exchange) and other forms of pressure or manipulation are not the true practices of persuasion. Simons differentiates between two approaches of persuasion: behavioral which depends on experiments done by social scientists. This approach considers human judgement and action to be controlled by detectable factors, thus finding a systematic approach to the guideline of communication approach. The other; critical studies approach entails persuasion as an art which makes the persuader to pay attention to small details; like putting one in another shoes, to convince. In the end persuasion deals in matters of judgement, rather than certainty since it cannot be settled by calculations alone due to the fact that opinions and knowledge about the topic will always vary.
Sonesson (2013) elaborates on the method of rhetoric within linguistics. He shows the ways of communicating your ideas through possible argumentation, presumptions or stylistic tools, like: hyperbole or metaphor. Combining linguistics and social studies, Sonesson argues advertising is using rhetoric as an academic coming from Antiquity with the combination of the taxonomy of figures; relying on certain codes or conventions which are acquired when growing up. To illustrate he presents three case studies. Zooming in on the analysis of the Absolut Vodka campaign; one will see a rhetoric of portraying a vodka bottle merging it with a well-known old European city. Secondly, they decided to name the bottle Absolut Vodka instead of Ahus, which is the Swedish name for it (not so catchy, is it?). These two conventional rhetoric methods are combined to make a new message with several possible meaning. With the portrayal of old European cities, the cultural values are also inscribed within the experience of drinking it. The traditional, old world is represented, in contrast that of the new world – America. The taking of a more internationally recognized code of vodka makes the product seem more approachable, since its easily distinguishable. To conclude, “Absolut Vodka is being sold as a European product, enriched with the long traditions of the combined European cultures” (Sonesson, 2013, p. 17).
To end with a final simple example, I present the advertisement for Nike. The rhetoric here is quite simple, it is playing with two methods once more, putting the emphasis on being fast and strong. The quote “fast is faster” puts on an emotional bond to the persuasion, especially if you are familiar with their other products. The shoes are already light, allowing great speed and now it becomes faster – amazing! Secondly the lining of football players all wearing Nike’s plays upon an identity myth, where the user will remember these strong, athletic men and imagine themselves so, be it a fantasy or a future goal.
References
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.