rhetorical devices

Rhetorical Devices Isaiah Wilson, Swan Smith Political Rhetoric:
-used by politicians, government officials, lobbyists, and activists involving emotional issues often seen in bits and fragments
-war and peace, justice and injustice, freedom and oppression, and the future of our planet

Association:
-tries to link a product, service, or idea with something already liked or desired by the target audience
-create a strong emotional response and then associate that feeling with a brand "family = Coke, victory = Nike"

Bandwagon:
-ads showing lots of people using a product, implying that "everyone is doing it"
"Million of women are using the new Mineral make-up foundation"

Beautiful people:
-using good-looking models (who may also be celebrities) to attract our attention
-Ad with a model drinking a brand drink Bribery:
-tries to persuade us to buy a product by promising to give us something else
-a discount, a rebate, a coupon, or a "free gift” Sales, special offers, contests, and sweepstakes

Celebrities:
-Ads using celebrities to grab attention
-brands contracts with athletes

Experts:
- a type of Testimonial using 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

Explicit claims:
-claims directly, fully, and/or clearly expressed or demonstrated
-some ads state the price of a product, the main ingredients, where it was made, or the number of items in the package Fear:
-uses something disliked or feared by the intended audience to promote a "solution
-Ads that use fear to sell us products that claim to prevent or fix the problems (bad breath, failure, high taxes or terrorism)

Humor:
-Advertisers make us laugh and then show us their product or logo because they’re trying to connect that good feeling to their product
-laughter will come from an advertised product

Intensity:
-The language of ads is full of intensifiers
-(greatest, best, most, fastest, lowest prices)

Plain folks:
-A type of Testimonial opposite of Celebrities
-laundry detergent commercial Repetition:
-words, sounds or images may be repeated to reinforce the main point
-a TV commercial, a billboard, a website banner ad may be displayed many times

Testimonials:
-Media messages often show people testifying about the value or quality of a product, or endorsing an idea
-someone other than the maker testifying for a bed brand

Warm & fuzzy:
-uses sentimental images to stimulate feelings of pleasure, comfort, and delight
-(families, kids and animals)

The big lie:
-telling a complete falsehood with such confidence and charisma that people believe it
-Adolf Hitler Charisma:
-persuaders can be effective simply by appearing firm, bold, strong, and confident
-people often follow charismatic leaders even when they disagree with their positions on issues that affect them

Euphemism:
-Euphemism tries to pacify audiences in order to make an unpleasant reality more palatable
-"downsizing" instead of "layoffs," or "intensive interrogation techniques" instead of "torture.”

Extrapolation:
-drawing huge conclusions on the basis of a few small facts
-when someone predicts something we hope can or will be true

Flattery:
-making audience feel better about themselves
-"You work hard for a living." "You deserve it." Glittering generalities:
-use of so-called "virtue words" to persuade us to approve and accept their statements without examining the evidence
-civilization, democracy, freedom, patriotism, motherhood, fatherhood, science, health, beauty, and love.

Name-Calling
-this technique links a person or idea to a negative symbol to make us reject the person or the idea on the basis of the negative symbol
-(liar, creep, gossip, etc.)

New
-use of faith in technology and progress to sell or advertise products
-"All new TVs"

Nostalgia:
-invoking a time when life was simpler and quality was supposedly better to sell or advertise products
-"like Mom used to make"

Rhetorical question:
-questions designed to get us to agree with the speaker set up so that the “correct” answer is obvious
-"Do you want to get out of debt?" "Do you want quick relief from headache pain?" Scientific evidence:
-uses the paraphernalia of science to "prove" something
-(charts, graphs, statistics, lab coats, etc.)

Simple solution:
-Persuaders offer relief by ignoring complexity and proposing a Simple solution
-(lower taxes, a new law, a government program)

Slippery slope:
-Instead of predicting a positive future, it warns against a negative outcome. It argues against an idea by claiming it’s just the first step down a “slippery slope” toward something the target audience opposes
-"If we let them ban smoking in restaurants because it’s unhealthy, eventually they’ll ban fast food, too."

Symbols:
Symbols are words or images that bring to mind some larger concept, usually one with strong emotional content
-home, family, nation, religion, gender, or lifestyle
Ad hominem:
-the ad hominem technique responds to an argument by attacking the opponent instead of addressing the argument itself
-campaign ads

Analogy:
-An analogy compares one situation with another
- "Pearl Harbor" and "9/11"

Card stacking:
-Card stacking deliberately provides a false context to give a misleading impression.
selecting only favorable evidence to lead the audience to the desired conclusion

Cause vs. Correlation:
-persuaders can fool us by intentionally confusing correlation with cause
- Babies drink milk. Babies cry. Therefore, drinking milk makes babies cry Denial:
-This technique is used to escape responsibility for something that is unpopular or controversial.
-A politician who says, "I won’t bring up my opponent’s marital problems,"

Diversion:
-This technique diverts our attention from a problem or issue by raising a separate issue, usually one where the persuader has a better chance of convincing us
-Instead of worrying about me, why not worry about my opponents actions as they are far worse than mine

Group dynamics:
-using what other people think and do to influence. Group dynamics is a more intense version of the Majority belief and Bandwagon techniques
-live audiences, rallies, or other gatherings

Majority belief:
-This technique works on the assumption that if most people believe something, it must be true
-using poll and survey results to back up an argument

Scapegoating:
-Scapegoating blames a problem on one person, group, race, religion, etc.
-claim that undocumented (“illegal”) immigrants are the main cause of unemployment in the United States
Straw man:
-This technique builds up an illogical or deliberately damaged idea and presents it as something that one’s opponent supports or represents
-political campaign ads

Timing:
-Sometimes a media message is persuasive not because of what it says, but because of when it’s delivered
-placing ads for flowers and candy just before Valentine’s Day