Persuasive Analysis

You are a professional communication consultant. Your task is to analyze a persuasive message in wide media circulation. This could be a TV commercial, a public service campaign website, a news editorial, a PR event, a speech (e.g., Oprah at the Golden Globes, the State of the Union address, etc.), or something else. Write an analysis of 4-6 typed pages addressing the following questions:

 

1. What seems to be the primary persuasive goal of the message? For example,

• Does it aim to change specific attitudes, behavior or both?
• Does it seek approval for some activity, or call for a specific act?
• Does it endeavor to shape perception of individuals, groups or organizations, and why?

2. Who is the primary audience being addressed?

• What are its explicit or implicit demographic and psychographic characteristics?
• What kinds of salient attitudes does the message attribute to its audience?
• Is there a secondary audience, and if so, how is it related to the primary one?

3. What is the primary persuasive strategy shaping the message?

• Can you identify specific features of the message that reflect this strategy and explain how they do so?

4. Which theory of persuasion seems most useful for explaining the persuasive strategy, and what is that explanation?
5. Which theory of media is most useful for explaining the persuasive strategy?

• Which aspects of the message reflect the constraints and opportunities afforded by the medium?
• How does the medium shape the message and its persuasive capacity?

6. In your view, how effective is the persuasive message?

• Is the strategy used the best one available, given the audience, the medium, ethical constraints, and the cultural context shaping its reception?
• Does the execution of this strategy—the use of arguments, emotional appeals, language, images, design, etc.—fit its aims?

7. Can you offer any recommendations for improving the message to make it more persuasive?

• What do you propose to do differently, and why?