Analysis of Stevenson's Persuasive Communication
In "Persuasive Communication," Stevenson examines how the "global communication system offers increasing opportunities for governments, private corporations, and occasionally individuals to reach and influence people around the world" (364). He takes a look at two particular aspects of this process: government engagement in "public diplomacy" or propaganda directed at the citizens of other countries and advertising. I will focus my critique on his analysis of the earlier one.
As Stevenson notes, U.S. public diplomacy efforts are directed through the United States Information Agency (USIA) or Service (USIS) as it is known abroad. As he characterizes the service, it can be seen as a harmless international public relations arm of the U.S. government, distributing U.S.-friendly materials (book, videos, magazines, chats, performances) to receptive, even if sometimes violent and antagonistic, foreigners. The non-amicable reactions generally stem from a perception that USIS, with its propaganda dissemination and local information gathering duties, functions as an "intelligence agency hiding behind cultural and educational exchange" (352). Stevenson counters that while the agency is indeed part of the U.S. foreign policy system, it does not involve itself in intelligence operations (352). He expresses puzzlement at the fact that foreigners so willing to express their discontent with the USIS with rocks and sticks would get "outraged when the agency surveys opinion on a more systematic basis" (352). Nonetheless, there are reasons to believe that this characterization is not accurate and that foreign resistance to U.S. "public diplomacy efforts" can be understood as a reaction...
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...ca and to multilateral worldwide information distribution, such as UNESCO, its active defense of Western, especially U.S.-based, news agencies via its "free flow of information" doctrines . . . have all helped to create a pro-U.S. political and cultural tableau. Such initiatives were also in line with its corporatist 'free market' isolation strategies against elements protectionist or socialist in outlook" (Sussman and Lent 6).
Once again, Stevenson's arguments fall short.
Works Cited:
Sussman, Gerald and John A. Lent. "Introduction: Critical Perspectives on Communication and Third World Development" in Transnational Communications: Wiring the Third World. London: Sage Publications, Inc., 1991. 1-26.
Stevenson, Robert L. "Persuasive Communication" in Global Communication in the Twenty-First Century. New York: Longman Publishing Group, 1994, 343-368.
Today, we are bombarded by messages; not just text messages, or electronic messages, but marketing messages. With modern technological advances, advertisers are competing for the consumer’s attention. When we are crowded by these images, we no longer recognize them and fall into their carefully designed traps. This behavior leads to more extreme tactics deployed by the mass media to catch the attention of its demographic. Eventually, the companies are producing and promoting propaganda. This trend is pointed out in the non-fiction book, Age of Propaganda: The Use and Abuse of Persuasion by Anthony Pratkanis and Elliot Aronson. The two authors explain how the media and advertisers use a calculated formula to convince viewers and consumers to buy their product. The way advertisers do this so effectively is through using the “four stratagems of influence,” as coined by Pratkanis and Aronson. These stratagems are as follows: pre-persuasion, source credibility, message and emotions. Each section is a complicated and yet applicable device to influence and dupe consumers.
Often Advertising uses persuasion to inform the audience; in fact it is the most import aspect to advertising. Advertising would simply be a conversation between the communicator and their recipients if persuasion weren’t present. Although the basic purposes are to inform and persuade, it is left to the audience when it comes to differentiating between factual information and unethical persuasive tactics. The persuader, wishes for the consumer to act or believe in a certain way. Whether sought after actions are positive or negative, ends up being the question. In the modern world it has become more difficult to differentiate between truths and untruths; mainly due to the technological advances in advertising medium. Differentiating between facts and propaganda becomes increasingly more challenging when it comes to politics. Whether it is an election for student senate or the United States general election for Presidency; there are a lot of factors weighing in on the decision process. During an election year, persuasive tactics become essential in the success of a campaign. Although many voters have made up their minds when they are first bombarded by the political campaigning, these pre-developed opinions are not viewed as an impenetrable force by the campaigner. The campaigner typically recognizes these patterns in opinion and instead aims to persuade them from a different angle, most commonly the emotions surrounding the issues rather than the issues themselves. This paradigm changed in political persuasion was first seen September 7, 1964 when a rattling ad for Lynden Johnson played over NBC. The ad now known as “Daisy Girl” forever changed political persuasion in advertising. With this change came the issue of ethi...
From the time of the Spanish American war until the beginning of the Cold War the United States went from relative isolation to increased global involvement because of 1 utopian thinking, 2 business expansion, and 3 changes in foreign policy. The consequences on American society of that greater involvement were 4 America’s development into an “international police power”.
President Nixon and Henry Kissinger both believed that the US could ensure its national security and promote its interests by establishing stronger diplomatic relations with the big powers and through that control and influence their decision-making. The US wanted to be the center of this multipolar world, but this could only be achieved by downplaying the importance of ideology towards the Soviet Union and to open up towards China, “(…) which the United States had...
“Propaganda means any attempt to persuade anyone to a belief or to form an action. We live our lives surrounded by propaganda; we create enormous amounts of it ourselves; and we f...
... Propaganda and Mass Persuasion: A Historical Encyclopedia 1500 to the Present. ABC-CLIO. 2003. Google Books. Web.12 April 2011.
In the book, Propaganda, author Edward L Bernays, who is nephew of Sigmund Freud, transcends the public relation industry. This short, 13-part instructional manual delves deep into the intricacies and usage of propaganda. Bernays claims that the public is in a constant state of manipulation. He argues that in order for a society to be highly functioning and stable, public opinion must be manipulated and swayed. While I find his claims disturbing, it was refreshing to read something so blunt. Bernays’ use of psychological techniques to work the mechanics of public opinion truly classifies him as the “father of public relations.”
Snowball, David. "Propaganda and its Discontents." Journal of Communication 49.3 (2009): 165-71. ProQuest. Web. 2 Dec. 2013.
...an is capable of persuading his audience into accepting his simplistic views of the world. He makes it easier to rationalize with his stance by his strategic use of sentence structure and word choice. When analyzing a past speech or interpreting a speech as it is given, upmost priority should be given to analytical tools for analyzing persuasive symbols and language. Whether the topic at hand is motivated by great emotions as it is here or not, the audience can easily be swayed in one direction surprisingly based only on universal comprehension.
The purpose of a persuasive text is to change or alter the viewpoint of the reader for it to agree with the author’s perspective. The intention of this specific text is to persuade the reader to help end poverty today by joining ‘Make Poverty History’ and it uses persuasive language and techniques to do this – this essay will explain the effect on the reader and will focus on analysing persuasive language.
Griffin, E. (1997). A First Look at Communication, Third Edition. New York: The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
Persuasion is an important aspect of communication, certainly a significant business activity. Regardless of whether this comes in the form of a sender influencing a party or the receiver itself is being influenced. Typically, this could come in the form of a salesman or, even a manager communicating with key stakeholders, such as potential investors.
Kalter, C., ‘A Shared Space of Imagination, Communication, and Action: Perspectives on the History of the “Third World”’, in S. Christiansen and Z. A. Scarlett (eds), The Third World in the Global 1960. New York: Berghahn Books, 2013, p. 24.
PRATKANIS, Anthony and ARONSON, Elliot. Age of Propaganda: The Everyday Use and Abuse of Persuasion . New York : W.H. Freeman and Company, 1991.
This persuasive speech was given in Rio de Janeiro, and was a plea to the individuals in attendance at the United Nations Earth Summit to recognize how they are contaminating the environment with hopes that these audience members will revise their future proposals.