Glass 1 Becky Glass Dr. Pignetti ENG 371.001/002 March 10, 2011 Uses of Persuasion Techniques The movie Thank You for Smoking presents many uses of rhetoric. Many fallacies were used throughout the movie. Truths were twisted, different reasonings were demonstrated, credibility of the characters influencing decisions, and emotional appeals. These all present themselves throughout the movie. The truth is very hard to come by in our society. Many ambiguous methods are used to distract or hide the audience from the real truth. This movie provides many examples of how the truth can be skewed to worth with someone s argument, no matter what side the truth is really on. Pathos is the use of emotional appeal to the audience. This is used both to the movie of the audience, but it is also used to the actors in the movie to persuade a decision. The opening scene of the movie is a television talk show with a fifteen year old boy who was diagnosed with cancer. The use of this bald child was intended to appeal to the audience s emotions. While this is extremely influential, fallacy was used in return by Nick Naylor, the main character. Naylor rejected the argument by how his company would not want the teenager dead because the company would lose profit. He also appealed to the audience by saying there would be a fifty million dollar advertisement project aimed at persuading kids not to smoke because everyone would agree there is nothing more important than the children of America. He used emotional appeal to help get the audience on his side, or to not view him as such a bad person. This child was also supposed to be an emotional appeal for the mayor, who was against smoking. When
Glass 2 you're looking for a cancer kid, he should be hopeless! He should have a wheelchair, he should have trouble talking, he should have a little pet goldfish he carries around in a ziplock bag. Hopeless (Thank You for Smoking)! Emotional appeal was supposed to be used to fight for the side of the anti-tobacco industry. Naylor uses emotional appeal to his advantage many times throughout the movie. Another example of emotional appeal is when he described why he does his job, because everyone has to pay a mortgage. This appeals to anyone who owns a home, or has to pay for something. They would understand why he might do his job of lobbying, no matter who it is for. Everyone has to financially support themselves. The audience may understand why he would work for a big tobacco company. Another example of emotional appeal is the original Marlboro man. He shows his emotions very openly. In one scene he has a gun to Naylor, showing his anger. This also displayed how much anger he had, and how much pain he had to deal with. He displayed this emotion to Naylor, which helped Naylor begin to realize the real harms of cigarettes. The movie also used filming techniques to appeal to the emotion of the audience. The camera glimpsed at a large amount of medication next to a respirator. This appeals to the audience of how miserable they will be if they continue to smoke. Another scene in which Naylor realized the true harm of cigarettes is when he found out the captain had died from heart failure. The funeral scene soon followed, showing Naylor and others sad at the loss of a loved one. This appeals to every audience, both watching the movie as well as the characters in the movie. The death of any human is devastating, much less knowing that the death was preventable. A court scene concluded the movie. Naylor fought for the tobacco company, but immediately quit after. His emotions finally persuaded him to do what was best for the future of his son. The mayor demanded an answer to the question, when your son turns 18, will you share his first cigarette with him? The audience could tell in Naylor voice that he was emotionally
Glass 3 affected by this question. This emotion turned Naylor to quit his job, as he could not emotionally handle watching his son making the decision to smoke cigarettes. Humans have an extreme weakness, emotional appeal. This movie provides many examples of just how emotion can overcome someone and basically make their decisions for them. The use of emotion directly relates to credibility. Why should someone believe what someone says? How do you know if the statement is the truth? The trend of our society is to make decisions based on the credibility of the source. If one presents themselves as a credible source, it is taken for granted they are. This is displayed in many aspects of society today, especially in politics. Naylor used this to his advantage. Nick Naylor, is the Vice President of and chief spokesman for the Academy of Tobacco Studies, a tobacco lobby funded by cigarette companies to research the links between smoking cigarettes and health (Ethos and Logos as Seen in Thank You for Smoking). Nick s title, the Vice president of and chief spokesman for the Academy of Tobacco Studies sounds very professional and impressive. Many people hear this, and assume he is a credible source of information. By using this title to his advantage, it is easier for him to persuade his audience to his side. Naylor replies that first there has been no conclusive evidence linking cancer with smoking, and second, His air of authority and his distinguished sounding title lead people to automatically assume that he is a credible source of information. His logical arguments leave people scratching their heads but ultimately agreeing with him (Ethos and Logos as Seen in Thank You for Smoking). Nick used his credibility and title to his advantage. Many other characters in the movie used their credibility to be a source. Naylor tried to involve the film industry in his campaign. Both Brad Pitt and Catherine Zeta- Jones would be paid twenty-five billion dollars to smoke cigarettes in a new movie. The recognition and frequent appearance of cigarettes being acceptable and popular, is what
Glass 4 advertisers look to present. The constant exposure to seeing the product is a way advertisement companies appeal to the audience. Not only is constant exposure to the product effective, but also the star s known credibility would be used to show that cigarettes are cool. Using movie stars is a way to relate the product with an idol to many, is a persuasive way for people to recognize the product is acceptable. Other credibility is used throughout the movie. The senator of Vermont, the Scientist who was a genius and could disprove gravity, Heather the reporter, celebrity talk show hosts, as well as many others are used to display the credibility of the source. Naylor also presents a point in a classroom scene to display who should be a credible source. A student tells Naylor that her mother says smoking kills. Naylor responds by asking if her mother is a doctor or a scientific researcher, and the answer was no. Naylor questions why her mother should be a credible source? This brings up the broader topic of how to know what is the truth, and what sources can we trust. This movie shows that truth can be extremely skewed and distorted. The credibility of a source is extremely difficult to judge, and how do we know what the truth really is? Credibility is the most common way of finding the truth, but as this movie shows, one can represent them as a very credible source. This movie shows that the truth is almost impossible to agree on, not matter the credibility of the source. There will always be rhetoric, fallacies, half-truths, twisted truths, avoidance, and ambiguity. Throughout the movie, Naylor showed a strong connection to his son. He began to teach his son what he did for a living. A lesson that his son was taught was that if you make a good enough argument, you can never be wrong no matter whose side the truth is on. The truth is always negotiable, and can be skewed to work for other purposes. The son uses this technique to persuade his mother to let him go to work in California with his dad. Arguments were used such as a great learning experience and change to get to know his father, but the son
Glass 5 used another technique in persuasion he learned from his father earlier. He claimed that his mother was using him to channel her frustration against the man she no longer loves ( Thank You for Smoking ) and it is affecting her decision to allow him to travel to California. When Naylor asked how he persuades his mom to let him go, he responded with it was an argument without a negotiation. The mother did not have anything to respond with, even if the argument he presented was false, and therefore the son won the argument and was allowed to travel to California with his father. Naylor son was also taught another method of argumentation. Naylor had a way of avoiding questions and working around them. An example of this was used in the court scene near the end of the movie. The senator asked Naylor what the academy concluded so far in their investigation in to the effects of tobacco. Naylor responded with why just the other day they found evidence that smoking can offset Parkinson s disease (Thank You for Smoking). The senator was looking for an answer that would prove that smoking leads to diseases and deaths, but Naylor worked his way around this by mentioning a possible positive affect of cigarette use. Another example of avoiding the truth takes place during a questioning between Naylor and the senator. The senator states that the tobacco industry has a mixed stance about the dangers of smoking cigarettes. While this is true, Naylor avoids the questions by responding with an example where the senator took two different stances in one day on a situation. The senator was left without a response, and therefore Naylor had won the argument. Another method of argumentation used was by using fallacies of matter. A false statement can be detected and refuted only if we know what the truth is (Discovery of Arguments, 62). The truth can always be bent. If a false statement can only be refuted by knowing the truth, then it is almost impossible to refute a false statement. The truth can be bent and distorted to work for someone s argument. Many examples of twisted truth were used to help win an argument. The reporter Heather
Glass 6 released her article about Nick Naylor. Many different claims were reported, such as the MOD squad s sole purpose of their meetings is to compete for the highest death toll as they compare strategies on how to dupe the American people (Thank You for Smoking), the statement this did not stop Nick from bribing the dying man with a suitcase of cash to keep quiet on the subject of his recent lung cancer diagnosis (Thank You for Smoking), and the statement Nick s own son, Joey Naylor, seems to being groomed for the job as he joins his father on the majority of his trips (Thank You for Smoking). All of these sentences are somewhat true, but worded differently to change the complete concept of the truth. The truth was distorted, but somewhat true at the same time. Another example this method was used was when Naylor was kidnapped. During the kidnapping, Naylor tried to say that there was no evidence supporting the half of a million people dead from cigarettes in the U.S. He tried to use twisted truth to escape from the situation, which soon followed by bribery. Nicotine patches were placed all over his body causing an overdose, and Naylor was found extremely close to death. The fact that a smoker could only stand that amount of nicotine is what saved his life. Naylor and his company used that fact as a way to bend the truth. While it was true, it was presented in a way in which this looked good for the tobacco industry. Naylor also claimed that the patches were very dangerous and were the reason he was put in that position; this was a way to try to persuade patch users to switch back to cigarettes. In some situations, only half of the truth was given. The fallacy of halftruth is everything that is said is true, that is, verifiable as a fact; but because not enough is said, the total picture is distorted. Such omission of details conceals or distorts the context of a situation (Discovery of Arguments, 64). An example of this was when Heather the reporter asked Naylor how he saw himself. He responded with I m a mediator between two sects of society that are trying to reach an accommodation (Thank You for Smoking). Although this is
Glass 7 true, he left out a lot of the information to make him seem like not as bad as a person, such as how he sells products that are controversial and known to cause sickness and death. Another example of half the truth given was during Naylor s visit with the old Marlboro man. The Marlboro man disagreed with the use of cigarettes, and mentioned that advertising should be cut back because cigarettes lead to health problems. Naylor s boss had responded with we are certainly sorry to hear about your medical problem, however, not knowing more of your medical history, we can t comment further (Thank You for Smoking). Although this statement is technically true, half of the truth was left out; the fact that the cigarettes could have caused the medical problems. The company omitted the fact that it could be their fault, and put the blame on a possible history of his medical past in which they did not know. Ambiguity is a way of leaving out certain facts in order to make your argument more effective. Many examples in the movie show how words and facts can be omitted, the truth can be twisted, different tones can be used, certain emotions can be targeted, and different credentials can be used to skew the audience from learning the real truth. We see this in our society constantly. We hear it on news channels, blogs, headlines, in everyday arguments, to name a few. This brings up the long debated topic of how do we even know what the truth is if any fact can be changed to work with a certain argument?
Glass 8 Works Cited Lanphier, Nicole. "Ethos and Logos as Seen in Thank You for Smoking." associatedcontent.com. Yahoo, 20 Apr. 2007. Web. 17 May 2011. <http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/211435/ ethos_and_logos_as_seen_in_thank_you.html?cat=9>. Reitman, Jason, dir. Thank You For Smoking. 2005. Fox Searchlight Pictures, 2006. DVD. Unknown, Discovery of Arguments