paper 1 vocab Flashcards
ethos
An appeal to credibility or character
An advertisement using ethos will try to convince you that the company is more reliable, honest, and credible; therefore, you should buy its product.
Ethos often involves statistics from reliable experts, such as nine out of ten dentists agree that Crest is better than any other brand or America’s dieters choose Lean Cuisine. Often, a celebrity endorses a product to lend it more credibility: Catherine Zeta-Jones makes us want to switch to T-Mobile
pathos
An appeal to emotion
An advertisement using pathos will attempt to evoke an emotional response in the consumer. Sometimes, it is a positive emotion such as happiness: an image of people enjoying themselves while drinking Pepsi. Other times, advertisers will use negative emotions such as pain: a person having back problems after buying the “wrong” mattress. Pathos can also include emotions such as fear and guilt: images of a starving child persuade you to send money.
logos
An appeal to logic or reason.
An advertisement using logos will give you the evidence and statistics you need to fully understand what the product does. The logos of an advertisement will be the “straight facts” about the product: One glass of Florida orange juice contains 75% of your daily Vitamin C needs.
avant garde
The suggestion that using this product puts the user ahead of the times. A toy manufacturer encourages kids to be the first on their block to have a new toy.
bandwagon
The suggestion that you should join the crowd or be on the winning side by using a product—you don’t want to be the only person without it!
Many ads show lots of people using the product, implying that “everyone is doing it” (or at least, “all the cool people are doing it”). No one likes to be left out or left behind, and these ads urge us to “jump on the bandwagon.” Politicians use the same technique when they say, “The American people want…” How do they know?
beautiful people / sex appeal
This technique uses good-looking and perhaps sexy or provocative models (who may also be celebrities) to attract our attention. This technique is extremely common in ads, which may also imply (but never promise!) that we’ll look like the models if we use the product.
bribery
Bribery offers you something “extra.” Buy a burger; get free fries.
This technique tries to persuade us to buy a product by promising to give us something else, like a discount, a rebate, a coupon, or a “free gift.” Sales, special offers, contests, and sweepstakes are all forms of bribery. Unfortunately, we don’t really get something for free – part of the sales price covers the cost of the bribe.
card stacking
Card-Stacking means stacking the cards in favor of the product. Advertisers stress positive qualities and ignore negative. For example, if a brand of snack food is loaded with sugar (and calories), the commercial may boast that the product is low in fat, which implies that it is also low in calories.
celebrities
We tend to pay attention to famous people. That’s why they’re famous! Ads often use celebrities to grab our attention. By appearing in an ad, celebrities implicitly endorse a product; sometimes the endorsement is explicit. Many people know that companies pay celebrities a lot of money to appear in their ads (Nike’s huge contracts with leading athletes, for example, are well known) but this type of testimonial still seems to be effective.
experts
We rely on experts to advise us about things that we don’t know ourselves. Scientists, doctors, professors and other professionals often appear in ads and advocacy messages, lending their credibility to the product, service, or idea being sold. Sometimes, Plain folks can also be experts, as when a mother endorses a brand of baby powder or a construction worker endorses a treatment for sore muscles
explicit claims
Something is “explicit” if it is directly, fully, and/or clearly expressed or demonstrated. For example, some ads state the price of a product, the main ingredients, where it was made, or the number of items in the package – these are explicit claims. So are specific, measurable promises about quality, effectiveness, or reliability, like “Works in only five minutes!” Explicit claims can be proven true or false through close examination or testing, and if they’re false, the advertiser can get in trouble. It can be surprising to learn how few ads make explicit claims. Most of them try to persuade us in ways that cannot be proved or disproved.
fear
It uses something disliked or feared by the intended audience (like bad breath, failure, high taxes or terrorism) to promote a “solution.” Ads use fear to sell us products that claim to prevent or fix the problem. Politicians and advocacy groups stoke our fears to get elected or to gain support.
flattery
Persuaders love to flatter us. Politicians and advertisers sometimes speak directly to us: “You know a good deal when you see one.” “You expect quality.” “You work hard for a living.” “You deserve it.” Sometimes ads flatter us by showing people doing stupid things, so that we’ll feel smarter or superior. Flattery works because we like to be praised and we tend to believe people we like. (We’re sure that someone as brilliant as you will easily understand this technique!)
glittering generalities
This is the use of so-called “virtue words” such as civilization, democracy, freedom, patriotism, motherhood, fatherhood, science, health, beauty, and love. Persuaders use these words in the hope that we will approve and accept their statements without examining the evidence. They hope that few people will ask whether it’s appropriate to invoke these concepts, while even fewer will ask what these concepts really mean
humor
Many ads use humor because it grabs our attention and it’s a powerful persuasion technique. When we laugh, we feel good. Advertisers make us laugh and then show us their product or logo because they’re trying to connect that good feeling to their product. They hope that when we see their product in a store, we’ll subtly re-experience that good feeling and select their product. Advocacy messages (and news) rarely use humor because it can undermine their credibility; an exception is political satire.
intensity
The language of ads is full of intensifiers, including superlatives (greatest, best, most, fastest, lowest prices), comparatives (more, better than, improved, increased, fewer calories), hyperbole (amazing, incredible, forever), exaggeration, and many other ways to hype the product.
magic ingredients
The suggestion that some almost miraculous discovery makes the product exceptionally effective. A pharmaceutical manufacturer describes a special coating that makes their pain reliever less irritating to the stomach than a competitor’s.
nostalgia
This is the opposite of the “avant garde” technique. Many advertisers invoke a time when life was simpler and quality was supposedly better (“like Mom used to make”). Politicians promise to bring back the “good old days” and restore “tradition.” But whose traditions are being restored? Who did they benefit, and who did they harm? This technique works because people tend to forget the bad parts of the past, and remember the good.
patriotism/nationalism/group values
The suggestion that purchasing this product shows your love of your country. A company brags about its product being made in America.
plain folks
The suggestion that the product is a practical product of good value for ordinary people. A cereal manufacturer shows an ordinary family sitting down to breakfast and enjoying their product.
This technique works because we may believe a “regular person” more than an intellectual or a highly-paid celebrity. It’s often used to sell everyday products like laundry detergent because we can more easily see ourselves using the product, too. The plain folks technique strengthens the down-home, “authentic” image of products like pickup trucks and politicians. Unfortunately, most of the “plain folks” in ads are actually paid actors carefully selected because they look like “regular people.”
simple solution
Life is complicated. People are complex. Problems often have many causes, and they’re not easy to solve. These realities create anxiety for many of us. Persuaders offer relief by ignoring complexity and proposing a Simple solution. Politicians claim one policy change (lower taxes, a new law, a government program) will solve big social problems. Advertisers take this strategy even further, suggesting that a deodorant, a car, or a brand of beer will make you beautiful, popular and successful.
slogan
Advertising slogans are short phrases used in advertising campaigns to generate publicity and unify a company’s marketing strategy. The phrases may be used to attract attention to a distinctive product feature or reinforce a company’s brand.
snob appeal
The suggestion that the use of the product makes the customer part of an elite group with a luxurious and glamorous lifestyle. A coffee manufacturer shows people dressed in formal gowns and tuxedos drinking their brand at an art gallery.
