1) Choice 1 advertisement from the list at the end of this document - whether or not you agree

with the message of the advertisements, they all use persuasion techniques: appeals to emotion,

appeals to biases, fallacies, slanting (omission and distortion), vagueness, and non-verbal

elements (visual, auditory (chapter 6)- important b/c advertisements rely heavily on visual

and auditory components). These persuasive techniques/elements are arguably manipulative

(Satire, Politics, and Fallacies Lecture, especially Part 1).

• Think about the advertisement as an argument trying to persuade its audience of

something.

Who is the arguer, intended audience, and the opponent? What beliefs, desires, or

emotions is it trying to get the audience to adopt, and for what reason? (chapter 1 of the

Excerpts)

What fallacies, appeals to emotion, slanting techniques (omissions & distortions,

euphemisms & dysphemisms, non-verbal elements, appeals to cognitive and learned

biases, vagueness and pseudo-science) are being employed to persuade you? What about

vested interests and credibility? (Daily Show chapter, chapter 2 & 3 & 6 & 7 the

Excerpts)

• If we think of the advertisement's persuasive elements as premises, are they

acceptable, contextually relevant, and/or sufficient? (chapter 3 of the Excerpts,

advertising example from chapter 1)