In Part 2 of the series “Teaching the Persuasive Technique – Testimonial,” 2017 Super Bowl commercials are featured. Many stars came out to promote products. Actors, sports figures, and even Bill Nye the Science Guy promote products. With a 30-second spot costing $5 million, many companies went with big celebrities.
Check out these materials for teaching propaganda. This handout includes a chart for students to complete explaining how the famous people worked well in promoting the products. You will also find links to the commercials used to teach the persuasive technique of testimonials. This handout includes a link to the Google Slide version of the teaching materials.
Testimonial Persuasive Technique
Testimonial Definition
This technique is when an expert, public figure, or celebrity promotes or supports a product, policy, or political candidate.
This technique also uses plain folk to show the product appeals to ordinary people.
Questions to Ask
- What makes this person a good representative to endorse this product?
- Will the endorsement help sell the product? Explain why or why not.
- Can you think of celebrities that actually hurt the product they were trying to promote?
- What must a company consider before hiring a celebrity to endorse their product? For example, does age matter?
Testimonial in Advertisements
Wix.com
The Wix ad features Gal Gadot of Wonder Woman. She and Jason Statham who is known for his action-thriller roles are eating in a restaurant. The two must fight a group of bad guys while the chef busily works on creating a website.
With his headphones on working away on the ad, the chef doesn’t realize his restaurant is blown up. In the end, he uses the ad he created on Wix to help promote his new business, a food truck.
The Mercedes-Benz ad features the Steppenwolf song Born to be Wild. In a biker bar, someone goes to the jukebox to play Born to be Wild. Patrons play pool and arm wrestle. A close-up of an Easy Rider movie poster foreshadows events to come. Soon someone comes inside the bar to say he has been blocked in. Everyone goes outside to see who would have the nerve to block in the bikers. Peter Fonda, wearing his Easy Rider American flag jacket, walks to his Mercedes gets in, and drives away.
Mobile Strike stars Arnold Schwarzenegger. A big battle scene takes place in the film. During the battle, famous one-liners from Schwarzenegger’s movies are spoken. “I’m Back,” and “Hasta la vista, baby,” promote the game.
Persil “The Professional!” features Bill Nye the Science Guy. His lab coat is stained during an experiment. Actor Peter Hermann comes in as the stain-fighting superhero. He uses Persil to clean Nye’s coat back to sparkly clean.
Check out the other posts in this series.
