My ePortfolio part 5 assignment

Hello to everyone today is my final ODU Persuasion COMM333 course blog post.

The objective for my ePortfolio part 5 assignment is to write a 600-800 word reflection as a Blog Post on my Wix page regarding my experience in COMM 333 and the value of my ePortfolio and submit my ‘published’ link in the appropriate space in Blackboard by the time/date assigned in the Class Schedule.

I will be addressing other questions in my blog:

a. In what ways do you think you have improved your professional presence after

completing the COMM 333 ePortfolio?

b. Identify and explain what you like most about your ePortfolio.

c. Which assignment in persuasion that you posted to your ePortfolio was your

favorite? Why?

d. Identify the most challenging aspect of the ePortfolio.

e. What advice would you give to future students about this part of the ePortfolio?

f. What component of Persuasion was most interesting to you?

g. Is your view of persuasion different than when you began the course?

Why or why not?

I know I have I have improved my professional presence after completing COMM 303 because I have become more aware of how persuasion is being used in just about everything. The strategies that are used in persuasion are well thought out and planned. Though I am no expert I will continue to learn and understand different strategy techniques used in persuasion.

The things I liked about my ePortfolio are that I created it from scratch. I choose the background, the colors, the font, the layout and everything else. I made it mine because of the information I added to it. This now has become my electronic resume. I will continue to use it and update it and present it to future employers of my past professional work. I also like that fact that it is a free web site and it is very user friendly to create, update and use.

The assignment in persuasion that I posted to my ePortfolio that was my favorite was the ePortfolio part 3, problem-solving assignment. I enjoyed that we were able to pick out a film or documentary of out choice to analyze and pick out the examples of persuasion that took place. I had watched the film that I had chosen before but now after have taken this class I felt that my eyes were a little more open and I was looking for certain things in and about the film. I also enjoyed that part of the assignment what we were able to respond to our peer’s posts. I found it very interesting to see what film they had reviewed and see how they analyzed the examples of persuasion in their film. I wish that in more of the assignments that we were able to see our peers work after it was turned in to see another person’s perspective on the assignment. Receiving a critique from the instructor is nice and informative but receiving a positive critique from a peer is very rewarding.

There really wasn’t a challenging aspect of the ePortfolio. As I have stated above it was very easy to navigate the Wix website and create the ePortfolio. My ePortfolio assignment 4 was the most challenging assignment for me. Though I enjoyed and had fun finding my 5 advertisements to analyze my main problem was keeping the presentation to 4-5 minutes. There was just so much information about the motivational appeals to the effectiveness of each that I couldn’t get my presentation under the required time.

The advice I would give future students about this part of the ePortfolio is to have fun with it and make your ePortfolio site reflect who you are. There are not many classes where you are given the leeway of creativity. When the class is over continue to use the ePortfolio and update it with other projects and items.

The components of Persuasion that were most interesting to me were nonverbal influence and gaining a better understanding for the theories of persuasion. My weaknesses in communication are the nonverbal influence that I have and present to others. I am trying to be more aware of them, as my wife would say my eyes and facial expressions tell her more than words do of what I am thinking. Through this course I have learned about social impact theory, social comparison theory, language expectancy theory, reinforcement theory, social judgment theory and others and I have found them all to be interesting.

My view of persuasion is a little bit more broaden than when I began this course because as I have stated above I have become more aware of the persuasion theories and how they are used to influence others. As we learned in the beginning chapters of our book the benefits of studying persuasion are: instrumental function, knowledge and awareness function, the defense function and the debunking function. I know I will continue to enhance my knowledge and awareness of persuasion.

My ePortfolio part 4 assignment

Hello again to everyone and welcome to my first video blog post. This video blog is for my ePortfolio part 4 assignment for my ODU Persuasion COMM333 course.

The objective of this assignment was to analyze 5 advertisements—identifying motivational appeals used within the messages and critically assessing the ads effectiveness. Then, record a 4-5 minute presentation on YouTube sharing my analysis.

I will also be addressing other questions in my video blog:

a. Identify the advertisement—what is it promoting/selling/etc.

Who is the target audience? I will clearly explain why I identified this group/s.

b. What medium is it from? (TV/radio/podcast/flyer/print/etc)

How does that impact the message within the ad (for ex. the use of verbal or nonverbal persuasive tactics).

c. What motivational appeal(s) are present? I will clearly explain how it is evident within the ad. Critically relate these appeal(s) to the target audience and medium in order too:

i. Offer an evaluation—is the ad effective? Why or why not? I will use my research and

course materials to support my argument, not just an opinion.

ii. Did any ads cause harm to the reputation? Why or why not? I will use research and

course materials to support my argument, not just an opinion.

Below is a link to my YouTube video blog in case the above video doesn’t work. Also below are the links to my 5 advertisement/commercials that I choose to analyze so you can watch and enjoy them too.

Bob Fluegel’s ePortfolio part 4 video blog

https://youtu.be/agzcSZBr0NI

1. Middle Seat, Doritos Super Bowl 2015

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2JqRXLQYF9o

2. Dog Fetch, Doritos Super Bowl 2013

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OszClgHHrq4

3. Goat 4 Sale, Doritos Super Bowl 2013

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DoM6IhfY8No

4. Sling Baby, Doritos Super Bowl 2012

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZerImEte2E

5. Pug Attack, Doritos Super Bowl 2011

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c8lk0tTA3Ww

My ePortfolio part 3 assignment

Hello to everyone, today’s blog post is on my ePortfolio part 3 assignment for my ODU Persuasion COMM333 course.

The objective of this assignment was to choose a film or documentary that includes examples of persuasion taking place (either in a workplace, in advertising either indirectly or directly references in the media, product placement tie-in, interpersonal persuasion in relationships, etc) and write a 950-1200 word blog post on my WIX page.

I will be addressing other questions in my blog:

- Identifying how persuasion is evident or occurring within my chosen artifact.

- How the artifact relate to the topics in Module 5.

- How a particular group gets ‘targeted’ more than others for a particular persuasive goal.

- How I am motivated to change my beliefs or actions after watching the film or show.

- How I have shifted my beliefs on the subject from engaging with the film.

I will also be reflecting on what I have learned from this assignment about: persuasive communication (persuasion theory, course topics, etc), and how this analysis might shape your future interactions with media artifacts. More simply—being able to deconstruct media and understand persuasion direct someone to solve problems or protect others.

So I settled down with a large bucket of popcorn and a supersized soda to watch the 2004 Sundance Award winning documentary film “Super Size Me.”

If you haven’t watched the film it was about a social experiment in fast food gastronomy staring Morgan Spurlock. Everything is considered bugger in America and Spurlock wanted to see how his body would react after only eating at McDonalds for 30 days would affect him and his body.

As reported by Americans Are Obsessed with Fast Food: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal (2002) some fast food facts are:

- Every day about one quarter of the U.S. population eats fast food.

- The rate of obesity among American children has doubled since the late 1970s.

- American children now get about one quarter of their total vegetable servings in the form of potato chips and French fries.

- The golden arches are now more widely recognized than the Christian cross.

I believe that the American, children in particular are persuaded to eat fast food through direct media advertising. Through brand awareness, memorable slogans, recognized actors and recognizable characters.

Some advertising techniques that are also use are:

Repetition – The flooding of the TV, radio and internet with a company’s name and brand over and over.

Claims – How their product is healthy or better for you.

Association – Having a product endorsed by a famous person makes you want it too.

Bandwagon – Convincing the customers that everyone else is using and eating their product and you should too.

Promotions – Coupons, toys and giveaways create customer (children) excitement and interest.

As reported by Ackard (2003), approximately 20% of our youth are now overweight with obesity rates in preschool age children increasing at alarming speed.

In the movie, Spurlock weighed in at the start of the experiment at 185 pounds and after eating 3 meals a day for a month at McDonalds he weighed in at 210 pounds. His body fat increased from 11% to 18% by the time the experiment was over.

I have learned through the persuasion theory that having influence over someone’s view or desire for a particular item is a very powerful tool! Convincing the consumer that your product is better or healthier than someone else’s value or belief about another produce is an advertising tool that most industries use.

The use of persuasive communication can also be an effective tool to change the minds and behaviors of those you disagree with. I feel that persuasion credibility was very evident the movie, Spurlock tried to inform and persuade people from eating fast food with himself as the example of what can happen to a person who eats fast food only for a month.

The rational model of persuasion theory states that people conduct themselves in a predictable ways based on their personal beliefs and values. I believe that the fast food industry has and still target families to sway their personal beliefs and values. They try to make their products simpler and faster to get you not to think about if they are healthier or not. In the movie it showed that most fast food restaurants didn’t display or have nutritional information about their products. So by not having the information out there for the consumer they were unaware of what they were purchasing and consuming.

The movie led itself to be accurate, truthful and persuadable as far as the impact of fast food on a person over a month because Spurlock started off the experiment with a physical from 3 different doctors. Throughout the film he checked in and you could see the changes that were taking places with his overall health, weight, blood work and cholesterol.

McDonald’s restaurants have numerous strategies to apply to product placement and promotions. A couple of McDonald’s biggest marketing strategies were and still are the “Golden Arches” and “Ronald McDonald”, both are recognized around the world.

One of McDonald’s best know slogans was “Have you had your break today?” based on the idea that their customers need to take a quick break from their day.

Having watched this movie when it came out in 2004 and not having watched it until now, it’s interesting to see how the information is still very relevant and persuasive today as it was then. I admit my family and I eat out at fast food restaurants and sit-down restaurants about 4 to 5 times a month but the majority of the time we make lunches and dinners at home. We try to make homemade items as much as possible and to stay away from prepared items. I make homemade spaghetti sauce, breads, soups and jelly. So for me, after 14 years I am more persuaded and aware of the benefits of eating and being healthier.

The demographic group “age” from Module 5 is the group that I believe gets targeted by fast food restaurants and hopefully their parents get the point of the movie and start to make better decisions for themselves and their children. This movie clearly had a verbal message to the viewers.

Fast food restaurants are still as popular today as was when the movie Super Size Me came out because we can still get large amounts of food for a small price. The convenience of getting fast food from just about any corner restaurant is also very attractive.

The Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) by Fishbein and Ajzen states that people are rational decisions makers based on the information they have available to them. During the movie Spurlock wasn’t able to follow this theory because he was conducting and experiment. In making this film he wanted the consumers of fast food to have the nutritional information available to them to make rational decisions. I believe he helped force the fast food industries to make this information available.

At this point it doesn't look like the fast food industry is slowing down.

Ackard, D. M., Neumark-Sztainer, D., Story, M., & Perry, C. (2003). Overeating among adolescents: Prevalence and associations with weight-related characteristics and psychological health. Pediatrics, 111, 67-74.

Americans Are Obsessed with Fast Food: The Dark Side of All-American Meal (2002, January 31). Retrieved from https://www.cbsnews/news/americans-are-obsessed-with-fast-food-the-dark-side-of-the-all-american-meal/