Rhetorical Language in Product and Political Advertisements
In our lives we see examples of how propaganda and doublespeak, or “tricky” language, are used daily. Propaganda is a way of persuasion, usually misleading, that is used for both good and bad reasons. Doublespeak is language that is usually used to misguide people through hidden meaning and a stretching of the truth. Both of these types of language are used widely by political leaders and in many product advertisements. Propaganda, as described by Donna Woolfolk Cross, is a means of persuasion and can be put to work for for both good and bad causes (209). She even says that propaganda is persuading us everyday by telling us that it has probably determined what kind of toothpaste …show more content…
Doublespeak is harder to identify most of the time and I struggled to find an example at first, but then I spotted one. I looked closely at one of the before-and-after photos that are typically shown on Proactiv commercials and in small, white print it says, “unretouched photos”, which I am pretty confident is a made up word (Amundson Rivers, Web). The purpose of using such doublespeak, otherwise known as gobbledygook, or the use of unfamiliar words, is to attempt to overwhelm the audience so they don’t think about what they heard or read (Lutz 250). The producer of the commercial just wanted to squeeze that information in there so a member of the audience couldn’t say they didn’t include it, but they made it harder to understand for the audience so no one would detect it …show more content…
Right away, I noticed some propaganda being used; argumentum ad hominem was being conveyed. Argumentum ad hominem is where a person is being attacked instead of the issue at hand (Cross 212). President Obama deliberately speaks about Governor Mitt Romney and how his beliefs would basically be insufficient for America; he says, “Governor Romney’s plan would cut taxes for the folks at the very top, roll back regulations on big banks, and he says that if we do, our economy will grow and everyone will benefit. But you know what? We tried that top-down approach and it’s what caused the mess in the first place” (BarrackObama.com, Web). By criticizing Governor Romney like that, he makes himself seem like the better option for America. In America, to win over the people, you have to tell them what they want to hear; this is actually another type of propaganda called argumentum ad populum (Cross 212). After Obama bashes Romney’s plan for America, he proceeds to explain his plan for America and how it would be so much more beneficial for the country. It just so happens that Obama’s plan for the country is everything that the people want to
In our lives we see examples of how propaganda and doublespeak, or “tricky” language, are used daily. Propaganda is a way of persuasion, usually misleading, that is used for both good and bad reasons. Doublespeak is language that is usually used to misguide people through hidden meaning and a stretching of the truth. Both of these types of language are used widely by political leaders and in many product advertisements. Propaganda, as described by Donna Woolfolk Cross, is a means of persuasion and can be put to work for for both good and bad causes (209). She even says that propaganda is persuading us everyday by telling us that it has probably determined what kind of toothpaste …show more content…
Doublespeak is harder to identify most of the time and I struggled to find an example at first, but then I spotted one. I looked closely at one of the before-and-after photos that are typically shown on Proactiv commercials and in small, white print it says, “unretouched photos”, which I am pretty confident is a made up word (Amundson Rivers, Web). The purpose of using such doublespeak, otherwise known as gobbledygook, or the use of unfamiliar words, is to attempt to overwhelm the audience so they don’t think about what they heard or read (Lutz 250). The producer of the commercial just wanted to squeeze that information in there so a member of the audience couldn’t say they didn’t include it, but they made it harder to understand for the audience so no one would detect it …show more content…
Right away, I noticed some propaganda being used; argumentum ad hominem was being conveyed. Argumentum ad hominem is where a person is being attacked instead of the issue at hand (Cross 212). President Obama deliberately speaks about Governor Mitt Romney and how his beliefs would basically be insufficient for America; he says, “Governor Romney’s plan would cut taxes for the folks at the very top, roll back regulations on big banks, and he says that if we do, our economy will grow and everyone will benefit. But you know what? We tried that top-down approach and it’s what caused the mess in the first place” (BarrackObama.com, Web). By criticizing Governor Romney like that, he makes himself seem like the better option for America. In America, to win over the people, you have to tell them what they want to hear; this is actually another type of propaganda called argumentum ad populum (Cross 212). After Obama bashes Romney’s plan for America, he proceeds to explain his plan for America and how it would be so much more beneficial for the country. It just so happens that Obama’s plan for the country is everything that the people want to