The 2008 presidential election was marked by record-breaking expenditures on var
ID: 3494087 • Letter: T
Question
The 2008 presidential election was marked by record-breaking expenditures on various forms of persuasion by the nominee contenders, and the eventual candidates. Candidate websites with blogs, entries on FaceBook and other social media, print ads, television ads, live rallies, staged sound bytes, trips abroad, endorsement announcements, and e-mail campaigns by organizations supporting or against a particular candidate were all part of the dynamic.
With respect to the factors of persuasion, write one or two paragraphs on EACH of the following two factors: communicators AND message content. Explicitly explain why and how these factors apply to the presidential case above.
Explanation / Answer
Question: The 2008 presidential election was marked by record-breaking expenditures on various forms of persuasion by the nominee contenders, and the eventual candidates. Candidate websites with blogs, entries on FaceBook and other social media, print ads, television ads, live rallies, staged sound bytes, trips abroad, endorsement announcements, and e-mail campaigns by organizations supporting or against a particular candidate were all part of the dynamic.
With respect to the factors of persuasion, write one or two paragraphs on EACH of the following two factors: communicators AND message content. Explicitly explain why and how these factors apply to the presidential case above.
Answer: Communicator in most social situaitons have primary objective to influence the opinions and behaviours of the audience. In political arena (especially during election) the chief criteria of successful communications involved swaying the public opinion in the favour (or against) a particular candidate/party. Now communication has two basic dimensions – content and delivery
Both these determine the effectiveness of a communications as measured on different parameter of effectiveness and the overarching goals of turning public opinion in favour of candidate and getting their votes in election.
The delivery part of communication involves the style, structure, medium used for sending the messages to audience. The content involves the domain knowledge, the position taken, the future agendas, promises made to audience. Normally delivery of message is more important during a speech (direct presentation) however for effective campaign this is not sufficient and parties continue to persuade the public through such channels like – blogs, websites, print media, endorsement announcements etc. All of these communications are based upon various theories of social influence for example endorsement announcement by socially influential people like film stars, successful businessmen utilize the principle of social proof to enhance the credibility of a candidate. Various news media articles may attempt to show the knowledge and expertise of the candidate justifying their positions on economic or foreign policy matters and thus utilize the principle of authority (expertise) to influence the public opinion in favour of candidate.
In summary, the communicator message content is a very important source of influencing voters opinions and behaviours
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