Pfau and Wan (2006) agrees with Bernay that PR is strategic communication which relies heavily on persuasion. Strategic communication is the employment of communication tactics which will convey to the publics the message in a favourable light and this can only be achieved through persuasion. I agree with this view as even building and maintaining relationships, which is a critical function of modern PR, requires persuasion; the practitioner has to behave in such a way that the client would be inclined to maintain the relationship with him.
Krugman suggested that publics can either process information passively or actively (cited in Pfau and Wan, 2006, p.113). Passive message processing is less cognitive and thus, dependent on other factors than content, such as experience and affect. Affect includes “emotion, feeling, drive, reflex, mood and personality trait” (Izard cited in Pfau and Wan, 2006, p.115) and has the strong ability to influence persuasion unknowingly. Thus, in my view, coupling affect with cognition will strongly persuade the publics to receive the message from the organization favourably. For example, The Body Shop is constantly campaigning for different causes. These campaigns not only evoke emotions towards and initiate cognition about the cause but also assert the company’s message of the company being socially responsible. Thus, The Body Shop’s publics are more likely to be loyal as its message is not simply an empty promise.
Persuasion can also be strongly influenced by the medium chosen to transmit the message. To target the more cognitive (or active) publics or if the message is content-laden, print should be used. Television, on the other hand, is used to reach the passive publics or transmit a visual message. For example, Coca Cola produced a promotional music video entitled “Open Happiness” which was aired on MTV on July 2009 to appeal to the youths and convey the message that Coca Cola products can bring joy and impart optimism to their publics. The music video was charted worldwide and viewed 600,000 times on MySpace (The Coca-Cola company, 2009). This success would not have been achieved through print as the message is visual and requires less cognition from the publics.
All in all, persuasion is vital in the core functions of PR such as media relations, crisis management and projecting and maintaining the organization’s or client’s image. The group is still in the research stage for the communication audit assignment. Through this reading, we will able to better analyse the client’s, Pregnancy Crisis Centre (Family Life Service), media relations tactics and provide suggestions for improvement (eg.choose a different medium). Understanding the influence of affect will also help us determine an angle for the strategies and tactics for the proposed communication plan.
Bibliography
The Body Shop. (2009). Retrieved September 14, 2009, from http://www.thebodyshop.com.sg/en/values_home.aspx.
The Coca-Cola Company. (2009). Retrieved September 14, 2009 from http://www.thecoca-colacompany.com/presscenter/news_openhappiness.html.
I definitely agree regarding the coupling of affect and cognition :) To put that into context with our client, I'm pretty sure PCC has the emotional aspect of affect down pat. But this affect appears to not trigger active cognition in the public, which perhaps explains PCC's low-key image.
ReplyDeleteI thought that "open happiness" campaign was a sad attempt of reaching out to us youngins by portraying our peers singing along happily to some cheesy jingle. That said, however:
Open up, open up some happiness! coo-ca-cola~~
Gosh.
Regards,
Sha
I think PCC has to first offer sufficient information on its activities to trigger active message processing which could then be coupled with affect. Hence, it is crucial for them to have their own website (as we agreed in class). Besides that, PCC has to differentiate itself as it is not the sole organization catering to unwanted pregnancies. Thus, I think the idea of targeting the 'influencers' of the expectant mothers with unwanted pregnancies is good as it is different.
ReplyDeleteAs for the coca-cola music video, i think it serves as a 'jingle' which might influence one to make coca-cola their choice of drink. It is probably used for classical conditioning too (like other Coca-Cola advertisements) whereby it reinforces Coca-cola's youthful and joyful image.
thanks for commenting, Sha!(:
Cheers,
dianah.
Hmmm, I just wanted to say that we ought to remember that persuasion itself comes in many different levels and forms. E.g. negative and positive.
ReplyDeleteIf taken to the extreme, it can become a form of manipulation. So ethics itself must remain a focal point in all our discussions of tactics.
I walways liked the 'always Coca Cola' jingle, it did get stuck in my head :)
Jingles, if used correctly and repeated just the right amount of time, could enhance one's memory of the product. I think most of us still remember pizza hut's jingle and thus, recall the number to their delivery service. Hopefully, we'll come up with one for our client!(:
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with the power of persuasion and how much it can either aid or blacklist a PR campaign.
ReplyDeletePCS might just need this persuasive boost for their image; instead of portraying the bleak and gloomy side of pregnancy, we could help to persuade the public that unwed pregnancy may not be such a bad thing after all (:
I agree with Erika that persuading the public that unwed pregnancy is not such a bad thing can be doable, but to face the truth, we live in a very conservative society, and it would take some time to try to shape their views.
ReplyDeleteAnyhow, i believe persuasion is more of trying to shape the public opinion rather than change it.