Chapter 14

Media Clutter

There are so many ads competing for consumers' attention that it is difficult for a message to stand out in the crowd. Commercials must grab and hold viewers' attention. Thanks to CGI, it is now possible for advertisers to create and manipulate images in ways previously not possible. A plain-vanilla commercial won't hold up to an eye-popping extravaganza, especially when viewers have low involvement with the topic or issue.

Cultivation Theory

This theory maintains that the more violence people watch on TV, the more likely they are to develop an exaggerated belief in a mean, scary world.

Socialist Realism

"Socialist Realism" became the officially recognized standard for art, and its purpose was to advance the political and socials ideals (-moral beliefs) of communism. All art projects were commissioned (-appointed) by the government. Paintings and posters from this era featured members of the working class working side-by-side in factories and on farms. Created a parallel world peopled by heroes/heroines who personified political ideals. They demonstrated perfect behavior and modeled the attitudes of perfect citizens. Idealized communism

Ads -> Power, Speed, and Strength

Ads for tools, trucks, SUVs, computers, and nutritional supplements often equate buying a product with conferring (-consulting) power on the user. Examples: Dodge trucks are "Ram tough." Chevy trucks are built "Like a rock." Or, one can have rock-hard abs or buns of steel. Or, if one has the newest, fastest computer, he is the "power user."

Image-Oriented Advertising

Advertisers seek to create positive associations between their brands and idealized images or lifestyles. This approach is known as IMAGE-BASED ADVERTISING. Image-Based Advertising is the bread and butter of modern advertising campaigns.

Images

-Images shape beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors -Visual images have become increasingly important in the 20th century and looks to be moving forward in the upcoming century -Images are powerful, moving in ways that words can't -Images cross languages and cultures more easily

Examples of Iconicity

-The stick figure on a "pedestrian crossing" sign -A caricature of a politician drawn in an editorial cartoon -Statue of Liberty, Uncle Sam, and the bald eagle -> Symbols of the US -Marlboro man -> Cigarettes -> Represents Old West and idealized image of cowboys Marlboro cigarettes are the most popular brand in the world. Marlboro man is the most universally recognized, consistently profitable, and aesthetically appealing image in the advertising world

Visually Oriented Ads -> 4 Main Challenges Persuaders Face

1. Buy their products in media clutter 2. Consumers are increasingly doubtful about advertising

Indexicality -> Important to Question an Event's Indexicality

A critical viewer should question the indexicality of visual records of events. Media events can be staged. The presence of cameras and film crews can alter people's behavior. Photographs and videos can be digitally altered to create the appearance that events occurred when, in fact, they did not occur, or did not occur in the way they were pictured.

Ads -> Youth Culture

A number of products are marketed by associating products with youth culture, rebelliousness, and an alternative lifestyle. Soft drinks, clothing, fast food, skateboards, small electronics, makeup, and many other goods and services appeal to what is hip, trendy, or cool. These commercials are often shot with handheld cameras and employ rapid editing techniques to stimulate the look of "reality TV."

Do Shock Ads Work?

A study by Dahl, Frankenberger, and Manchanda (2003) suggests that shock-ads work. These researchers concluded that "shocking content in an advertisement significantly increases attention, benefits memory, and positively influences behavior." Other studies also support the effectiveness of shock ads.

How Artists Persuade -> Increase Awareness Through Participation -> Activist Art is Controversial

Activist art is often controversial, that's its purpose. A primary goal of activist artists is to raise the public's consciousness about a variety of social and political issues. Art can challenge the existing social order. It can make people angry and offend. It can also heighten people's awareness. It can make people question their assumptions. It can change the way people see things and make them reconsider long-held beliefs. Art persuades.

How Artists Persuade -> Increase Awareness Through Perception

Activist art might consist of an exhibit that is odd, disturbing, or peculiar. The artist seeks to arouse the viewer's curiosity and pull him/her in. In the process of trying to understand the work, the viewer's awareness is increased. Interpretation requires ACTIVE THINKING or CENTRAL PROCESSING, which is more likely to trigger lasting attitude change.

Ads -> Safety and Security

Ads for banking, insurance, and retirement accounts try to support images of being safe and secure. Consumers want peace of mind and a sense of stability when it comes to their finances and retirement.

Ads -> Sense of Place and Belonging

Ads for foods, restaurants, furniture, and other household goods often strive to create a sense of hominess. The advertisers want you to get a warm, comfortable, familiar feeling when you think of their products.

Ads -> Social Status and Elitism

Ads for luxury cars and expensive watches often associate owning these products with prestige and success. Ads for expensive wines, luggage, jewelry, and other upscale goods often imply that the products are symbols of taste and elegance.

Ads -> Sex or Romance

Ads for perfume, lingerie, and hair-care products often equate the products with sexiness, allure, and romance. The association established by many perfume ads is that if you wear that fragrance you'll be more sexy, or other sexy people will be attracted to you.

How Movies Persuade -> Films Support and Maintain Stereotypes (African-American Stereotype)

African-Americans have been historically typecast. African-American males fit the mold of athlete, drug dealer, or musician. African-American women tend to be assigned to stereotypic roles such as beautiful wife, beautiful girlfriend, or beautiful prostitute. African-Americans are also typecast as the funny sidekick in "buddy" movies. Eddie Murphy, Martin Lawrence, Chris Rock, and Chris Tucker have all played such parts. These are narrowly defined roles. The situation has improved. Halle Berry, Jamie Foxx, Denzel Washington, and Forest Whitaker, have all won Oscars for the best actress or actor. Their success may convince filmmakers and the movie-going public that African-Americans can be taken seriously on screen. In 2016, the absence of African-American nominees sparked a #OscarsSoWhite movement, with numerous black stars boycotting the Academy Awards ceremony.

How Films Persuade -> American Movies Export Western Values

American movies export Western values. American films embody Western values. Rocky was the blue-collar guy who made his dream come true (Rocky). Julia Roberts was the prostitute with a heart of gold (Pretty Woman). Not everyone is happy about the values promoted by American movies. Some view the movie industry as a form of cultural imperialism.

Antiadvertising (Example -> Antismoking Commercial)

An antismoking commercial also offers an example of an anti-ad. The spot shows two cowboys in a downtown setting, one playing guitar and the other singing. The singing cowboy, however, is singing through a handheld device pressed against his neck (an electro larynx). He's had a laryngectomy. He sings, "You don't always die from tobacco, sometimes you just loose a lung. Oh, you don't always die from tobacco, sometimes they just snip out your tongue." This ad mocks the rugged cowboy mystique associated with Marlboro cigarettes.

Images -> Effectiveness (Perceived Realness)

An image's effectiveness stems partly from the perceived "realness" the idea that seeing is believing. Viewing window at the real world.

How Films Persuade -> Modeling Behavior (Glamorize Poor Behaviorisms)

Characters in movies also model risky, unsafe, or violent behaviors. This can have the effect of legitimizing such behaviors. Movie characters rarely wear seatbelts. They often engage in unprotected sex. They frequently smoke, use drugs, and drive recklessly. And, they kill lots of people. Regardless of whether these activities are intentional, their popularity in movies tends to glamorize them. The actions of the characters in movies may be seen as placing a stamp of approval on those behaviors.

Art of Social Activism -> Banksy

Banksy, a popular graffiti artist, stencils images onto walls and buildings in public places at night. One of his works depicts Dorothy and Toto from the Wizard of Oz. Her basket is being searched by an officer in riot gear wearing latex gloves. The image suggests that society's paranoia over security has gone too far.

Antiadvertising (Example -> Geico)

Geico spoofed insurance comparison ads by conducting a mock insurance "taste test." Consumers who sampled a glass of Geicoe said "mmm, yum," while consumers who taste-tests a competing brand of auto insurance said "ugh, yuck!"

Anti-advertising (Subvertising)

Caters to consumers who distrust the media. Anti-ads mock advertising itself. They attack traditional advertising to gain acceptance by consumers. Many anti-ads are spoofs on commercial advertising. Others are designed to sell actual products and services. In essence, anti-ads are telling viewers, "Hey, you're on to us. You're too smart to be fooled." But, of course, that strategy is itself a ploy (-trick) designed to appeal to jaded consumers. Such an approach creates the perception that the advertiser respects the viewer's intelligence. Advertisers are constantly finding ways to reinvent themselves. As consumers have grown more doubtful, advertisers have found ways to adapt to, and take advantage of, their doubtfulness. Anti-ads or subvertising thus mark another evolutionary phase in advertising.

Governments Using Art

Governments, especially totalitarian governments, have used art as a form of political propaganda EX: Stalin -> Soviet Union declared all art to be subservient to the interests of the state

How Artists Persuade -> Increase Awareness Through Participation (Example -> AIDS Memorial Quilt)

Collaborative art is the AIDS Memorial Quilt (AKA The NAMES Project) -> Cleve Jones. This is a folk-art project commemorating those who died of AIDS. It compromises thousands of 3 ft. x 6 ft. panels, each panel dedicated to the memory of a specific person. It became the largest community art project in the world. The AIDS Memorial Quilt persuades on multiple levels. The quilt puts a human face on commonly-discussed statistics. When people see the quilt, they understand, in concrete rather than abstract terms, the toll taken by the disease. The choice of making a quilt was a persuasive one. Cleve Jones was attracts to the idea of quilting because it is a traditional American folk-art. Quilts conjure up images of home and family. AIDS, however, was thought of as a promiscuous (-immoral) gay male disease. The quilt served as a means of countering that image. Jones and Dawson (2000): There was hope we could beat the disease by using a quilt as a symbol of solidarity, of family and community; there was hope that we could make a movement that could welcome people - - men and women, gay and straight, of every age, race, faith, and background. The AIDS Memorial Quilt increased the public's awareness of the disease. It also brought people together. Loved ones who didn't know how to grieve found an outlet in creating a panel. It reduced students homophobia and increased their wanting to practice safe sex.

Cinematic Persuasion -> Films are Carefully Crafted Works

Considerable planning and attention to detail go into the making of a film. Motion pictures represent finely crafted messages. Few real-world persuaders, such as salespeople, attorneys, or politicians, have the luxury of lavishing so much time and attention on persuasive messages.

Indexicality -> Study (Image Accuracy)

Consumers consider the accuracy of images when evaluating products. Female respondents rated photos of models with labels stating that the "model in this ad has been retouched" versus "the model in this ad has not been retouched" versus no label. The photos labeled as not retouched were perceived as more authentic and increased purchase intentions.

Shocking Ads -> Consumer Tolerance

Consumers may build up a tolerance to shocking images. One commentator warned that shock ads were similar to drug addiction; a larger and larger dose is required to achieve the desired effect until consumers eventually overdose on the strategy.

Art -> Political and Social Issues

Contemporary (-modern) artists have strong opinions on political and social issues, and they express them in and through their work Bertolt Brecht: "Art is not a mirror to reflect reality, but a hammer with which to shape it."

How Films. Persuade -> Modeling Behavior (Social Cognitive Theory)

Developed by Albert Bandura - This theory maintains that adolescents observe behaviors that are modeled in the media and then imitate those behaviors in real life. Example: Young teens who watch moves about dating and relationships, such as "Mean Girls," "American Pie," or "Superbad," may take their cue about how to deal with love and relationships based on behaviors they see in movies.

Cinematic Persuasion -> Docudramas

Docudramas, such as JFK or Titanic, for instance, may convince viewers that subjective (-biased) interpretation of events is an objective (-fair) recounting of the facts.

Cinematic Persuasion -> Dramas, Romantic Comedies and Violent Movies

Dramas and romantic comedies may model traditional or nontraditional gender roles. Violent movies, such as Pulp Fiction, Kill Bill, and Natural Born Killers, may desensitize (-numb) people to violent or aggressive behavior.

Art of Social Activism -> Fearless Girl

EX: "Fearless Girl" -> Revealed in public space near Wall Street in 2017 in honor of International Women's Day. Girl stands with her hand on her hip facing a sculpture of a bull that was already in place. Statue immediately sparked debate. Admirers: Fearless Girl sent powerful message about the need for gender diversity in corporate America Critics: Complained that the sculpture represented artificial feminism, since is was licensed by a Wall Street investment firm promoting a gender diversity fund called SHE. Arturo Di Modica created the bull sculpture. He complained that the sculpture had been hijacked. He demanded that "Fearless Girl" be moved. The juxtaposing of one icon opposite another suggested an opposing relationship between the girl and the bull. Mayor de Blasio countered this. Fearless Girl achieved her purpose by provoking a public debate about gender representation in the boardroom.

Shock Ads Can Go Too Far -> Example (UK Article)

Even shock ads can go too far. In the UK, hundreds of readers complained when they found a full-paged ad showing a newborn infant with a cockroach in its mouth. The ad was sponsored by Barnardo's, a children's charity group, and was designed to draw attention to the dilemma of children living in poverty. The ad was banned by Britain's Advertising Standards Authority.

How Movies Persuade -> Films Support and Maintain Stereotypes (Asian Stereotype)

Example: Asians also tend to occupy stereotypic roles in films. If Hollywood is to be believed, every Asian is skilled in marital arts. They are often undersexed and romantically awkward.

How Movies Persuade -> Films Support and Maintain Stereotypes (Middle Easterner Stereotype)

Example: Middle Easterners are frequently casted as terrorists. When they are not terrorists, they are playboys (-killers) or cab drivers.

How Films Persuade -> Promote Popular Culture Both At Home and Abroad

Fashions, hairstyles, habits, lifestyles, and slang terminology are often imitated by moviegoers. As a function of their iconicity, movies have a way of idealizing (-glorifying) and romanticizing (-glamorizing) trends and lifestyles. Cinema, then, is a major vehicle for the dissemination (-distribution) of fads, fashions, and trends.

How Movies Persuade -> Movies Promote Beliefs About a World Filled With Danger

Gun rated violence in the top PG-13 rated movies was greater than in the top R-rated movies. Viewing violence leads to the development of a jaded view of the world, increased aggressiveness, and antisocial behavior in people. John Murray (2008): 50 years of research on the effects of TV violence leads to the unavoidable conclusion that viewing media violence is related to increases in aggressive attitudes, values, and behaviors. Oliver Stone (Director of "Natural Born Killers"): Film is a powerful medium. Film is a drug. It goes into your eye. It stimulates (-arouses), and that's a dangerous thing."

How Movies Persuade -> Films Support and Maintain Stereotypes

Hollywood frequently typecasts (-categorizes) minorities, women, overweight people, the elderly, and other groups into limited roles. This may create the impression that these are the only roles these groups are capable of performing. Although the number of parts for minorities has increased, the roles often involve the same predictable stereotypes. In regard to minorities, things are changing but slowly.

Iconicity -> Images Violate Reality

Iconic images can violate the reality they represent. An image can make something look real that isn't. Image can stimulate a reality that doesn't exist. EX: A busy mother who has her hands full doing the laundry, cooking dinner, cleaning the house, and taking care of the kids, could also be pictured with four arms instead of two EX: An ad for pain reliever might show someone suffering from a splitting headache, whose head actually appears to be splitting in two

How Movies Persuade -> Films Support and Maintain Stereotypes (Younger Viewers Stereotypically Blind)

If there is a silver lining, it is that younger moviegoers tend to be more tolerant, if not completely color-blind. This is evidenced by the box-office success of recent multiethnic, multicultural movies, such as "Joy Luck Club," "Moana," "Slum Dog Millionaire," "The Big Sick," and "The Help." Because youth culture includes more African-Americans, Asian Americans, and Hispanic Americans, filmmakers are producing more multiethnic movies to meet the demands of the new generation of viewers.

How Films Persuade -> Promote Popular Culture Both At Home and Abroad (Examples)

If you are old enough, or into retro fashion, you may recall the popularity of white, three-piece suits following the release of the disco film "Saturday Night Fever." Katniss Everdeen's braided hair in "Hunger Games" popularized the side plait. Edward Cullen (teenage heartthrob) -> Twilight After seeing Mark Wahlberg, Taylor Lautner, or Chris Hemsworth on the big screen, many guys hit the gym to work on their abs and pecs.

Image-Oriented Ads -> Idealized Lifestyle

Image-oriented ads portray a brand as the embodiment of an idealized lifestyles. Equating the brand with an idealized lifestyle creates identification with that brand. When we buy that brand we are buying into that lifestyle. Some brands are luxury brands, prestigious, yet within reach of many consumers. Some are aspirational brands; few people can afford them, but they hope to own them one day. Still others are authentic or luxury brands. These brands are simple.

Images -> Syntactic Indeterminacy

Image-oriented ads rely on the syntactic indeterminacy, meaning that pictures, unlike words, can't convey precise relationships. Images don't contain logical operators, so they can't make clear-cut claims. That turns out to be a plus, however, because by pairing a product with a favorable image, an advertiser can equate the two without actually saying so in words. Messaris (1997): This ability to imply something in pictures while avoiding the consequences of saying it in words has been considered an advantage of visual advertising since the first days of its development as a mass medium.

Images -> Effectiveness (Emotional Impact)

Images also develop effectiveness from their emotional force. The most notable difference between textual/verbal versus visual messages concerns their emotive impact.

Iconicity -> Selective Images

Images can be selective. Lighting, camera angle, perspective, distance, cropping, and editing all figure into what a viewer sees. EX: Weight Watchers and Nutrisystem utilize before and after pictures

Syntactic Intermediacy -> Images Can't Convey Relationships (A Curse)

Images can never suggest the precise nature of relationships, so it is up to the observer to guess what the relationship is EX: A car commercial may convey a happy family carrying kayaks from an SUV to a river but viewers may be more tempted to kayak than purchase the SUV This is not really a curse because: 1.) Advertisers have decades of practice at manipulating light, camera angle, color, and other aspects of images to achieve desired results 2.) Advertisers use words when they want to make a point explicitly and pictures when they want to make a point implicitly

Cinematic Persuasion -> Potential for Mass Suggestion (Movies One of America's Leading Exports)

Millions of people are exposed to movies in the US and abroad. Movies reach vast audiences. Movies are one of America's leading exports. Hollywood films are America's biggest cultural export, consumed by billions around the globe. People in remote areas of the world know who Sylvester Stallone is, based on the film character Rocky. They know who Julia Roberts is from her role in Pretty Woman.

Syntactic Intermediacy -> Images Can't Convey Relationships (A Blessing)

Images can't convey logical relationships, such as "A causes B," "A is similar to B," or either "A or B will happen" which is both a blessing and a curse. Blessing: Pictures can't be used to equate one thing to another, via association. Images can't be place side-by-side to imply an association without actually saying so. This can work to a persuader's advantage. EX: Sugar cubes placed next to Coke was more effective at reducing Coke users than just text-only label Persuader can promote subtle associations through images without making the associations explicit in words. EX: Advertiser can make product cool or sexy by pairing product with cool or sexy image

Iconicity

Images function as icons, meaning they stand for and resemble the things they represent. An image can sum up a concept. It doesn't matter if it is an accurate representation so long as people understand what they represent. Most important characteristic of images is to summarize ideas and concepts. This most clearly distinguishes pictures from language and other modes of communication.

Consumers Value Real

In a marketplace filled with fake, phony products consumers value what seems real. A smaller brand with a story to tell may be more desirable than a mass-produced merchandise. Organic foods, handmade goods, and artisanal beers fall into this category.

Television Commercials, Magazine Ads, and Billboards (Images and Words)

In television commercials, magazine ads, and billboards, images are primary and words are secondary

Art (Social and Political) -> Western World

In the Western World, art was not only sponsored by the governments but was directed against governments as well. EX: Eugene Delacroix's "Liberty Leading the People" -> Romanticizes French Revolution EX: Diego Rivera's "History of Mexico" -> Reveals the struggle of the abused against hardship, a struggle that ended up in the Mexican Revolution

Indexicality -> Sign Reasoning or Circumstantial Evidence

Indexical images often function as a form of sign reasoning or circumstantial evidence. EX: A high-school yearbook photo might document who was in the glee club EX: Image of a zipper-shaped scar down the center of a person's chest is evidence the person had open heart surgery EX: Airline passenger "shaming" photos verify that some travelers, like the slob in 15A with his bare foot on your arm are disgusting rascals EX: A disturbing example of indexicality involves police shooting that have been recorded by witnesses on smartphones and dashboard cameras. Such footage contributed to the Black Lives Matter movement.

Photographs -> Iconic Representations

Many well-known photographs serve as iconic representations of events or eras in history. Joe Rosenthal's 1945 Photo -> U.S. Marines raising the Stars and Stipes at Iwo Jima. The picture symbolizes the determination of the US to win the war in the Pacific John Filo's Photo -> Female student at Kent University in 1970, knelling over the body of a fellow student who was slain by the National Guard. That picture symbolized the separation between the protest movement and the government, as well as the generation gap of the late 1960s. Nick Ute's 1972 Photo -> A naked 9-year-old Vietnamese girl, running down the road, with napalm (-bomb) burns from the bombs that had just been dropped on her village. The photo encapsulated the feelings of many Americans that the US was involved in an unfair war in Vietnam.

Cinematic Persuasion -> Movies Told in Narrative Form

Movies are told in narrative form - - as stories. Stories possess an aura of believability not found in other mediums of communication.

Digitally Altering Photos Examples -> OJ Simpson, Campus University, and Kim Kardashian Examples

OJ Simpson: On June 27, 1994, Time magazine darkened O.J. Simpson's mugshot on one of its covers, making him appear more sinister (-evil) and menacing (-intimidating). Campus University: In the year 2000, a brochure for the University of Wisconsin-Madison was doctored by adding an African American student into a photo of fans cheering at a football game. The manipulation was done to make the campus seem more ethnically diverse. Kim Kardashian: Kim Kardashian once "broke the Internet" with a photo of a champagne glass balanced on her behind. But when a non-airbrushed photo of Kim Kardashian's derriere surfaced on the Web, fans realized that all her other photos were digitally altered. She lost 100,000 Instagram followers in a week.

Images -> Syntactic Indeterminacy (Example - Oil Companies)

Oil companies don't want you to think about tar-covered birdie on an oil-stained beach when you envision petroleum products. They want you to associate pro-environmental attitudes. Hence, Chevron's "People Do" advertising campaign, which portrays Chevron as the guardian of endangered species.

How Films Persuade -> American Movies Export Western Values (In Favor)

On the positive side, movies can promote prosocial values. Movies often champion (-advocate) the underdog. In "Hunger Games," "Rudy," and "Slumdog Millionaire," the underdog perseveres and, ultimately, wins. Other films, such as "Finding Nemo," "My Left Foot," and "Theory of Everything" feature those with disabilities in a favorable light. "Forrest Gump" demonstrated that values such as honesty and compassion can triumph over mental and physical limitations. Fate (-chance) threw hardships his way, but Forrest showed us that it is how we deal with adversity that determines who we are. More recently, animated Disney movies, such as "Brave," "Mulan," and "Frozen" have abandoned the "damsel in distress" refrain (-melody) in favor of assertive, independent roles for female protagonists. Films like "Akeelah and the Bee," "Hidden Figures," and "The Princess and the Frog" offer positive, uplifting roles for African-American females.

Photos Are Not Carbon Copies of Reality (Aside from Photo-Journalism)

Outside of photojournalism, photos also are not carbon copies of reality either. Political attack ads often show a politician at his/her worst. Fashion magazines show models at their best. When people join online dating services, they often alter their now profile photographs to appear more attractive. These examples emphasize the point that seeing is not necessarily believing. Just because someone claims to have captured an image on film doesn't necessarily mean the image is genuine and unaltered.

How Films Persuasde -> Modeling Behaviors

People may measure what constitutes appropriate behavior in social situations by taking a movie character's lead. Albert Bandura -> SOCIAL COGNITIVE THEORY Subconscious Level: People may enact scripts they've learned from movies as well.

Study of Persuasive Communication (Verbal and Visual)

Persuasive communication has been studied for over 2,000 years. However, the focus has been overwhelmingly on verbal strategies. With a few important distinctions, the organized investigation of visual persuasion is in its infancy.

Photographs Aren't Objective -> Photojournalist's Point of View

Photographs are not objective, impartial representations of things. The truth claim implied by a photograph can be misleading. All photographs are mediated (-interfered) by the photographer. Someone must aim the camera. Photographs give us the photojournalist's point of view, which is one point of view. The photographer decides which events to capture on film, and which aren't worth preserving. The photographer decides on the distance, lighting, shutter speed, and so on. The photographer decides which pictures to develop, how to edit or crop them, and which prints to offer for public consumption.

Photographs (Facts)

Photographs tell their own persuasive stories. Photographs can make powerful statements. Photographs can affect people's perceptions of events. They also can reach people on an emotional level in ways that words alone cannot. Zumwalt (2001): There is tremendous potential in a photograph to inflame emotions. Photographs don't require literacy (-ability to read) or familiarity with a particular language, they are also more universally understood than messages that rely on words. Photographic images can distort reality.

Photojournalists, News Editors, and War Zones

Photojournalists and news editors make decisions about which photos of war zones to publish and how gory (-horrible) or sanitized (-clean) these images are. McEntee (2015): Found that more graphic war photos (showing human carnage (-massacres)) evoked greater empathy than less graphic photos (showing building rubble). McEntee argued that news outlets function as gatekeepers, deciding what the public sees, thereby shaping public opinions about conflict zones.

Photos -> Document Events

Photos can sum up social problems or controversies. They can document events in ways that words cannot. "A picture is worth a thousand words" applies here. Owing to their iconicity, photographs can cement themselves in the public's mind. They function as guides that capture entire events in our collective conscience. So many cellphones now have cameras which has elevated the role of amateur photographers. Photos can be uploaded instantly to Facebook, Twitter, and other social media.

Picture Superiority Effect

Pictures are more easily recognized and recalled than words. Medina (2014): People remember only 10% of what they hear three days forward, compared to 65% recall when pictures are included

Shock Ads -> Fine Line

Shock ads must walk a fine line. If they aren't shocking enough, they won't provoke the pubic dialogue and the publicity they seek. If they are overly shocking, they may prompt a consumer rebellion.

Ads -> Cause-Related

Some brands have a cause to promote. Consumers aren't just buying products or services, they are also helping to feed starving children, save rainforests, or protect endangered species. Examples: TOMS shows and (Product) Red exemplify this approach. Ben & Jerry's promotes social change as well as donating a percentage of their profits to social causes.

Shock Ads -> Example (Abortion)

Some pro-life videos feature horrifying images of late-term abortions in which the fetus has been cut into pieces prior to extraction. The images are intended to be repulsive. Is it acceptable to use gory images to persuade? Kelland and Macleod (2015): Anti-abortionists view such gruesome images as revealing the truth about the practice of abortion. Only by showing such images, anti-abortionists argue, can the immorality (-criminality) of the practice be revealed. Images of abortion, pro-life supporters claim, are similar to images of the Holocaust. They must be seen to be believed. In contrast, pro-choice proponents argue that horrifying photos are deceptive, because a small percentage of abortions are late-term. Shocking photos, pro-choice supporters maintain, ignore the circumstances of a woman who chose a late-term abortion, such as rape, incest, severe birth defect, or a threat to the woman's life. The disputed nature of pro-life imagery illustrates the tension between images that appeal to the head or the heart.

Paul Messaris

Stated three basic ways in which images persuade: 1. Iconicity 2. Indexicality 3. Syntactic Indeterminacy

Cinematic Persuasion

Steven Spielberg: Cinema is "the most powerful weapon in the world." Movies persuade in multiple ways and on multiple levels. Some of the influential features are unique to particular genres of film. Several Factors at Work Lend Films Their Power to Persuade: 1. Potential for Mass Suggestion 2. Movies Told in Narrative Form 3. Audience Expects to be Entertained 4. Films are Carefully Crafted Works

How Films Persuade -> Modeling Behavior (Glamorize Poor Behaviorisms -> Example (Smoking and Unprotected Sex))

Strong evidence supports that adolescents who see a lot of smoking in movies are likelier to light up. Study - Heatherton and Sargent (2009) -> Teens with high exposure to smoking in movies were three times more likely to smoke than those with low exposure. The same applies to unprotected sex. More than 80% of PG and PG-13 rated movies include some sexual content. Exposure to sexual content increases the likelihood of unprotected sex. 98% of movies with sex scenes make no mention of safe sex.

How Films Persuade -> American Movies Export Western Values (Opposition)

Su (2016): American popular culture in general, and Hollywood films in particular, explicitly (-particularly) and actively advocate American values and the American way of life, thereby threatening other national and local cultures. Foreign audiences often resent the infusion of Western values such as promiscuity, violence, and drug use into their own culture (many in the US aren't too thrilled with these values either). Others resent the emphasis on materialism and conspicuous consumption.

Art of Social Activism (Protest of Art)

Such art critiques society and promotes social change. This activity typically occurs in public places. Activist artists seek to engage the public in their art and increase the public's social consciousness. Fleshin: Artists are attempting at the very least to 'change the conversation' - - to empower individuals and communities, and ultimately provoke social change." Duncombe: Identifies a number of goals and functions of activist art - including changing perceptions, building community, causing disruption, fostering dialogue, promoting political change, and transforming the environment

How Artists Persuade -> Increase Awareness Through Participation

Such art is collaborative or interactive. Fleshin (1995): "Participation is a motivation for social change."

How Artists Persuade -> Increase Awareness Through Perception (Example)

Suzanne Lacy recreated "Three Weeks in May" called "Three Weeks in January." She wanted to increase public awareness of sexual assault. On a huge map of LA, she stenciled the word "rape," in red block letters, at the locations where the rapes had been reported, from January 12 to February 1, 2012. Before long, the map was covered with red stencils. The exhibit provided a graphic discovery of the extent and severity of the problem.

Shock Ads -> Example (The Montana Meth Project)

The Montana Meth Project ran a series of public service announcements graphically depicting the consequences of meth use. One depicted a boyfriend who "pimped out his girlfriend to support their meth habit. A billboard showed a young woman with a thousand-year stare and the caption "15 bucks for sex isn't normal, but on meth it is." The effectiveness of the MMP has been questioned, however.

Visual Society

The US has become an increasingly visual society. Our society has become increasingly visually oriented. Fewer people are reading newspapers and books, more are turning to movies and TV. More people now get their news from TV than from newspapers. More people now watch movies than read books. Persuaders are capitalizing on (-taking advantage of) this trend by enlisting (-obtaining) images in support of their persuasive endeavors.

Indexicality

The ability of images, specifically photos and video, to document that an event happened or something took place EX: Photos of Iraqi detainees being abused by US soldiers at Abu Gharib prison or images of Syrian children killed by US drone missile strikes as "proof" to many in the Middle East that the US doesn't value Muslim lives

Indexicality -> Images Misleading -> Documentary Aspect

The documentary aspect of images can also be misleading. Pictures are not always faithful representations of reality. Photographs can lie. EX: A picture of a model in a fashion ad can be made more attractive through advertising EX: Voter interviews or product demands can be staged EX: Crowd at Trump's presidential inauguration -- although Trump declare his audience the largest in history, the National Park Service released photos that challenged the claim

Shock Ads ("Shockvertising")

The goal is to sell products by being edgy. Some shocks ads are vulgar (-offensive), some are erotic (-sexy), some are humorous, and others are nauseating. Some adopt an "in your face" style of advertising.

Art (Social and Political)-> Mao (China)

Under Mao, China became a great deal of art aimed at promoting Communist ideology. The communists assumed power in 1949. Posters and murals contributed to the worship of Chairman Mao. Graphic arts were also used to assemble and brainwash the people during the Cultural Revolution. Posters showed smiling, adorable children, peasants and soldiers all harvesting plentiful crops together - - a tribute to the agricultural achievements of the revolution.

Syntactic Indeterminacy

Unlike words, pictures cannot convey precise relationships between things. Images lack logical operators. Images can't state cause-and-effect, if-them, or either-or relationships, or other logical connections between people, objects, and events. EX: A picture can show what a person's abdominal muscles looked like before using the new "Monster Ab-Cruncher." Another picture can show what the person's abdominal muscles look like afterward. However, pictures themselves can't specific a cause-effect relationship.

PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals)

Use naked people to protest death and fur

Art to Advance Political and Religious Ends

Using art to further political and religious ends dates back to ancient civilizations. Greek moldings and paintings taught citizens moral lessons involving Greek gods and Greek mythology In the Middle Ages, organized religions sponsored art to further religious ends The Catholic Church instructed thousands of works of art to promote Catholicism EX: Michelangelo's "Finger of God" -> endorses biblical view of creation (Sistine Chapel)

How Artists Persuade -> Increase Awareness Through Participation (Example -> Bilal)

Wafaa Bilal created an interactive illustration called "Domestic Transition." Bilal, an Iraqi artist living in political asylum, occupied a plexiglass room for one month. During this time, people went online and shot him using a robotically controlled paintball gun. This went on 24 hours a day. Over 60,000 shots were fired from over 120 countries. Some shot the gun at Bilal while others deliberately missed him. Many people had no anxieties about shooting a person online. Others were confronted with their own morality in choosing to shoot, or not to shoot, another human being. The project laid bare cultural, ethnic, and religious tensions between Westerners and Middle Easterners. By allowing virtual strangers to shoot at him, Bilal focused on how numb modern societies are to violence. Killing has become robotic, impersonal, and - - as in his project - - carried out from afar. When innocent civilians are killed by drone missiles, they are simply labeled "collateral damages." People living comfortably in stable societies are cheerfully unaware of the suffering of people in conflict zones.

How Movies Persuade -> Films Support and Maintain Stereotypes (Women Stereotype)

When it comes to stereotypic roles, women fare no better. With few exceptions women must be thin and beautiful to land starring roles. In action-adventure movies, women are depicted as powerful and objects of desire. Women also tend to be confined to traditional roles: mother, wife, mistress, girlfriend. This isn't particularly surprising, given that fewer than 10% of screenplays are written by women, and fewer than 6%of movies are directed by women. Surely, there are some women in nontraditional roles. Nevertheless, roles for women, especially older women, remain limited.

Cinematic Persuasion -> Audience Expects to Be Entertained

When people sit in a theater, they expect to be entertained - - not persuaded. Therefore, they tend to let their guards down and become more open to suggestion. This is one reason why inserting brand-name items into movie scenes is so prevalent.

Cinematic Persuasion -> Willing Suspension of Disbelief

When we watch a movie, we engage in a "willing suspension of disbelief." In order to follow the story, we must lose ourselves in the imaginary world of film. In doing so, we give up some of our ability to think and reason.

Advertising

Woodward and Denton (1999): Advertising is certainly the most common form of persuasion in our society. When we think of pure cases of persuasion, advertising immediately comes to mind. Over $200 billion per year is spent on advertising in the US, with an increasing share going to digital advertising. Most estimate that the average person is exposed to more than 3,000 advertising messages per day. Some estimates are even higher. One estimate places daily media exposure at 15.5 hours per day. If all the money spent on advertising were divided up, it would work out to about $800 per person in the US and $40 per person in all other countries combined. The average American spends about 1 hour per day watching TV commercials. That works out to more than two years of commercial viewing over an average lifespan. Advertisements - - whether on TV, in a magazine, online, or some other medium, feature images. The visual components of such ads are often key to their effectiveness.

Indexicality -> Staged Events

Would a political candidate do volunteer acts if there were no cameras? The cameras are recording an event that may not take place in their absence. News footage of angry citizens of foreign lands burning US flag to protest American policies - - but would this happen without the cameras?

How Movies Persuade -> Promote Viewer Identification

Young adults may discover "possible selves" from seeing movies or may derive a sense of validation from a character. Sometimes the story of the character overlaps with the viewer's own experience, causing the viewer to identify with the character in the film. In this way, movies establish a common bond with viewers. Example: If you've ever felt like an outcast, a nerd, the underdog, or misunderstood, you might identify with movies such as "Napoleon Dynamite," "Ghost World," "My Big Fat Greek Wedding," "Happy Times," or "Pretty in Pink." Viewer identification can take place even if a viewer's experience doesn't directly overlap with that of the character in a movie. Example: None of us have ever met an alien, but we can still identify with a movie such as E.T., because all of us have had to say goodbye to someone we love. Example: None of us are green ogres, but we can identify with Shrek because we've all felt like outsiders from time to time.