A Campus More Colorful Than Reality: A Campus More Colorful Than Reality

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I think Universities misrepresent the actual student body racial proportions on their advertising to sell the school and its environment. The idea being, indicating that regardless of once race or background, you will be comfortable and fit right in. A great case in point is the photoshopped image of Diallo Shabazz. According to NPR.org - A Campus More Colorful Than Reality: Beware That College Brochure (http://www.npr.org/2013/12/29/257765543/a-campus-more-colorful-than-reality-beware-that-college-brochure), The University of Wisconsin photoshopped the image of Diallo Shabazz in an admissions booklet. The photo was a shot of students at a football game – but Shabazz had never been to a football game. This shows the extent to which Universities are going to create a picture for their audience.
This discussion brings about an interesting view on similarity in relation to persuasion as expressed by O’Keefe (200), “The belief that greater similarity means greater effectiveness is an attractive one and is commonly reflected in recommendations that persuaders emphasize commonalities between themselves and the audience.” O’Keefe concludes …show more content…

O’Keefe (183) wraps it up very well stating, “A communicator who knows what is correct (has expertise) but who nevertheless misleads the audience (is untrustworthy, has a reporting bias) produces messages that are unreliable guides to belief and action, just as does the sincere (trustworthy) but uninformed (low-expertise, knowledge-biased)

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