l. To make it easy for readers to act, provide a reply card, a stamped and
preaddressed envelope, a toll-free number, a smartphone-readable matrix
bar code, a Web address, or a promise of a follow-up call.
m. To further motivate your receiver to act, consider offering a gift, promising an
incentive, limiting the offer, setting a deadline, or offering a guarantee of
satisfaction.
p. When selling by e-mail, consider these tips:
i. Craft a catchy subject line.
ii. Keep the main information “above the fold.”
q. When writing short persuasive messages online, follow these guidelines
(Figure 10.6):
i. Project a professional, positive social online presence.
r. Pair Activity: 50 minutes total. Activity 10.18—The Coolest of All? Puffery in
Advertising
Break class into pairs and have each student pair complete the activity found
at the end of the chapter. Students should look for examples of puffery and
find ads that would need to prove their claims. Students should select one
example from each category to share with the larger group.
• What example of puffery did you find?
a. Press releases announce important information to the media. (Model
Document 10.7)
d. Because purely self-serving or promotional information is not appealing to
editors and producers, press release writers follow these principles to get
them to read beyond the first sentence:
i. Open with an attention-getting lead or a summary of the important
facts.
ii. Include answers to the five Ws and one H (who, what, when, where,
why, and how) in the article—but not all in the first sentence!
e. Writing Improvement Activity: 50 minutes total. Activity 10.27— Press
Release: We Have News for You
• Student answers with vary, but the following solution can be used as
an example of an effective press release that addresses the activity
guidelines.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Cindy Eikenberg
(410) 847-9420
BIG MAC GOES GREEN WITH POTATO STARCH
CLAMSHELL CONTAINER
Santa Barbara, CA, current date. In an effort to use biodegradable
packaging, McDonald’s has approved a new sandwich container for its
Big Mac. Over 300 McDonald’s stores will begin handing out its most
popular sandwich in an environmentally friendly clamshell container
made from potato starch, limestone, and 100 percent postconsumer
recycled fiber.
The miraculous EarthShell product is surprisingly strong, yet economical
and biodegradable. It meets industry requirements for rigidity,
insulation, stacking, consumer usage properties, and graphic
capabilities. Using low-cost raw materials processed in conventional
machinery, EarthShell packaging requires less total energy to make
than polystyrene or paper products. What’s more, EarthShell products
are competitively priced.
# # #
Discussion Questions
You can assign these questions several ways: in a discussion forum in your LMS; as whole-
class discussions in person; or as a partner or group activity in class.
1. Discussion: Emotional vs. Rational Appeals (Critical Thinking #1, 10-5, PPT Slide 44)
Duration 5 minutes.
a. Sit back in your first-class seat and sip a freshly stirred drink while letting 12
channels of superb audio wash over you—or snooze is an example of what type
of persuasive appeal?
i. Answer: The first promotional statement focuses on creature
b. How does it compare to the following: Take one of four daily direct flights to
South America on our modern Airbus aircraft, and enjoy the most legroom of any
airline. If we’re ever late, you will receive coupons for free trips.
2. Discussion: The Negative Connotations of Persuasion (Critical Thinking #2, 10-1,
PPT Slides 4–5) Duration 10 minutes.
a. The word persuasion turns some people off.
b. Why? What negative connotations can it have?
i. Answer: Many people subconsciously equate persuasion with
coercion or force. In fact, both persuasion and coercion share the
3. Discussion: Direct-Mail vs. E-mail Sales Messages (Critical Thinking #3, 10-5,
PPT Slide 41) Duration 5 minutes.
a. How are direct-mail sales letters and e-mail sales messages similar, and how
are they different?
i. Answer: Direct-mail sales letters and e-mail sales messages are
4. Discussion: The Ethics of News Releases (Critical Thinking #4, 10-6, PPT Slide 53)
Duration 10 minutes.
a. Why are magazine and newspaper editors or TV producers wary of press
(news) releases from businesses and reluctant to turn them into articles?
i. Answer: Traditionally, most self-respecting journalists fiercely guard
their objectivity and independence from corporate, political, and
connection between a merchant and a promoter.
5. Discussion: The Ethics of Microtargeting (Critical Thinking #5, 10-1, PPT Slide 8)
Duration 15 minutes.
a. Microtargeting is controversial. Advertisers are trying to sweettalk Internet
users into allowing them to harvest their location information, browser
history, and other personal behavior data. They argue it’s to users’ advantage
b. What are the risks of microtargeted political ads on social media?
i. Answer: The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), for example,
ii. Microtargeting is achieved with the help of sophisticated data mining
which then helps the data-collecting entity to assemble a profile of a
very narrow target audience, a small subset of individuals. If aspects
of the truth (or untruth) are fragmented to such an extent,
establishing common ground or even basic facts is very difficult if not
impossible.
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Additional Activities and Assignments
1. Case Study: Zooming In—Juul—Suspicions Unlikely to Evaporate: In this case
study, students will read a description of the controversy around whether Juul Labs
used social media and influencers to appeal to minors. They are then asked to
answer a series of critical-thinking questions.
a. Why might teenagers and young adults be susceptible to Juul, and what type
of appeal was the e-cigarette startup using?
i. Teenagers are naturally eager to explore and experiment, not least as
b. What could explain the huge success of Juul, the startup that burst onto a
crowded e-cigarette scene in 2015 and within three years grabbed a 75-
percent share of the vaping market?
i. Although no easy answers exist and the FDA and FTC are
investigating, many public health advocates believe that Juul
deliberately hooked the next generation of nicotine addicts with its
c. The marketing agency Cult Collective has removed the Juul case study from
its website, and it’s available only in the Internet Archive. Why may Cult have
pulled the case from its e-portfolio?
i. It’s a safe bet that the agency responsible for the wildly successful but
also highly controversial Vaporized campaign removed the self-praise
2. Case Study: Zooming In—Your Turn: Applying Your Skills Against Vaping: In this
case study, students will read a description of the regulation and outrage around
Juul’s flavored e-cigarettes. They are then asked to take on the role of a member of a
team competing to create an antivaping campaign. Break students into groups of
three to five and have them complete the assignment as a team. You may ask teams
to summarize their strategy in an e-mail or memo or present their team’s approach
in class.
a. Students are asked to create a persuasive strategy to counter the youth
appeal of Juul. Teams should tailor their campaigns and consider the most
effective channels to use.
i. Answers will vary. The topic will likely generate a lively discussion.
iii. Many questions could be posed to students to get them thinking
about persuasive appeals: Would rational antivaping messages work?
iv. What about appeals to fear? The FDA requires that conspicuous
health warnings be displayed on packaging. Can scare tactics reduce
smoking and vaping? Effective 2021, the FDA has mandated that
cigarette packaging must show health warnings with large color
v. Perhaps the appeal of vaping among teens and young adults can be
reverse engineered. Images showing young, attractive, and happy
people who do not vape and say so in a clever caption might work
well. Students could browse Twitter to find any “third–party” Juul–
perpetuating tweets and try to forge an opposing strategy. For
example, consider the brief Twitter video of a goofy bearded male
who is vaping while spinning around. The tweet text reads, “This was
the first time I ever hit a #juul and the last time I felt true happiness.”
3. Chat About It: At the end of each chapter, you will find additional open-ended
questions related to the chapter material. You may assign these topics for
discussion in class, in an online chat room, or on an online discussion board. You
may also ask students to read and respond to postings made by their classmates.
(Chat About It Topics #3 and 4 can be found in the chapter outline above as PPT
activities.)
Topic 1: Traditional advertising and digital advertising have been compared to
fishing with a dragnet versus spearfishing. Explain this analogy. Is it apt and what
does it imply?
4. Test Your Workplace Etiquette IQ: New communication platforms and casual
workplace environments have blurred the lines of appropriateness, leaving workers
wondering how to navigate uncharted waters. Have students check their workplace
etiquette IQ by deciding whether the following statements are true or false.
Scenario 1: As a working parent, you have two or three photos of your family that
you would like to put on your office desk. You have not seen any family photos
on the desks of other workers. To test the waters, you should set up your photos
and see what happens.
Answer: False. It’s always wise to talk with your superior about any
Scenario 2: Although you should never take company equipment or major
supplies, most employees are entitled to take home small items such as paper,
folders, and pens.
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Additional Resources
Cengage Video Resources
• MindTap Videos:
o Learn It: Chapter 10 Persuasive and Sales Messages
▪ Learn It: Video Lesson 10-1
▪ Learn It: Video Lesson 10-2
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Appendix
Generic Rubrics
Providing students with rubrics helps them understand expectations and components of
assignments. Rubrics help students become more aware of their learning process and
progress, and they improve students’ work through timely and detailed feedback.
Instructor Manual: Guffey/Loewy, Business Communication: Process & Product, 10e, 2022, 9780357129234; Chapter 10:
Persuasive and Sales Messages
Standard Writing Rubric
Criteria
Meets Requirements
Needs Improvement
Incomplete
Content
The assignment clearly
and comprehensively
addresses all questions
in the assignment.
conclusions are logically
related and consistent.
10 points
arguments, and
conclusions are mostly
logically related and
consistent.
logically related and
consistent.
0 points
The assignment partially
addresses some or all
questions in the
assignment.
The assignment does not
address the questions in
the assignment.
0 points
7 points
Research
The assignment is based
upon appropriate and
adequate academic
literature, including peer
reviewed journals and
other scholarly work.
5 points
The assignment is based
upon adequate
academic literature but
does not include peer
reviewed journals and
other scholarly work.
3 points
The assignment is not
based upon appropriate
and adequate academic
literature and does not
include peer reviewed
journals and other
scholarly work.
0 points
References/Works
Cited
The assignment follows
the required citation
guidelines.
5 points
The assignment follows
some of the required
citation guidelines.
3 points
The assignment does not
follow the required
citation guidelines.
0 points
or fewer grammatical
and spelling errors.
5 points
three to five grammatical
and spelling errors.
3 points
incomplete or
unintelligible.
0 points
Standard Discussion Rubric
Criteria
Meets Requirements
Needs Improvement
Incomplete
Participation
Participates in or
submits discussion by
the posted deadlines.
Follows instructions for
initial post and
responses.
5 points
Does not participate in
or submit discussion by
the posted deadlines.
Does not follow
instructions for initial
post and responses.
3 points
Does not participate in
discussion.
0 points
