The Language of Persuasion

1.    Persuasion is the process of trying to convince other people of your point of view using manipulation or appealing to the emotions.

2.    It can be found in:

o   Advertising

o   Political Speeches

o   Film Reviews

o   Marketing journals      

ß Look at the ad. on the left.

Who is the target audience? 

How is Michelin trying to persuade them to buy their product?

Ad Slogans: Name the product!

‘Because you’re worth it..’                                   

‘When you care enough to send the very best’

‘The best a man can get’                                        

‘Impossible is nothing’                                         

‘Open happiness’                                                    

Persuasive Techniques

1.    Attention-grabbing opening – you might say something shocking or use a good quotation.

2.    Appeal to the emotions – you want to make your audience feel something. Use of the personal ‘I’ or ‘We’ to include the audience.

3.    Repetition: used to emphasise a point or create drama. Eg ‘I have a dream’ ‘Yes we can’.

4.    Imagery: can help the audience visualise what you are describing. Eg children joining hands in ‘I have a dream speech’.

5.    Contrast: Describing both a pleasant and unpleasant scene can help an audience understand your point.

6.    Humour: can help win an audience over.

7.    Rhetorical questions: a question where the answer is so obvious that there is no need to respond – grabs attention and emphasises a point.

‘How can something that’s so good taste so great?’

8.    Epigrams – short, witty, memorable lines.

Barack Obama’s New Hampshire Primary Speech

For when we have faced down impossible odds, when we've been told we're not ready or that we shouldn't try or that we can't, generations of Americans have responded with a simple creed that sums up the spirit of a people: Yes, we can. Yes, we can. Yes, we can.

It was a creed written into the founding documents that declared the destiny of a nation: Yes, we can.

It was whispered by slaves and abolitionists as they blazed a trail towards freedom through the darkest of nights: Yes, we can.

It was sung by immigrants as they struck out from distant shores and pioneers who pushed westward against an unforgiving wilderness: Yes, we can.

It was the call of workers who organized, women who reached for the ballot, a president who chose the moon as our new frontier, and a king who took us to the mountaintop and pointed the way to the promised land: Yes, we can, to justice and equality.

Yes, we can, to opportunity and prosperity. Yes, we can heal this nation. Yes, we can repair this world. Yes, we can.