This is not directly relevant to the course, but there was a previous post about whether humor is an effective way to convince people to act in a certain way. And given that we are a week away from election day I was interested to see what you think about the following ad:
NOTE: I took down this very annoying video which started automatically and couldn't be stopped!!!
Anyway, see Brandon's comment below about the effectiveness of humor. And the NYT has a similar blog thread. See:
When Does a Fake Political Rally Turn Real?
http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2010/10/28/when-does-a-fake-political-rally-turn-real
John
Fear can be a powerful motivator, and contrary to popular thinking, fear is not an unhealthy emotion. Fear is a natural emotion and one that has plays a huge factor is human psychological development, but in order for fear to be an effective it has to be believable. To use a popular idiom, the above advertisement "jumps the shark." Given the absurdity of the advertisement above, I'm hoping they're playing it for a joke, but if they truly believe trying to use fear as a motivator by playing up outcomes that are not within the realm of possibility, it is not effective as a motivator. It makes it laughable. Fear is most effective as a motivator when the negative consequences of their actions seem plausible.
ReplyDeleteI agree 100% with Brandon. By giving such absurd scenarios I think they disengage voters, who are even more tempted to say "they all lie / exaggerate.."
ReplyDeleteJohn