Analysis of Persuasive Speeches (20521)

Degree/study: Bachelor's Degree of Advertising and Public Relations
Year: third (optional).
Term: third.
Number of ECTS credits: 4 credits
Hours of studi dedication: 100 hours
Teaching language or languages: Catalan and Spanish.
Teaching Staff: Óliver Pérez and Hibai López.

1. Presentation of the subject

The course Analysis of Persuasive Speeches is part of the Advertising and Public Relations Analysis and Research itinerary. It aims at deepening in the analysis of signification strategies existing behind persuasive speeches. Within the general speech analysis framework, the three distinctive lines of work of the course are: (a) promoting a transdisciplinary training for students, focusing on the connections among semiotics, rhetoric and cognitive psychology; (b) stressing the methods' applicative aspect through practical cases, encouraging students to work autonomously and make maximum use of the methodological tools; and (c) to grant a special relevance to the exploration of new theoretical disciplines or objects of study in the field of persuasive communication: framing analysis, persuasive games and game-based marketing, analysis of the latest election campaigns, advertising audiovisual narrative trends, etc.

2. Competences to be attained

1. Rigorous and systematic knowledge of several methodological tools based on semiotics, rhetoric and cognitive psychology.

2. Analysis of linguistic, visual, audiovisual and digital/ interactive speeches in fields such as commercial and political advertising, as well as non conventional persuasive speeches.

3. Identifying the persuasive strategies existing in these texts in order to be able to discover their underlying signification cores.

4. Planning researches where students can autonomously make the maximum use of the theoretical/ methodological tools and the acquired analysis skills.

Specific competences

1. Deepening in the speech semiotic analysis methodology and its autonomous use in analysis projects of personal interest.

2. Deepening in advertising semiotics theories and specific methods: semiotic mapping, advertising narrative.

3. Deepening in the interactive digital communication semiotics and the persuasive games.

4. Capacity for recognizing the underlying frames in persuasive speeches and for developing a critical look at them.

5. Capacity for identifying the prevailing frames in our culture, how they are built ad applied in persuasive communication.

6. Acquiring skills to develop persuasive texts according to some preset communication objectives and the creative use of the theoretical/ methodological tools.

7. Acquiring resources for the analysis and production of figures of speech applied to persuasive communication.

3. Contents

The course contents are divided in two parts: block A is imparted by professor Óliver Perez and block B is imparted by professor Hibai López. As a general rule, block A will take place on Mondays and block B on Wednesdays. In the final evaluation both blocks will be worth the same: a 50% of the final grade, and both will have to be passed separately in order to pass the course.

Block A

I. Introduction to the speech semiotic analysis methodology. Connections between speech semiotic analysis and cognitive psychology.

II. Methodological tools and implementation in case studies: semiotic mapping and election campaigns, institutional advertising and trends in advertising audiovisual narrative, game-based marketing.

III. Project of creating a persuasive message: persuasive game.

Block B

I. Introduction to the concept of persuasion. Introduction to frame analysis. Cognitive psychology. Quantity and quality methods of frame analysis. Experience frameworks.

II. Reference universe. Issue frames and news frames. Structural, orientational and ontological metaphors. Reframes and renames. Priming.

III. General structural rhetoric.

4. Assessment

The students' grade will be calculated as follows:

· Block A: 25 %. Includes:

15 % persuasive game ideation project (in groups of 4 students),

10 % participation in the seminars.

· Block B: 25 %. Includes:

Three projects and presentations in the seminars (individual work).

· BLOCK A + BLOCK B FINAL PROJECT WITH PRESENTATION: 50 %

Participation in class throughout the term will be highly valued. In the assessment of the final project of both blocks, the students' interest in articulating methodological tools from the two blocks will also be valued. Both blocks must be passed independently in order to pass the course.

5. Bibliography and teaching resources

5.1. Basic bibliography

· Adam, Jean-Michel; Bonhomme, Marc (2000). La argumentación publicitaria. Retórica del elogio y de la persuasión. Madrid, Cátedra.

· Alexander, Richard (2009). Framing Discourse on the Environment. A Critical Discourse Approach. New York, Routledge.

· Barthes, R. (1977). "The Rhetoric of the Image". Image-Music-Text. New York: Hill and Wang

· Bogost, Ian (2006): Persuasive Games. Cambridge, Londres, MIT Press.

· Bruner, Jerome S. (1998): Actos de significado. Madrid, Alianza.

· Casetti, F. i Di Chio, F. (1996): Cómo analizar un film. Barcelona, Paidós.

· Courtés, Joseph (1980): Introducción a la semiótica narrativa y discursiva. Buenos Aires, Hachette.

· Courtés, Joseph (1997): Análisis semiótico del discurso: del enunciado a la enunciación. Madrid, Gredos.

· Duncombe, Stephen (2007). Re-imagining Progressive Politics in an Age of Fantasy. New York, The New Press.

· Eco, Umberto (1981): Lector in fabula. Barcelona, Lumen.

· Fauconnier, Gilles (1994). Mental Spaces. Aspects of Meaning Construction in Natural Language. Cambridge University Press.

· Floch, Jean-Marie (1993): Semiótica, marketing y comunicación. Barcelona, Paidós.

· Goffman, Erving (2006). Frame Analysis. Los marcos de la experiencia. Madrid, Centro de Investigaciones Sociológicas.

· Greimas, A. J. i Courtés, J. (2006): Semiótica: Diccionario razonado de la Teoría del Lenguaje. Madrid, Gredos.

· Groupe M (1993): Tratado del signo visual. Madrid, Cátedra.

· Groupe M (1987). Retórica General. Barcelona, Paidós.

· Hart, Christopher; Lukes, Dominik (2007). Cognitive Linguistics in Critical Discourse Analysis. Cambridge Scholar Publishing.

· Hill, Charles; Helmers, Marguerite (ed) (2008). Defining visual rhetorics. New Jersey, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.

· Kress, Gunther; van Leeuwen, Theo (1996). Reading images: The grammar of visual design. London, Routledge.

· Lakoff, G. i Johnson, M. (2009): Metáforas de la vida cotidiana. Madrid, Cátedra.

· Lakoff, George (2002). Moral Politics. How Liberals and Conservative Think. Chicago, University of Chicago Press.

· Lakoff, George (2007): No pienses en un elefante. Lenguaje y debate político. Madrid, Complutense.

· Lakoff, George (2009): The Political Mind. Londres, Penguin Books.

· Lindstrom, Martin (2008). Buy-ology. The Truth and Lies About Why We Buy. New York, Random House Doubleday.

· Lozano, Jorge (2007). "Notas y noticias sobre el marco" en Revista de Occidente 2007, pp 103-112. Madrid.

· Luntz, Frank (2007). Words that Work. It's Not What You Say, It's What People Hear. New York, Hyperion Books.

· McQuarrie, Edward; Phillips, Barbara (ed) (2008). Go Figure. New Directions in Advertising Rhetoric. New York, M.E. Sharpe, Inc.

· Perelman, Chaim; Olbrechts-Tyteca, Lucie (2006). Tratado de la argumentación. La nueva retórica. Madrid, Gredos.

· Reese, Stephen et al (ed) (2001). Framing Public Life. Perspectives on Media and Our Understanding of the Social World. New Jersey, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

· Ruiz Collantes, Xavier (2000): Retórica creativa: programas de ideación publicitaria. Barcelona, Aldea Global.

· Ruiz Collantes, X., Pujadas, E., Ferrés, J., Obradors, M., Pérez, O., Gómez, L. i Casals, A. (2009): "La construcción de la imagen pública de los organismos del Estado y la ciudadanía a través de las narraciones de la publicidad institucional televisiva". A: Questiones Publicitarias, monogràfic núm. 3., pp. 137-206.

· Ruiz Collantes, Xavier (2009b): "El Estado es el producto. Publicidad institucional, rutinas discursivas e ideología de Estado". A: Questiones Publicitarias, monogràfic núm. 3, pp. 268-292.

· Ruiz Collantes, X., Pujadas, E., Pérez, O. i Casals, A. (2009c): "Presència, discurs i imatge dels candidats a les cadenes de televisió". A: Capdevila, A. i Pericot, J. (eds.): L'espectre del Tripartit. Barcelona, Documenta Universitària, pp. 141-170.

· Santiago, Javier de (2005). Principios de comunicación persuasiva. Madrid, Arco Libros.

· Scolari, Carlos A. (2004): Hacer clic: hacia una semiótica de las interacciones digitales. Barcelona, Gedisa.

· Selva, David (2009): "El videojuego como herramienta de comunicación publicitaria. Una aproximación al concepto de advergaming". A: Comunicación, núm. 7, pp. 141-166. Online: http://www.revistacomunicacion.org/.

Semprini, Andrea (1995): El marketing de la marca. Barcelona, Paidós

5.3. Teaching resources

Examples of images and audiovisual clips viewed in class.

The Power Point materials will be available online for students.

7. Planning of activities

WEEK	Block A - (Óliver Pérez)	Block B - (Hibai López)
9 April and 11 April	HOLIDAY	Framing theory and method
16 April and 18 April	Introduction to speech semiotic analysis	Seminar 1
23 April and 25 April	HOLIDAY	Framing applications
30 April and 2 May	Narrative analysis: fundamentals and trends	Seminar 2
7 May and 9 May	Semiotic mapping	Cases analysis: framing in the persuasive speeches
14 May and 16 May	Persuasive games	Seminar 3
21 May and 23 May	Persuasive games	Structuralist rhetoric
28 May and 30 May	HOLIDAY	Gamification
4 June and 6 June	Persuasive games seminar	Seminar 4
11 June and 13 June	Gamification seminar	Persuasive games presentation
18 June	Final project tutoring session
Exams period	Final project presentations