(Institute of Social Communication, 2010) Mwavua, Deborah, Wacheghu
Television advertising is a persuasive form of communication geared to
making a product known in the market. Advertisers exploit human needs as an entry
point to making different appeals so as to sell a product. The idea of persuasive
discourse was proposed long ago by Aristotle. Ile named it rhetoric which is "defined
as the faculty of observing any given case and the available means of persuasion."'
Of the several types of persuasion the one that fits in best with advertising is
structured in such a way that the audience is rallied towards a certain frame of mind.
In this case advertisers use human needs to position audiences into a place where they
can be coaxed to reason in a certain way. Aristotle said "what is persuasive is
persuasive to someone; and something is persuasive either because it is directly self
evident or because it appears to be proved from other statements." Advertisers use
words, animations and music as statements to persuade