Assignment
GUILT OR FEAR APPEAL. PSYC 3007.
Bring to mind pictures of sad puppy eyes and scrawny cats in dirty cages. Or think of images of impoverished children and messages about how a small gift can make a huge difference in their lives. Or recall public service announcements that feature frightening images of the effects of drug use and smoking. Consider how these and similar types of appeals use guilt or fear to try to persuade you to take action.
What are the ethical issues around using persuasive techniques that are intended to make recipients feel uncomfortable but for beneficial reasons? That is one of the issues you will explore this week through this Discussion. You will respond to a scenario in which you, as a professional in the line of work you currently do or would like to do, are tasked with designing a strong message using either the guilt or the fear appeal. As you create a messages consider the relationship between the outcome you hope to achieve and the ethics of how you choose to get there.
LEARNING RESOURCES.
Perloff, R. M. (2021). The dynamics of persuasion: Communication and attitudes in the 21st century (7th ed.). Routledge.
Chapter 12, "Emotional Message Appeals: Fear and Guilt"
Chapter 13, "Cognitive Dissonance Theory"
These chapters of your text cover the key themes for the week. Complete the reading in Chapter 12 to prepare for your Week 5 Discussion post and Chapter 13 to prepare for your Assignment.
My COLLEAGUE'S POST
For this assignment, I chose to discuss Saint Jude's Hospital. I chose them because I am in social work, and work directly with children. I have always had a spot for children in need, especially with medical needs. Saint Jude's Hospital treats children who have serious medical problems (St. Jude, 2019). They also assist families with their medical bills, travel expenses, housing for long term care and also food/toiletries. They also do research to find cures for childhood cancers and other pediatric health problems. The target audience would be people who have younger families, this is because they make it relatable. During the commercials, parents often say they never thought this could happen to their children. I also think anyone could be a target audience for Saint Jude's, they do not ask for a large donation. The advertisement is $1 a day. The way Saint Jude's uses advertisements is by showing different pediatric patients or airing their story to spread awareness of their mission (St. Jude, 2019).
Saint Jude's uses a guilt appeal to get people to donate money to their cause. People may feel obligated to donate money to them once they see and hear the stories of the young patients and how Saint Jude's has changed their lives. Saint Jude's is good at producing persuasive language to make people feel sad and obligated to donate (St. Jude, 2019). This message is within ethical standards because their advertisements are appropriate, and their mission is to help sick children who are in need (St. Jude's, 2019).
Saint Jude's appeal is effective to their audience because they try to make it relatable. As stated earlier, most parents say at some point, "I never thought this could happen to my child" because it could happen to anyone. They do not ask for a large sum of money, so really anyone could donate. And also, they put pictures/videos up about different children's stories to help see where the money goes to (St. Jude's, 2019)
St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. (2019).
Respond to MY colleague by answering each of the following about the colleague's guilt- or fear-appeal message:
1) Analyze the potential impact of the colleague's message on the intended audience.
2) Describe the strongest points made in your colleague's analysis of the message.