Persuasive levers 3: Argument

Core argument

Sometimes a speaker will use nothing but a core argument: a claim and a reason (and not necessarily in that order).

For example, what's the core argument in this ad for Citibank? Is it effective?

Citibank He who dies with the most toys

How does this ad persuade the audience through argument?

Claim: Money is the means, not the end.

Reason: Because when you're dead, you're dead, no matter how wealthy you are.

Also:

Character: The ad relies heavily on the Citibank brand and reputation to lend authority to its claim.

Emotion: This ad also has an emotional element. They haven't relied on data or stats. They have made the most emotional version of the argument they could, framing it around life, death, and fear of regret (moving away from hoarding wealth and towards "living richly".)

Many times, ads will make a claim and provide one piece of evidence, and leave the audience to figure out the reasoning for themselves.

For example, what's the core argument in this ad?

Ekopen Mosquito nets good night is a quiet night

How does this ad persuade the audience through argument?

Claim: You should buy a mosquito net.

Reason: It will keep mosquitoes away so you're not woken up by their buzzing.

And:

Emotion: This is quite a plain and straightforward argument, so Ekopen use confusion to destabilise the audience and make them interested.

(And notice the "evidence" here is made-up; it's just a graphic design.)

Here's an ad from VW where the audience has to put the argument together themselves:

VW Other vans may be cheaper on paper but not on the road ad

 

How does this ad persuade the audience through argument?

Claim: (You should buy a VW van.)

Reason: While other vans might look cheaper on paper, on the road they are more expensive to run.

Evidence: None! The audience has no idea if this is true; they'd have to go away and find out.

But that's the goal of the ad: to make the audience want to find out.

You probably won't find many examples of speakers only using core arguments outside of advertising, social media, and emergencies.

In any other context, the audience would expect the speaker to fill in a few more blanks.

Notice how in all of these examples, the speaker is also using emotion (in the way they phrase the argument) and character (through their branding and design).

If they just typed the argument on a blank screen with bland, literal language, the ads would not work as well, not least of all because they wouldn't get anyone's attention.

Try making a simple core argument.

Use the image for inspiration and provide a claim and reason.

And since you don't have any design or brand, try to make your language punchy so your message stands out.

Pollution

If you've done our lesson on argument types, you might find it helpful to choose one from this list:

  • Factual
  • Causal
  • Definitional
  • Resemblance
  • Proposal
  • Valuational
  • Ethical
Make a simple core argument. Use punchy language so your message stands out.
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