p. 272 Press Release

New Department Head

Johnny Toler will take over as the new purchasing chief at Mountain East Medical Center.

Toler has been with Mountain East Medical Center for 13 years, and has been a loyal employee.

Johnny Toler began as an assistant druggist in the hospital pharmacy and was moved to the purchasing department in 1978 after the pharmacy closed.

Toler is taking over for Bob Wilkinson, former chief of purchasing. Wilkinson has left a legacy behind at MEMC, and he will be missed by much of the faculty and staff.  Wilkinson will take a job as a purchasing agent with another hospital.

 "Bob's abilities will be greatly missed at this hospital, but I know that Johnny Toler is a person we can all depend on to do whatever is necessary to keep his department going. I have great faith in him and in this hospital" hospital administrator Harry Illscott said.

Toler's wife, Carolyn, is head of the gynecology department at MEMC. The couple lives in the local community with their two children.

"This hospital means a great deal to me and my family, and I will give my best efforts to making our purchasing department the best. I learned from a fine man-Bob Wilkinson-and I hope I can continue to build on the foundation he established" Toler said.

Wednesday, April 23 Toler will take on his position as head of the purchasing department.
About

Mountain East Medical Center was founded in 1927 and has been active ever since. The Hospital started as a small clinic created by Timothy Smith, and it grew to the successful hospital it is today. The hospital is growing in size and continues to improve it's resources and medical expertise. MEMC specializes in diagnostic medicine, and maintains it's title as best hospital for diagnostic medicine in the state.

Exercise 11.1

Coke
Happy Pause for the youth of all ages...

1. Promise of happiness that transcends all generations and ages. and makes you feel young.
2. The illustration shows both young and old people blissfully happy with their coke. The coke is not the main part of the image, it is a subtle piece of the picture of the perfect refreshment for old people and young people. The scene is a familiar diner scene which causes it to attract attention.
3. There is a car of a young couple who look to have been there for a while and it is implied that they were made young by drinking coke OR just that the elderly people can be just as happy as young people when they drink coke.
4. The ad tells readers to go out and order a coke.

The Deception of Advertising

These days, advertising is all about convincing consumers of the need to buy a product. We have come to the age of consumerism, where we are constantly bombarded with advertisements of every form.  Companies will stop at nothing when it comes to creating effective advertising, and they have a few key objectives when it comes to advertising:

1. Making people aware of the product
2. changing people's attitudes toward the product
3. telling the consumer about product improvements
4. encouraging people to start buying the product

These points, from Writing for the Mass Media, are the focus of any commercial advertisement. In the PBS program, "The Persuaders," strategist Frank Luntz focuses primarily on the second objective: changing people's attitudes toward the product or idea.

Frank Luntz believes that with the right wording, any idea can be sold. He wrote an article for the Huffington Post on the top 11 words or phrases of 2011 in which he highlighted the power of words. In the article, he gave the top words and phrases used in business, politics, culture, and advertising and briefly mentioned their impact.

In "The Persuaders," Luntz had a focus group in order to develop the correct phrasing for a client of his. He had the group watch a speech by an executive form a power company and turn a dial to the amount they agree or disagree with the statements being made.

This activity revealed to Luntz what statements could get those opposed to still agree with what the power company was saying. When he found the key, he went in to talk to the group and many were visibly upset by the notion that strategic phrasing had caused their opinion to change.

No doubt, these people were feeling deceived. Why shouldn't they? Essentially, their thoughts are being manipulated by the way in which the information is presented. The marketer is spinning the message in order to appeal to a certain group and ultimately gain support, customers, and clients.

The misrepresentation and deception that can come from this idea of word spinning is not something to be taken lightly. Morality and the Christian worldview can quite clearly view this tactic as dishonest and, therefore, wrong.

As Christians it is our duty to be just, so when presented with Luntz's strategy we must reject the dishonesty. Sadly, Luntz has support from many large corporations and even has the support of President Obama.

Our culture is flooded with persuasive advertisements at every corner. How will we combat the deception of advertising? The only thing we can control is what we buy and consume, and consumer reaction is what fuels advertising.

We decide what is advertised and how. It's time for a change to be made; say no to deception and yes to the truth.