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/