The Video:
With the development of society and technology, there are increasingly global ecological problems around us. At the same time, there are many global ecological labels, the function of these labels attracts people’s attention and restrict people's behavior. Ecology labels have the power to certificate and identify products, which are of more benefit considering to protect environment, ecology and human health than other products without these labels but which can be actual similar in terms of the product. It drives the industry to continue improving the ecology functions of their commodities by guiding consumers to purchase these kind of goods so that the ecology products have more competition advantages in the market. In the following paragraphs, our group will focus on one ecological label and give some introductions about it. We will explain how a label works through examine its social causes, impact and workings. Also, we provide a video in order to persuade people of our chosen ecological label. Last part, we use ethos, pathos and logos of persuasion to explain and analysis why we use these rhetorical strategies in our video to help us in cross-cultural persuasion.
The truth – sustainable fishing
The global ecological label we
choose is Ocean Wise. Ocean Wise is a Vancouver Aquarium conservation program
created to educate and empower consumers about the issues surrounding
sustainable seafood. The main purpose of this organization is to get more ocean
species buyer to make ocean-friendly decisions. Overfishing has been the
greatest threat to our oceans today. The biological chain of the ocean is
intercepted because an extinction of one species can cause the unbalance of
this biologic chain, which then threatens the environment of the whole ocean.
It gets more and more important for us human beings to consume seafood in a
sustainable manner. Ocean Wise recommend species that are caught or farmed in a
way that ensures the log-term health and stability of that species, as well as
the greater marine ecosystem. Ocean Wise has four criteria after which they
select the sustainable species:
1. Abundant and resilient to
fishing pressures.
2. Well managed with a comprehensive
management plan based on current research.
3.
Harvested in a method that ensures limited
bycatch on non-target and endangered species.
4.
Harvested in ways that limit damage
to marine or aquatic habitats and negative interactions with other species.
The symbol of Ocean Wise
appears on menus, display cases and products. Anyone who wants to join Ocean
Wise has to submit an application request on the website and ocean wise will
reply via e-mail the required steps to become a partner of Ocean Wise. Up until
now, 634 partners have joined Ocean Wise, including restaurants, markets,
suppliers, culinary schools, an educational institute and a
sports/entertainment arena. Moreover, projects are conducted by Ocean Wise, as
for example one of them is The Movement For Sustainable Seafood At Vancouver
Aquarium’s 2014 Ocean Wise Chowder Chowdown. Top Ocean Wise chefs compete
head-to-head in Vancouver, Calgary and Toronto for the title of 2014 Ocean Wise
Chowder Chowdown Champion in each city. Tasting all the delectable original
chowders, paired with local craft beer and vote for the favorite, all in
support of sustainable seafood. It’s obvious that the method of Ocean Wise can
help to save the endangered species, protect the balance of the ocean system
and maintain the good state of the ecological environment.
http://www.oceanwise.ca
The purpose of our group is to
persuade people (relevant to Hong Kong) to protect the sea animals and being
aware of the Ocean Wise label. As a result they will go to restaurants who have
this label or even become a partner. Persuasion is widely seen as a skill
served for selling products and closing deals, but it indeed helps to change
people’s mind, involve moving people to a position they don't currently hold.
CHANGE
1. Use the four phases of a persuasion campaign to
do some explanation.(David A.Garvin,Michael A. Roberto. 2005)
In our
video, we use persuasion to make audience feel comfortable and willing to
change their view.
•
Convince
audiences that radical change is imperative and demonstrate why the new
direction is right.
WE NEED CHANGE
We show
pictures about the ways of people fishing which is illegal, compared with
beautiful ocean, the purpose is to let people know our appetite for fish is
threatening to overwhelm the ocean’s ecology, while the slaughter of whales and
industrial fishing methods are destroying endangered species. We need to
change.
•
Position and frame preliminary plan
YOU CAN HELP CHANGING
In the
video, we show recommendation of what to do if you are aware of this problem.
We encourage people to help.
When was the last time you ate fish?
2. Use
ethos, pathos and logos of persuasion and influence to explain and analysis.
(1)
Ethos
Ethos
means the characteristics of the messenger. It focuses on how the persuader
works. If you want to persuade someone, you need some characteristics. We will
analysis several we used in our video.
a.
Credibility. We are more likely to be
persuaded (even without the inclination to do so) by someone who is perceived
to be an authority. This is also one of the four essential steps of effective
persuasion. We see from one reading (Conger, J. A. 1998) which said credibility
grows out of two sources: expertise and relationship. About relationship it talks about build good
relationship with audiences, actually it is easy to achieve if audiences are
our classmates, but if audiences are all Hong Kong residents, it could be hard
to achieve. By using two types of music we reflect the mood- one dramatic for
realizing the problems/causes and one happy song to encourage for help. Our
group focuses on expertise. In our video, all pictures and information come
from authorities and professional newspaper or website, people can trust.
Furthermore we provide information about statistics.
Hong Kong people are the second
largest per-capita consumers of seafood in Asia, with every person consuming an
average of 71.6kg of seafood per year. The popularity of seafood in Hong Kong
places large demands on both local and overseas fisheries, to the extent that
certain species are in danger of being wiped out forever and marine ecosystems
around the world are deteriorating.
b.
Frame for common ground.
This is the second step of effective persuasion, which means identify shared
benefits. In our video, we express that if we don't protect the Ocean now the
consequences will be severe. In 50 years time we will have no fishes anymore
due to the overfishing. Fish is supposed to be healthy food and since we have no
fishes “left” the availability of healthy food shrinks. This is win-win
strategy for our audience because you can benefit from seafood as healthy food
and furthermore it will have impact to protect the ocean.
You still wan to enjoy the beauty of the ocean in
50 years time?
(2)Logos
a.
Contrast.
Contrast emphasizes on comparison. In our video, we often use comparison. We
show pictures of the beauty from the ocean and then after that a big fishing
boat. Further we use pictures of typical seafood platter and then pictures of
whales which got killed. We illustrate some successful examples about protect
ocean and then the ecology become well. So by using this strategy we make
people feel how important a beautiful ocean is. We
also put an example about WWF which is already used in Hong Kong to catch
people eyes. To
raise awareness about the need for sustainable seafood consumption, WWF-Hong
Kong announced the results of a sustainable seafood survey and launched an
updated version of our popular Seafood Guide.
b.
Provide evidence. Don’t
use ordinary evidence, most effective persuaders use language in a particular
way. We ask questions in order to make our audience thinking.
Commit to change
(3)Pathos
a.
Connect emotionally. Good
persuaders are aware of the primacy of emotions. On the one hand, our group
thinks that we have to let our audiences know our commitment to protect
seafood, which is not just in our mind but also in our heart and gut as well.
In our video, you can see our group member sign a commitment of protect
seafood, and we want to connect with our audiences. We build a role model so
audience can learn from us. On the other hand, we ask people to think about two
questions: how
often they eat fish and how the fish ended up on the platter? This is also kind
of emotion connected.
b. Know
the audience and context. This means
we need to use all available resources to know the audiences. We will introduce
relevant Hong Kong cultural into our analysis. We all know Hong Kong is one of
the world's most liberal economies and is a major international center of
finance and trade. The characteristic of cultural is more international. The
pace of life is quite fast. If we know this background, when we persuade people
in Hong Kong, we should pay attention on use simply and critical information in
our video to catch people’s eyes, because they are busy and don't have too much
time.
c.
Social proof (Cialdini, R. B. 2001). People are often
persuaded to change their attitudes or behavior in response to real or imagined
group pressure. So we can use peer
power whenever it's available.
We all
know Hong Kong has many harbors and fishing is also developing. Seafood is also
one of people’s habits, overfishing is a
permanent phenomena, so our video may have a positive influence on our
audiences.
Articles interesting to read
about this topic:
Videos:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b7-b3Q-dLbA
https://www.youtube.com/user/OceanWiseSeafood
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8HTQ4x5rUls
1. Garvin, D. A., &
Roberto, M. A. (2005, 02). Change through persuasion. Harvard Business Review,
83,104-112. http://search.proquest.com/docview/227816351?accountid=10134
