I teach communication and influence theory in certain of my courses at the university and begin every year quoting from my favorite Roman philosopher on the first day of class . . . long ago, Marcus Fabius Quintilian who is considered the father of rhetorical studies (that's communication today) said, "the essence of rhetoric is a good man speaking well" (long ago when dinosaurs walked the Earth and I was working on my MA in Communication & Theatre, I was assigned a stack of Quintinllian's writing along with contemporary criticism and today still find myself referring back to his words for inspiration and guidance) . . . which I boil down to that, like Quintilian, I teach my students a LOT of very effective communication techniques and principles of influence but that the goal of this study is to use these tools for good, for the betterment of the life of one's fellow travellers upon this globe of sorrow . . . unfortunately, there are far too many who use the skills and principles of influence for simple greed, to manipulate for the sake of manipulating with a Machiavellian glee . . . which is why we see the current Banking crisis and the Ecomonic meltdown . . . shortly after the Enron catastrophe, a number of US universities brought courses on ethics back into the business curriculum but unfortunately this has thus far proven to be too little too late and for some such courses it's been a bit more mouth music than soul music, more lipsync for show than music from the heart.
Sometimes you see a piece that does adhere to the principles of Quintilian . . . a piece that so obviously pulls the right strings and pushes just the right buttons in order to create an emotional response that leads into an opportunity for persuasion that is powerfully built and acted upon with an agenda – yes, an agenda as having one is not always a bad thing – that is for the public good.
Here's a beautifully crafted public service advertisement that would do Quintilian proud . . .
It's not just a dry statement of assertions of fact, value, or policy . . . this piece captures a moment of beautiful emotional connection – the conceit of a family playing charades is just one aspect of this that sets us up for emotional context support, empathy, and rapport, among other things – one that is created in order to foster our empathy and our own positive emotional connection. The closeups at crucial moments are done in ways to enhance our emotional response. It's beautifully photographed and meticulously crafted (those butterfly wings aren't just butterfly wings, they are symbolic and pull back unconscious imagery of angels as well as loving uplifting life giving love, lots of love at several levels of the spectrum of emotional response here). The symbols and metaphors are often obvious and would be heavy handed in other contexts but here they've been engineered to elicit specific responses and they get those responses.
We end our viewing with a conscious appreciation of the piece but an unconscious button's been pressed. Those seat belts in the car feel less like constricting bands of material and perhaps a bit more like loving hands, hugging us – nay embracing us in the loving arms of life.
Well done.
The advert was created for the Sussex Safer Roads Partnership (for those of you who are reading this on a stream and can't see the video, go to https://briandavidphillips.net/2010/02/embracelife.html and watch the beastie, you will be glad that you did).
I hadn't seen this before and snarfed it from Viba's facebook post and am happy I noticed it on my usually over-cluttered wall.
All the best,
Brian
(If you are reading this blog post via a stream, go to https://briandavidphillips.net/ to access the full post with any videos or photos included.)
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Brian David Phillips, PhD, CH [brian@briandavidphillips.com]
Hypnotist, Hypnotherapist, Intuitionist, Trance Wizard
President, Society of Experiential Trance
Associate Professor, NCCU, Taipei, Taiwan
