Our society has become very opinionated over the years. There seems to be two distinct sides to most issues. Due to the explosion of mass media and the importance of the issues in our world today, we have become a society that cannot escape persuasive messages. Global warming is one of the many controversial issues and provides us with numerous persuasive messages.
Greenpeace.org is a campaigning organization that focuses on environmental problems and possible solutions. Through this organization I was able to obtain a video that used several persuasive tactics to display the threats of global warming and that action needs to be taken now. The message is of a young boy vocally expressing his anger towards the adults that didn’t take action soon enough to help prevent global warming. His tone is unpleasant and he supports his concerns with shocking qualitative facts that will happen to the earth. Next, he proceeds to inform the audience of what global warming is affecting, the future lives of his generation and the generations to come. In ending, the boy doesn’t ask for their help, instead he gives the audience an ultimatum, “Starting today, the lines are drawn, you have to choose sides. Either you’re for my future, or you’re against it. You’re a friend, or you’re an enemy” (CITE!).
Cognitive dissonance is central to many forms of persuasion in order to change beliefs, values, attitudes, and behaviors. In 1957, Leon Festinger developed the theory of cognitive dissonance. He did so out of interest concerning the relationships among cognitions (West & Turner, 2007). He noted that there was an imbalance among these cognitions, as did other theorists (West & Turner, 2007). According to this theory a cognition is thought of as a piece of knowledge. Knowledge may be about an emotion, opinion, behavior, attitude, or value (Oshikawa, 1968). Cognitive dissonance theory is based on the idea that people experience distress when they find themselves doing things that...