Persuasion vs. Info

As I have told you before, I am currently in a expository writing class. It has really helped me out because I have learned different methods of writing a story or an article. It has also been fun writing many different things with different ways of writing them. In past posts, I have presented you my first paper, but that is only one of the five that I have written. So here is the first part of one of my papers. Enjoy! Also note that you will see the citations that I used for the paper.

Political Persuasion vs. Political Informational

We turn on the television, and we are instantly bombarded by the many commercials that involve politics and our current government. While we may not know it, our decisions and attitudes towards voting and government are influenced by these very same advertisements. There are two types of political advertisements that we are very familiar with. We have the persuasion advertisements that have a goal to commit you to a certain political party or figure. And we also have the informational advertisements that try to keep the American public informed about many governmental actions that is being done. And by the end of this essay, you will have the chance to ask, “Can the two peacefully coexist?”

According to Gregory Huber, he calls persuasive political advertising as, “deliberatively crafted to win votes by besmirching one’s opponent, or besmirching one’s opponent, or simply confusing voters with misleading “facts”. And from my observation, political leaders don’t just do it with political opponents, but also towards issues that they are opposed to such as gay marriage, abortion and the recent health care bill.

One thing that advertisers do is they set out to do while trying to persuade is influence citizens to have an emotional opinion towards a candidate or a cause (Presidential Advertising). While the advertisements could be civil and its agenda is simply to try to appeal to voters, they are used to cause great controversy and to put a negative light on their opponents. Shanto Iyengar has said that that negativity towards political campaigns are used to shrink the amount of voters and keeping possible voters from voting from the opposing side (Political Advertising).

To be continued...


-Tyler