In the comments on this section paste the web address for the website that you have chosen and then your analysis of how language is used. In our next lesson we will look at the different selections that people have chosen.
Friday, 21 October 2011
The Language of Persuasion
You have read 'The Language of Persuasion' and spent some time in class looking at websites in groups. Now is the time to choose your own individual website and analyze how persuasive language is used.
In the comments on this section paste the web address for the website that you have chosen and then your analysis of how language is used. In our next lesson we will look at the different selections that people have chosen.
In the comments on this section paste the web address for the website that you have chosen and then your analysis of how language is used. In our next lesson we will look at the different selections that people have chosen.
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Political Website Advertisement Techniques
ReplyDeleteThe website I have chosen is called "Qatar Sucks - and the world knows it!". The reason I chose this website is because I believe it is made up of complete lies, it is biased and the person behind it has made it out of spite/anger. After taking all this into consideration, I thought why not investigate the advertising techniques the creator of this website has used to get people to support him/her.
The creator of this website is a British lad, who was accompanied by a female friend when creating this website. The Website's home page has a white background symbolizing "peace" along with blue text and borders to outline important events. The only black text on the page is the first paragraph at the center of the page outlining the horrible reason behind the making of this website. This shows the text was purposely black as to grab the viewer's attention in comparison to the other colours on the page, and the black symbolizes the sadness of the situation (It wants that impact on the viewer). Dates were also added at the top, with the latest news at both sides, to indicate that the problem is ongoing and the latest news is available.
Another interesting aspect of the page is the very first thing that catches your attention when you open the site, is the pictures at the very top left hand corner. It's where three pictures (the Qatari flag, Qatar Airways and the known pearl) flash for two secs, then go onto the next picture. These pictures were intentionally put to remind the viewer of the country and show the main images that relate to the country - so you relate the bad information with those pictures. Each picture was not left for more than two seconds so the viewer doesn't have time to look for too long, or remember times in Qatar (focus). Some basic persuasion techniques have been used on this website, such as Association, Bandwagon, Repetition, Name-calling and Majority belief. With association, the creator tries to link the state of Qatar with the word "sucks" so whenever people hear of Qatar or think of it they automatically relate it to that word, which is also known as "emotional transfer". Bandwagon, which also relates to the majority belief, implies that everyone thinks this way and believes this because even in the title it states " and the world knows it", so it forces the viewer to believe "if the world knows it why shouldn't I"? The word 'sucks' has also been repeated several times to engrave the idea into the minds of the audience and name-calling, which links into that.
Finally, what I found most interesting, is that the website doesn't allow comments on their uploaded video against Qatar! After viewing the video I decided to comment on behalf of Qatar and state my opinion but what came up was " This comment will be take into consideration by administration before it is posted". I found this appalling, because the only comments were negative, which meant the website was definitely baist and hid the truth. This meant that the website only portrayed the idea they wanted the viewer to receive and deceived them by hiding the rest.
Bibliography:
Language of persuasion - advertisement techniques:
"Language of Persuasion | Media Literacy Project." Media Literacy Project | Creating Digital Opportunities. Web. 21 Oct. 2011. .
Website that I analyzed:
QATARSUCKS | and the World Knows It! Web. 21 Oct. 2011.
The title of the website says it all (Real Clear Politics) from their name we are able to identify directly that they are trying to gain the viewers trust by mentioning that what they say and report is very clear and straight forward also that there is no bias sources or opinions, they are basically mutual and don't take sides. We are able to observe that the logo stands out due to the use of contrast and a vibrant color. To further emphasis "Real Clear" is written in white on a red background and "Politics" Is also written in white but on a black background which just gives this sense of violence in addition to black and white are formal colors which can also mean that politics is a very serious yet very important aspect that plays an essential role in our daily life as well as can have an influence on how we perceive different things by viewing other peoples point of views on some of the current pressing issues. Speaking about the composition or layout of the website its very organized and the issues are under each other with sub headlines given on the top. Also the use of social networks are present to give the feeling that they collaborate with the general public that use twitter and so on. Also there is page for comments which further reinforces the fact that they handle criticism and judgment by people and listen to what they have to say and try to satisfy their needs. The question here is do you think the things stated above are actually true? I don't really know if it is or not but 99% of the time what they tend to convey through the use of social networks and so on are not true. Overall, websites with political aspects tend to indirectly portray and become sneaky, what happens behind the scenes stays behind.
ReplyDeleteI checked out qatar sucks too.. it is clearly a bias source and is completely untrue since they are only talking about the minorities and not the majority. I fully agree with what my peer Noor said about them. Although I wasn't shocked that they wouldn't accept good comments about Qatar since it will just contradict the whole purpose of the website.
ReplyDeleteLanguage of Persuasion
ReplyDeleteFor years, the Singapore army has been bombarded by many people for being racist and too harsh on its recruits and soldiers. These reasons are the main cause of scaring parents from sending their children for National Service when they turn 18. Although National Service in Singapore is compulsory and has heavy consequences, some parents are still compelled to help their son escape this service. As a result, the Ministry of defence has set up and changed it’s website to help change the views of parents which can clearly been seen on the website homepage.
On the homepage, Smack in the middle, they are addressing the issue of racial profiling in the army. They have tried to erase this image by displaying images of animated people who are of all different races that live in Singapore. Through this, they are trying to show that there is racial diversity in the army. The army has also been criticised for putting the Malay community in the police division of the army instead of having them in any other division and they have also tried to eliminate this idea by displaying the many different divisions of the army with the faces of people from every race in Singapore including the Malays.
At the bottom of the homepage, they are addressing the issue of being too harsh on the recruits. They have done this by showing testimonials, given by regular army soldiers who have been serving the army for many years and showing only the positives of what these soldiers had to say. There is also a photo album next to the testimonials that contain images of soldiers smiling and looking happy, even pictures of soldiers posing during the national day rally. They are trying to give the army life a happier and more patriotic look rather than showing the tough and harsh training that my cousins have been telling me about.
The website also tries to convince us to join the army by only including specially selected tabs on the website. They only display tabs about “Army Careers, Army Vocations, and army life”. And if I were to move my cursor over these tabs, instead of directing me to a different page, it pops up and provides even more links. This is done to keep people on the main page for as long as they can in order for the people to stay as long as possible on the main page. This is done to keep us concentrated on the images and pictures that the main page contains. They are probably hoping that we will take in all the messages that they are feeding to us. They are also targeting the parents who wish to know more about the site and have created a special link just for them with the army hotline also there for people who wish to have more information about the army.
Bibliography:
http://www.mindef.gov.sg/arc/
Political Analysis of a website
ReplyDeleteThe website that I have chosen is Ict Qatar, which is the supreme council of information and communication technology. I have chosen this website to highlight how Qatar works hard to make it’s more knowledgeable and aware of information technology. This website aims to develop the whole community into a more technologically advanced one. This is in line with the government’s vision of turning the country into a knowledge-based society. This to make Qatari’s more powerful to face challenges from other parts of the world.
By placing an image of a young Qatari girl in the center of the website, makes the focal point and emphasizes that the Ict Qatar is targeting the youth of the country. This makes it clear that future of the country becomes brighter once the younger generation is Ict enabled. We can also see this from the optimistic look on the face of the girl. Various programs have been listed on the website but the current one stays as the focal point. If we scroll down the images under the young girl, we can see the other programs. Without using a slide show to show all these programs, the focus is on the young girl, which shows that they are focusing on the young generation since the image isn’t moving.
Also, in the orange box towards the bottom, Ict Qatar has given the importance of a costumer and their legal rights. This shows that the consumers have their own rights which they should make use of while engaging in any kind of purchase. They offer tips and advice for the customers and offer assistance in lodging a complaint. By helping the public, Ict Qatar becomes more trustworthy and reliable since they are serving the society in positive way.
The website is in both Arabic and English which makes it convenient for all the people of the country to understand the content. This shows that this organization is country and culture specific, meaning that they don’t want to focus on technological development and forget their traditions. This is shown by having the word Qatar written in Arabic by the little girl, which symbolizes the idea that the future of Qatar will be bright and safe in the hands of the new generation.
By having many images primarily focusing on Qatari’s, this website shows that the Qatari community are their main focus and they are involved them in all the Ict initiatives. This shows that they are more technologically advanced. Also the fact that those Qatari’s are shown interacting with foreigners shows how Ict Qatar aims to make Qatari’s more open-minded of the cultures surrounding them. Also, the images including foreigners as well as Qatari’s uses the technique of group dynamics as those images show that Ict Qatar is serving everybody in the country and the facial expressions show that Ict Qatar is positively impacting them.
The use of white and greyish blue refers to wisdom as well as learning. This is because the white in the logo refers to the optimistic aim of Ict Qatar in promoting the vision of Qatar. By having the greyish blue in the background, it shows that the organization has started of wisely with a clever foundation.
To conclude, the website provides a lot of information to the people of Qatar on its programs as well as the latest developments in Ict. This clearly helps the people of the country to become more technologically advanced. Thus, this website is highly persuasive of the political and administrative view of the government.
Bibliography:
"Language of Persuasion | Media Literacy Project." Media Literacy Project | Creating Digital Opportunities. Web. 22 Oct. 2011. .
Website:
Supreme Council of Information and Communication Technology. Web. 22 Oct. 2011. .
I have chosen a website that advertises natural beauty products. I am particularly interested in reading about beauty articles, as I have done my personal project about this particular subject, natural beauty. With reference to my experience and interest in this area, it is now easier to spot the advertising techniques used in the language incorporated in the main page of the website.
ReplyDeleteLike any other beauty website, this website has used some elements to grab the readers attention and to engage them in the product they are trying to sell. One of these main elements is fear. The website presents its reader a fear that their product could potentially cure. This website uses chemical sensitivities as well as making reference to the “…traditional toxic ways of giving beauty services,” as a fear that its audience has. From that point, one guesses that the target audience is people who fear harsh chemicals. The promoter then manipulates the target audience’s emotions and fears to introduce their product, the implied solution. Beauty agencies are well informed that their audience has probably tried many products; therefore, they need to make their product stand out by including an expert’s opinion. “Beauty professionals will love our organic beauty products,” as well as “We have an entire Professional Beauty section just for you.” Not only have they used experts, but they have also used ‘Plain Folks’ to further convince their audience. “Make sure to stop by our forum to join with like-minded individuals.” Not only have they used these elements effectively; they have also chosen convincing words to further persuade their target audience.
Glittering generalities were sparsely spread across the website. Repetition and glittering generalities were used simultaneously to convey a stronger and more convincing argument that their beauty products are better. The beauty products are better because they are ‘healthy’, ‘new’, ‘improved’ and ‘organic’. These words are what the consumers would love to hear, hence, the repetition. Bandwagon was used slightly as they have mentioned a bigger community of ‘like-minded individuals’. Bandwagon is used to show that everyone is using it and therefore they must offer good products. The creators of the website have used emotive phrases such as ‘be a leader, not a follower,’ in other words, be the first person to purchase our product or become part of the community.
Overall, the website seems to be fairly convincing as it has the main elements that usually convince people. The website however, did not have a good layout to support their product or their writing on the main page.
Website:
http://allnaturalbeauty.us/
The website that I decided to analyse was:
ReplyDeletewww.sickkids.ca
It is a website for a paediatric hospital in Canada.
my post is too long to fit here...it's a whole essay so I will email it to you instead, thank you
Sarah
For this political analysis I have chosen a Qatari website called ‘Hukoomi’ which basically means the Government in Arabic which is an e-Government website. The advanced e-Government Program (i-Gov) includes all the services provided by the Government of Qatar’s various agencies together into one website. It is a single portal for citizens, residents, visitors and businesspeople to access government information, interactions and transaction services. By the use of creative information communications technology, i-Gov increased the availability, accessibility, productivity and effectiveness of government. Analyzing the Qatar Foundation website earlier I have noticed many similarities and differences between the Hukoomi website and the QF website.
ReplyDeleteIn Hukoomi, the first thing you notice when entering the website is the 5 different slideshows featuring different topics promoting Qatar’s current status and contributions. Each slide features a completely different thing, while outlining and covering different topics. This is very similar to what you see in the QF website, only difference is that in the Hukoomi website you can control which slide to look through. The Hukoomi website lets you control what you want to see, while QF prevents you from controlling the different slides being presented. One reason for this is QF wants to promote everything they do, and show the hard work they are keeping up, while convincing us that they are a good source of education and most importantly a strong supporter to our community. The Hukoomi website represents the whole government and not an organization like Qatar foundation, so the website representing a whole active government cannot show everything they do because the slideshows will never end.
Hukoomi like Qatar foundation provides many services to the community, but each website does this in a different way. Qatar Foundations website outlines the different events happening that contribute the community, while the Hukoomi website actually provides services online to help the community. When entering the Hukoomi website there is a ‘Top Services’ section, this is a section that provides services for everyone in Qatar, including citizens, visitors, other governments, businesses, students and finally a separate section for families. This is really good because it shows that the government actually cares and considers everyone else in the community and not just the citizens.
Unlike Qatar Foundations website as well as promoting the government of Qatar, the Hukoomi website promotes the country as well. The website promotes the country by outlining our different traditions, attractive sites, the history of Qatar, and finally the constitution. Another way used to promote the country is the use of colors in the website, the Qatari flag is all over the background, and the whole website uses Qatar’s colors, white, black and maroon.
Website used: http://portal.www.gov.qa/wps/portal/frontpage/!ut/p/c5/04_SB8K8xLLM9MSSzPy8xBz9CP0os3gzA0sjR18Lk9AgHycLA09vD1NTP3cjYwMDM_1wkA6zeAMcwNFA388jPzdVvyA7rxwAav-zag!!/dl3/d3/L2dBISEvZ0FBIS9nQSEh/