might be just as reasonable to conclude that they are also trying to
inform you. In some cases this might not amount to much, but in
most advertisements it’s likely to be more than just the name of the
product.
In the light of this and the implications of the question that
you revealed earlier, you should be asking yourself if an advertise-
ment is always persuasive, or can it be just informative without
attempting to get you to choose or act in one way or another? You
might conclude that almost all advertisements are informative, but
that’s not all they do. This analysis suggests there are two kinds of
advertisement: those that seem largely preoccupied with passing on
information, yet in fact are covertly manipulative; and those that are
overtly manipulative, in that their intention is obvious – to persuade
us as consumers to buy their product. Now you have a simple
structure for the concept, which you can develop in the light of your
examples in the same way we did for the olic and for the authority/
power question.
As you have no doubt already discovered, there are a number of ways
in which you can develop your analysis of ideas from this point. One
of the most useful is to organise your ideas into their logical opposites,
so that you create a continuum or a spectrum with opposites at either
end. The analysis into overt and covert manipulation is an example of
this. Although in terms of our examples they may not be exact logical
opposites, they work just as well in mapping out the territory. Then,
within this, you could use another method of organising your ideas by
thinking about the types into which your ideas break down. Of course
the number of types will depend on how many you can reasonably
think of.
As we have a spectrum of opposites in this question, first take
one side, then the other. You could begin with those advertisem-
ents which appear to be covertly persuasive. Some, like those con-
cerned with public information, say about a new tax or changes in
regulations, or government health warnings about smoking or the use
of fire alarms, seem to be entirely concerned with informing us.
However, that’s not to say there isn’t a message hidden in the infor-
mation. The government no doubt would like to persuade you not to
continue to smoke, or to organise yourself so that you pay your taxes
promptly.
Others clearly are intent on promoting the sales of their products.
But, nevertheless, they do this through a strategy of promoting aware-
ness about new products, new designs and new technology. New32 Interpretation of the QuestionHTW4 7/26/01 8:48 PM Page 32