Power & Language - The Apprentice

In this video, Lord Alan Sugar explains his reasons behind why he is disappointed with the three candidates sat in front of him. Lord Sugar then begins to question Edward as to his credibility in the process so far. This leads to a discussion between the two although evidently as he has the most power, Lord Sugar speaks the most and subsequently puts Edward in his place.

(From 0:58) Lord Sugar begins by putting Edward in his place, clearly illustrating exactly what he has done wrong in this task. He begins by using the sentence "One thing you need to learn in life..." The use of the pronoun 'you' in this line indicates the direction of the criticism and how Edward is being directly addressed and almost 'nominated' in a teacher-esque style. This along with the use of the verb 'learn' (which suggests a link to education and teaching) appears to be used in order to assert power as this particular phrase 'you need to learn' appears to be primarily associated with teachers disciplining students. From this, you could grasp the fact that Lord Sugar is being patronising towards Edward and upwardly diverging in order to assert his authority.

When continuing to burrow away at exactly what lead to the failure of this specific task, Lord Sugar uses repetition to interrupt Edward from speaking and override him whilst continuing to speak. We would associate one with having the most power if they say the most, therefore Lord Sugar follows this rule. He says "And you can't. But you didn't, you didn't, you didn't". The use of the pronoun 'you' (as above) followed by the repetition of the contraction 'didn't' gives Edward something to think above as Lord Sugar negatively hammers in the fact that he just 'didn't' do what he should have. The informal tone of 'didn't' does suggest a slight in power from Lord Sugar momentarily and the repetition of this in the tone in which it is delivered is rather childish diminishing any preexisting authoritative approach. Despite the childish tone, Edward is put in his place from this.

As Lord Sugar, he attempts to alienate the candidate further by explaining how he himself is an 'expert' in electronics. The noun 'expert' suggests the air on knowledge he has on the particular subject area, giving his further power over Ed. This along with the paralinguistic's of Lord Sugar's abrupt pointing towards Edward is almost frightening and belittling further diverging himself in an upwards direction.

Categorising Texts - Cont'd

So, as the three texts have the purpose to advertise and inform with regards to events and competitions that are happening, there appears to be a very personal touch with them all. Therefore it does entice you a lot more and therefore want you to get involved with such competitions. If you are reading something that has a very personal touch, psychologically it makes the reader believe that they are possible the only ones that would enter and subsequently have a much greater chance of success with taking part. Despite there being other forms of persuasive techniques i.e rhetorical questions this does subtly act persuasively. 

Example 15

The above image is a advertising poster for a small Cornish music festival called 'Leopallooza'. The poster features brief information of when the event will take place but most importantly who will be making an appearance at the festival. The poster is intended for those interested in the type of music on offer and as there appears to be a little something for everyone and with the poster having no particular characteristics that would associate it with either gender of any particular age, the poster could be suited to many. The poster does act persuasively through the use of the acts on offer with big names in big fonts such as 'Bastille' and 'Jacob Banks'. The poster does not specifically suggest why one should attend the event but the mention of the headline acts would be the prime reason for one to attend. Each acts has been layer out neatly with a large bold font used so each one can be clearly read. The tag line for the event, and the short description is features at the bottom of the poster which appears to be an odd place for it to be situated as it can not be clearly seen and many may not even notice it there. 

Example 14

An article regarding how to deal with garden pests from the BBC Gardening website:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/gardening/advice/pests_and_diseases/identifier.shtml?garden_ants

The purpose of the above article is to inform and educate those who have a particular interest in gardening or those 

who simply have a problem with garden pests. The intended audience for the magazine article is those interested in 

gardening and with the use of language appears to be intended for those considered to be a 'more-mature' 

audience. There is also a large quantity of information and a large amount of detail and so the reader would have to 

be fairly knowledgable in the gardening front to completely understand the use of jargon in the article. The format 

of the information is simple and is mostly in one large block so does not look terribly enticing but does of course get 

across the necessary information. Only a single image is used as is positioned towards the top of the page 

suggesting the article is once again mostly appropriate for the more mature of person. The lack of colour overall 

throughout the article also conveys this thought. 

Example 13

    

The above advertisement has been taken from a local newspaper and is advertising the open days at 'Clifton High'. The text as a whole is very minimal and the majority consists of a short anecdote from what appears to be a parent to a current student of the school. The use of 'ordinary' colours don't particularly make the poster stand out but does however convey a sense of reservation and high class that the school endeavours to achieve. The use of certain words not only persuades readers to attend the open day but also to view the school as a high class alternative to perhaps a 'typical' school. The words 'motivated' and 'inspired' are strong words with regards to the effect they have on students and with parents likely to want to ensure the best for their children then these certain words will ensure their children can aspire to be the best they can.  

Example 12

The above image is an advertisement poster for retirement homes for the over 50's. The intended audience for this poster, by the description is for the over 50's however it does seem strange that the typical retirement age is 65 plus, yet these homes are trying to appeal to those just scraping the 50 years old boundary. The text also seems to be fairly simple in terms of language used and even the layout and size of the text. It appears that the key purpose of the poster is to inform of the event and almost acts as a personal invite to those who read the poster as the text is very emotive and therefore personal. The use of colours is simple which has been done intentionally as the poster has been produced on the computer making the whole thing also look ver pay professional. The use of the able image to the edge of the middle of the page is optimistic as it makes the assumption everyone will like the look of the single design of home. The overall poster doesn't come across as particularly persuasive as the majority of text used is data regarding price and event days.