Identifying Types of Persuasive Appeals

Ebony Cox

ENG/135

May 20, 2019

Identifying Types of Persuasive Appeals

The advertisement I watched was a Centers of Disease Control: (CDC) Tips from former smokers ad. The ads purpose was to persuade those who smoke, may be thinking smoking, or possibly just to keep people from smoking at all by making the choice to not pick up a cigarette. Cigarettes contain tobacco and are highly addictive. According to “Facts About Smoking & Using Tobacco”(2019), Cigarette smoke contains more than 7000 chemicals, 70 of those chemicals are known to cause to cancer. In the commercial a woman named Terrie, who has since passed from cancer, is narrating the commercial as she is getting ready for the day. The ad opens with a photograph of a young, beautiful version of Terrie. Terrie is putting in her false teeth, then her wig since Terrie is suffering from cancer and had no hair. Terrie then inserts a hands-free device into her neck, then ties a scarf around her neck to cover up the exposed hole in her neck. After Terrie is done getting dressed, she states “Now you’re ready for the day.”

I’m not a smoker, but if I were, I would definitely be persuaded to stop immediately after watching that 28 second commercial. The ad really touched me since this was a real person experiencing the symptoms of what could possibly happen when you smoke. The ad was a game changer from the usual tactics employed to get people to buy something but to stop the purchase of something harmful. The persuasive technique used in this ad was the emotional technique. The emotional technique is used to play with the emotions of the viewers. These emotions can be anything from fear to sadness to excitement to happiness; they are implicitly or explicitly drawn to get people to buy a product or follow a certain path. (“Persuasive Advertising Techniques: Strategies That Truly Work”, 2019). The ad really brought out the seriousness of the message by going with a real everyday person in their own environment rather than a celebrity in a studio or green screen.

References

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5zWB4dLYChM&feature=youtu.be&app=desktop

Facts about Smoking & Using Tobacco(2019). Retrieved from http://www.standaz.com/tobacco-facts/The reference page always begins on the top of the next page after the conclusion.

Persuasive Advertising Techniques: Strategies That Truly Work(2019). Retrieved from https://marketingwit.com/persuasive-advertising-techniques