Problem Solving Blog Post

This blog post is for COMM333 persuasion class, and for this assignment I will be analyzing the documentary Food Inc., which was created and directed by Robert Kenner. The purpose of this assignment is to analyze a film or a documentary on its effect of persuasion. I chose the documentary Food Inc. because I believe it is a very informative documentary on the food we consume and it actually influenced me to be a vegetarian. I watched this film two years ago and ever since then, I cannot eat certain types of food and I constantly watch over my diet. For this reason, I believe this documentary did a very good job with persuading its audience away from certain types of food.

Credibility is a big factor in this documentary because literally everything on the film is based off facts. In technical terms, “Perceived credibility consists of the judgements made by a message recipient concerning the believability of a communicator,” (Demirdogen, 2010). The documentary is effective because the United States is one of the countries in the world with a lot of obese people and that involves food. The primary credibility is shown in the film when the interviewers interview the actual workers from Companies such as Perdue and many workers were prohibited from being interviewed because of their dirty secrets. The source of credibility is composed because the people being interviewed are “Calm, Cool, and collected”, which sets the scene of this documentary to be very informative and serious. Also this documentary is credible because it shows actual clips from the food making process such as the pig-torturing chamber. It attracts the viewer’s eyes because of their use of pathos and it makes many people sensitive and sad towards the subject. Also this is a social movement for many animal-loves and environmentalist because of how they are mistreating the animals and since they are involving the community it makes it more relatable.

In terms of the Characteristics and Traits of Persuasion, I do not believe that a certain group was being targeted more so than another. I believe that Food Inc. was simply trying to preach to the masses of the American people in the hopes of effecting the highest number of people possible. With that being said, I do believe that this documentary affected varying groups of people different. For example, it was said in Module 5 when comparing genders and interactions with people, men are indifferent when it comes to emails and face-to-face when women would much rather take part in face-to-face interactions. Due to this statistic, I believe that Food Inc. had a larger effect on the female gender because they are affected more so by a visual than words. So you can tell a woman about the chicken processing method that Perdue uses, but once they see it in action from the documentary they will be heavily influenced not to eat their products. Some people might be able to just hear from a friend about these disgusting methods that Food companies use in order for them to stop using their services. While others may have the mentality of “I have to see it to believe it” in order for them to change their ways, which is where Food Inc. does an excellent job by showing the side no one sees in the food industry.

The Social Judgement Theory was a test that I conducted on myself after the conclusion of this documentary. In terms of the SJT itself, it is the idea that an individual’s behavior is predetermined and can be predicted (Sherif & Hovland, 1961). I asked myself if my beliefs had changed whatsoever after watching the disgusting and shocking images that were shown on the Food Inc. documentary. And to be honest, they hadn’t changed only because I already had the mentality that I wouldn’t use those food companies in my everyday life due to my vegan lifestyle. If I was an everyday American who ate meat regularly, I do believe that my perception of meat would change because the way that it is made and processed is very unethical and wrong. I do not believe that one’s behaviors and opinions can be predicted because in the case of myself versus the everyday American, you do not know ones beliefs and lifestyles that go into their decisions beforehand. Because I am a vegetarian I did not plan on using these companies that conduct these food processing methods because I do not consume meat, but one that does consume meat can have their opinion changed from this documentary.

Overall, I feel like my analysis of the documentary Food Inc. really opened my eyes on how America goes about the food industry and how these companies go against what is considered ethical to get their products on the line. When it comes to the subject of Communication and more specifically persuasion, watching a documentary like this can persuade a person heavily to change their lifestyle and choices when it comes to their consumption of food. The people that they interviewed throughout the documentary had the credentials of members in the food industry, which showed the credibility of the documentary throughout the presentation. The documentary didn’t affect me much in terms of changing my personal opinion on the subject, but I learned that the everyday American can be easily persuaded by a valuable and credible source. My ability to review the information and facts that this documentary offered has helped me refine my skills in deconstructing media and understanding how someone can be persuaded by the facts. It is hard to persuade a person with just ideas that have no firm facts to back it up, but when you have a credible source backed up by information then the level of persuasion one carries is endless.

References:

1. DEMİRDÖĞEN, Ü D. (2010). The Roots of Research in (political) Persuasion: Ethos, Pathos, Logos and the Yale Studies of Persuasive Communications. International Journal of Social Inquiry, 3(1), 189-201. Retrieved February 20, 2016.

2. Sherif, M., Sherif, C., & Hovland, C. (1961). Social Judgement. Yale Unviersity Press. Retrieved February 20, 2016.