Week 6: The Ancient Art of Rhetoric and Persuasion

Tutorial question: Before coming to class, bring a print advertisement that you believe persuades the reader  rhetorically. Explain your case using the concepts learnt this week.

In this week,  Chris covered "The Ancient Art of Rhetoric and Persuasion". The advertisement above is an example of an advertisement that could persuade the reader rhetorically. What does rhetoric mean?? Griffin (2009), defined rhetoric as the "discovering all possible means of persuasions." In other words, rhetoric is a form of persuasion. It is the tool of conviction and persuasion for the popular mass. So the advertisement above is a form of persuasion. It is persuading the reader to buy the product. McQuarrie & Phillips (2008), stated that "mass media brand advertising is the largest organized persuasive endeavor in the world of today."

A persuasion must have a proposition and argument. According to Hwacroft (1999), "there are two basic form of reasoning; deductive and inductive." The above advertisement is inductive. What is Inductive? Inductive is when the propositional premise seems to be true and provides enough support for the conclusion. Hwacroft (1999) explained that "induction begins with the particular, and draws conclusion that are either general or particular." Hwacroft (1999) also stated that, with induction, the conclusion can be made from one (or more) premises. So this advertisement is showing a very blurred and uncleared mirror, but the are which has been sprayed by the product is clear and clean. This is the premises and the conclusion is that with the use of the product, all of the dirty an blurred window will be clean and clear after using this product. 

Rhetorics in advertising is more concerned with the style of the advertisement than the content. According to McQuarrie & Phillips (2008), “rhetoric has been more concerned with how to say things than what to say.” The advertisement above is an example of where there is style but less content, but it still manage to persuade the public to buy the product. 

There is problem with visual rhetorics, is that visual text is difficult to interpret because it is ambiguous and vague. But visual rhetoric is a mixture of both words and images, and image can make meaning of words clearer and vice versa. Yeshin (2006) also states that images have the ability to give out more information more accurately and faster when differentiate with words, also images can be “absorbed” and remembered by the individual with less effort and it has potential to provide entertainment to the individual.  The advertisement above demonstrating the ability of the product via visual image that manage to captures the public eyes and persuade them instead of using words trying to explain and persuading which might bore them. 

The advertising style consist of the medium, genre, strategies of production and creative imagery to show an argument. In other words, a poster conveys a persuasive visaul argument, but a music video conveys a different persuasive argument with different affects on reader. If the advertisement above were to be a commercial, it will persuade the public in another different way, where the public will be able to see the product at "work". 

In conclusion the advertisement above is an example of an advertisement that persuades the reader rhetorically because it is persuading the public to buy their product. It is an example of an inductive propositional argument, where the propositional premise of the advertisement seems to be true and it provides enough support for the conclusion. When it comes to advertising, the style of the advertisement s more concerned than the content. 

Reference list:-

Griffin, E. (2009). A first look at communication theory (7th ed.). Glencoe, IL: McGrawHill.

Hwacroft, M. (1999). Rhetorics: Readings in French Literature. New York: Oxford University Press Inc. 

McQuarrie, E. F. & Phillips, B. J. (2008). Advertising Rhetoric: An Introduction. In McQuarrie, E. F. & Phillips, B. J.  (Eds.)., Go Figure!: New Directions in Advertising Rhetorics. New York: M.E. Sharpe, Inc.

Yeshing, T. (2006). Advertising. London: Thomson Learning.