Review the “Powerful Persuasion” handout that contains Aristotle’s methods for PERSUASION. Describe a time when someone tried to persuade you to do something and failed because he, she, or it did not use ethos, logos, or pathos effectively. What do you think the writer, speaker, etc, could have done differently?
Stuck? Check out these classic ads. Who is the intended audience? What message does it intend to say, and IS IT EFFECTIVE?
Baker's English 
55 Comments
a time when someone tried to pursued me and then failed is when i went to the mall and walked past a perfume store. there was a lady out side that said that they were having a sale on the best smelling perfume that they had in the store. so then i walked up to her and i asked her what was her opinion on the perfume? then she respondid that she did not know. then i said how are you going to advertise that you are selling the best smelling perfume and you have never even smelled it. then i walked away because i was not convienced that the iteam was a quality product.
Was the perfume real? Are was it that fake stuff.
They always try to sell you some thing they have never even tried their self.
did she at least try to get you to smell the perfume?
Thats crazy, them people with the lotions at the mall do the same thing and tell you how it will make your skin so soft.
Well for starters, please excuse my tardiness! But, the power of persuasion failed me when I was going to buy some sneakers for myself and my children. The sales associate was so keen on showing off the transformers shoes, that the children kept saying dad we want those. Now the sales associate neglected to mention that the shoe were cheap knock offs and the tore easily. He that the children wanted them and prey’d on their emotions. I had to hurt my childrens feelings by telling them no, and we were going to buy good,sturdy shoes for school. I would not let the associate feed off my children pathos! Wow the nerve of some people,will try to sell anything just to make a buck!
I was watching this add on TV about why I should get Seattleite TV instead of cable TV. They where focused only on one thing ad that was how much more clear there pitcher was then cable TV. So I decided to stay with cable because I thought cable had more features then Seattleite TV. Later I found out that Seattleite has everything cable got for a lower price and they also got channels that I never new even heard of. If there would have used better logos I would of gotten the Seattleite.
did you switch after you found out that satellite is better?
I have had both and I think I would stick with cable because even time the clouds goes over the sattellite disk believe me it is not fun watching and then it’s gone.
i was in a beauty supply store and the sells clerk was trying to sell me this new conditioner. she said that it would leave my hair with bounce and shine. i asked her if she have used it. she simply said no, and i asked her how are you going to tell me what it does if you have never used the product before? she counldn’t answer. i purchased the items i went in there for, and left.
what did tou go in there for? and is this story true?
this is a true story i went to buy products for my hair
Stores and fast food places are good at trying to get you to buy items they haven’t even tried.
well they know what it does because they are told what it does by their employer and thats what they have to do as part of their job. that doesn’t mean they use it.
WOW HOW SOMEBODY GONE TO TRY TO SELL YOU SOMETHING WITHOUT LETTING U AT LEASE TRY IT OUT FIRST
cause they always do try to sell you something they haven’t tried thats their job. to get you to buy not them.
I was persuade to try a food product with out visually or not even knowing the ingredents to the item that was handed to me it didnt look apptizing at all so I didnt try it
sound scary! you did the right thing!!
I was recently persuaded at the mall too. The T Mobile guy was harassing me about switching services and kept saying he could get me a better deal on my cell phone bill. He sounded silly because he only knew about the one special T mobile was advertising and didnt know jack about the other plans. He also never asked what plan I have now, so he couldn’t even offer me a “better” plan. Had he used logos and ethos a little more, I may have taken him seriously, but he did not, so I kept it movin’!
How can he try to sell you something and he didn’t even know his companies other plans? They should fire him.
It’s not that he should be fired he should be trained more on the plans. If you fire the person for not having a clear understanding on the companied info you have to retrain the employee cause if you fire him you could put the company in risk of a law suite.
i could use some pants like these…
I just got persuaded at a Sunoco gas station. I was trying to find a v-neck white tee, and the kind i like has a thick collar. But the store only had thin collar tees in my size, so i kept looking threw the rack.The store clerk kept trying to help me when i didn’t even need his help in the first place, then he tried to tell me that all white tees are the same and kept trying to hand me the shirt i didn’t want. I told him no they are not and left the store.
Sounds like these pushy salespeople are relying on force because they don’t have anything to back it up. Think about that next time someone tries to push you into a quick decision!!
I was persuased by a off brand phone company promsing me a big deal on my long distance phone services telling me that it was a pre pay account to my suprise they were billing me for time that i was not using the account i just recived a e mail from these people demanding that i pay them for the past two months that i have not used their service ???? how and its a pre pay account…. read the fine print….
Great comments. They remind me of the pushy nail ladies at the mall. I told the woman I was pregnant and didn’t want strange chemicals poured on me. She said she wouldn’t do that, and two minutes later she did!!
I say, steer clear of these pushy sales tactics!!
This is so true because there are a lot of pushy sales people out here
THE TV COMMERCIALS FOR FOOD ALWAYS TRYS TO PERSUADE YOU. THEY SHOW YOU THIS BIS AWSOME LOOKING SANDWICHES AND THEN WHEN YOU GO AND PURCHASE ONE ITS SMASHED TOGETHER AND MOSTLY BREAD.LOL. THE ARBYS COMMERCIAL SAYS PILED HIGH ON A SESAME SEED BUN AND YOU RUN OUT TO BUY ONE AND THERE NOTHING TO IT YOU HAVE TO BUY 2 FOR A MEAL.
YOU NO THATS A LIE IF SHE IS A PERFUME LADY SHE HAS SMELLED TRHE PERFUME BEFORE CAUSE HER JOB IS TO STAND THERE AND SPRAY THE PERFUME. SHE COULD AT LEAST HAD A COMMENT ON THE SMELL…
Persuading people what you want them to do is always tricky, I read this great article here about how to Negotiate: http://blog.huthwaite.com.au/developing-effective-negotiation-skills/
One time was out looking to buy a used car and the sell person tried so hard to persue me in to buying this van that i kept asking what is wrong with it. He just kept saying it is and 1 owner van and the price started at 5,000 dollars and by time he realized i was not going to buy it the price was at 3,000. My dad always said not buy something that you have not checked over with a fine tooth comb. I ask the saleperson if he mind if I started the van and checked a few things first. I started it and it smoked more then a ccamp fire I told him just because I am a woman that dose not mean that I don’t know about cars.
A time someone tried to persuade me was when i was almost talked to into robbing a place. They said all the good things about doing it like the amount of money and other stuff, but didnt tell me about the bad things of how it could effect my life. I thought about and decided not to do it. As far as aristotle’s speech he could of used more better examples of casear to get the people to mourn about his death.
thta crazy i’ve been in the situation before
I have to agree with Tom Squire. Our emotions can be toyed with by other peoples persuasions! Lots of people who are locked up or even dead were persuaded to do something they knew was wrong, but still chose to do it! I feel that Aristotle’s speech was on the right track but he could have intergrated more feeling and compassion when speaking about the Great Ceaser!
Yeah people always try to sell you haven’t tried but thats their job. And the beer ad not good especially to someone who don’t drink beer. The car ad just ugly. the jean is a no go. And what would i do with stiching needles.
a time were some one tried to pursade me an it fail was when a repesentive came to my house ab was trying to pursade me to by some commercial items, he was not going about it the right way. he didn’t present his self or products correctly.
In life people sometimes think that they can get away with alot of things, or do what they want and don’t get caught. Witch brings me to this point.Some guy thought that if I was an career thief that I would no longer stuggle with money. It sounded good at first but I like to think with my own head in doing so, I went with him but the more he talked about it the more it sounded really bad to do so when we reached the store i stayed in tne car I figuard im smart enough to get money another way. So thats what I did.
Good instincts!
There was a time when my girlfreind tried to persuade me to get an early marriage. So the first thing i did was ask why did she feel this way cause if i act surprised she will act surprised. So she said what she has now has she dosent want to lose it. Well of course she meant me (na im not really that self centered)She meant our relastionship. I said thats understandable but why do you feel you will lose me if you believe everything is going so great? She replied, because i just want to make sure were together. She had me going until she said that she didnt attempt to use my ethos, logos, pathos. Plus i got a life to live right now so there was no way she was going to win that one. AS LIFE CONTINUES
TV ads always are trying to get you to buy stuff. Like the acne ads more than half of them people people never had acne in their life. they just want the money for doing the ad. They always try to get famous people to do the ads to. I would never buy anything of tv or online. Its always a rip off!!
I recieved a call from a lady trying to get me to let her sell me a cell phone service. my mind was made up to one cell phon provider, so she really had to convience me. when I mentioned the name of the provider, she right away started to talk about all the hidden charges and how much more I would have to pay. When she said tmobile, I said no I was trying to get away from tmobile, so she said thats not the only sevice I have and she went on to name the rest of them and all the cell phones she could get me, which was fine but she could not covience me of a lower price tnan what I was looking for so I told her I was busy and had to think about it and would call her back at a later date.
For the perfume lady did she at least have good prices, that was on the same order as department store prices, or didn’t you recognize any of the designers.
This is so true because you might not have liked that the smell of perfume and the price might not have been in your price range.
you did the right thing by not stealing. people always figure how to get into stuff but they dont have an exit plan.
i was persauded to still from a store one day when i was about 10 years old from a quick mart in price hill,my friends was telling me come on its easy and you wont get caught i promise, so i did. i went into the store and stuck some donuts in my pocket and when i started to take my bubble gum he saw me and i tried to run but he caught me by coat but i got away from him doe but had to go bak for my coat it was leather and my mom woulda killed … but i went back for it and the police was their and i went to jail and still got two beat downs… i was so mad at my friends i didnt talk to them the whole time i was on punishment.
and i fell that the publisher was trying to say that all black people drink budweiser when they want to have a good time … i dont think that was very nice…
I found the beer and jeans ads a little strange myself, which is why I posted them. It seems a lot of ads send out hidden messages – sometimes without meaning to do it. What DO they say about society?
there was a time when i was almost persuaded to buy a sixty in. television. The price of the TV was 699.00 at the pawn shop a guy walked up and said hhgreg have the same tv for 499.00 so the pawn shop failed to persuade me because he didnt use ethos or logos to make the sale. Better Luck Next Time:)Lol
If that was me I would of did a lil research such as calling around getting on the internet to see who has the lowest and reseaonable price on the sixty inch tv. I just wouldnt have showed up at the pawnshop and been disappointed wen i got there. Like they say buyer beware that applies going some place and purchasing something and not looking around for a better price.
Yes it has happen when I went into the store and the lady the sales person saw me about to purchase a air condition and the lady tried to sell me one that she though was best for me. And I told her that she could not and should not tell me what to buy because she didnt know how much money I had in my pocket and I didnt need the one that she was trying to sell me.
Countless people who try to persaud me but it always fail because they dont use good ethoes
The time someone try persaud about letting my son’s daddy claim him on his taxes to get his child support clear.
That could not go on cause i am not nice to him
These are the real-life situations where a knowledge of persuasion can really come in handy!!
I can agree to most or maybe all, People are over pushy when trying to gain a buck or some commission. Most the time im not easily trained so they don’t succeed or get my money even if their ethos, pathos, or logos are own point i just walk away with a smile.
I guess its saying that if you want to stand out then just buy or do whatever you think is different from everyone else on your street. Saying that there is something else out there that is or could be better then what you think. Only you can let someone persuade you into thinking that, that’s all that is out there.