MEDIA LITERACY and PERSUASION

What is “MEDIA”? Newspaper Magazine Websites Television Radio Blimps Clothes Means of communicating messages

What is “LITERACY”? The ability to read for knowledge, communicate clearly, and think critically.

Messages are constructed.

Messages are representations of the world.

Messages have economic and political purposes and contexts.

Individuals create meaning in media messages through interpretation.

Unit Objectives:

#1 Become more informed consumers of the media

#2 Analyze and evaluate communication for technique, effectiveness, and bias.

A rhetorical technique is a way of communicating a message. Advertisers use PERSUASIVE techniques.

“According to the American Lung Association, cigarette smoke contains over 4,800 chemicals, 69 of which are known to cause cancer." “Lady Gaga was more popular than Justin Bieber in 2011 because Gaga's fan pages collected ten million more Facebook fans than Bieber's.” Logos – appealing to logic or reason

Ethos – appealing to credibility or character Using experts or people who seem like “experts” (doctors, lawyers, celebrities)

Pathos – appealing to the audience’s emotions “Mom, if you got me a new cell phone, it could save my life in an emergency.”

1.Cardiologists recommend Ecotrin more than any other aspirin. 2.Advil Liqui-Gels provide up to 8 hours of continuous pain relief. 3.Miley Cyrus appears in Oreo advertisements. 4.People who drink Red Bull have twice as much energy! 5.A magazine ad shows people smiling while smoking cigarettes.

1.A child is shown covered in bug bites after using an inferior bug spray. 2.LeBron James endorses Nike 3.“Sprite Zero is 100% sugar-free!” 4.A 32-oz bottle of Tide holds enough to wash 32 loads. 5.A commercial shows an image of a happy couple riding in a corvette.

For Tomorrow Write a brief letter to persuade me to eliminate homework from this class. Use at least one example of each rhetorical technique. Not everything you write has to be 100% “true”…be creative We will share in class tomorrow.