Most of you would not be unfamiliar with the above advertisement that has been running in the television for the past few weeks for Tiger Beer. Where one tries to outdo the other by switching characters ,where the robot ultimately loses to the lady and thus handing over the last bottle of beer.

The commercial uses non verbal communication through the whole advertisement. We see the use of different kinds of non verbal communication in the commercial to bring out what the characters want to express , which then contributes to the overall message.

1. Kinesics were used where body language was used to communicate to the audience.

- The use of the body to create a symbolic action : at the start when the man on the right of the screen moved his hands to challenge the other to compete with him for the beer.

- Illustrators were also used when we see the camera close in on the two men’s hands gripping frimly on the bottle showing they both want to have power over it.

2. Physical appearance of the various characters they changed into also signalled to us about certain characteristics of it.

- The change in costume for every character they change into shows certain traits that would , they feel defeat the other. Eg : the man on the left changed into a wrestler , with his muscles showing off and all , giving audience the idea that he was stronger than the ordinary man and was sure to defeat him.

3. Oculesics were used , where the eyes transmitted a certain message to the opponent.
- When one man changed into a gorilla the other responded by changing into tarzan and then looked straight into the gorilla eyes ,and slowly leans across the table closing the gap between them with his eyes bearing straight at the gorilla. It transmit the message of challenging the opponent, it seemed like it was saying “ who’s the winner now?” prompting the opponent to come out with something better.

4. Haptics were also used in this commercial to bring out a certain message
-The gorilla hit his chest after being challenged by the opponent, bringing out the message that it is angry.

We saw how powerful verbal communication was in the previous post and here we see how powerful non verbal communication is, where we can express a message by the different things we do without speaking. So which is more effective communication tool then?

I feel that verbal communication is definitely more effective. No doubt non verbal communication can bring out a message effectively as seen in the above example, but it, I feel, will more easily cause miscommunication as different people may receive a different message from a similar action. For example, someone cries, it can signal so many different things, the person could be happy or sad or frustrated and so on. There are so many possibilities but with words, we can just express ourselves directly , when we say we are happy , there is only on meaning and no other and we can even explain why we are happy to give others a clearer picture. Thus , verbal communication is more effective.

Perception and the Power of Words

This post is done in reference to the newspaper article titled “They died ‘so as to save the world’ “published on 13th September 2009 in The Sunday Times.

We are all probably quite familiar with this story that has been running in the papers since the court proceedings for this case started. Eight boys planned to jump off the building because they believed that by doing so they can save the world, resulting in the deaths of two teenagers with the others backing out, one backing out earlier on and the others got frightened after seeing their two friends jumping down.

Verbal Communication here is used by Witaya (the leader of the group , as stated in The Sunday Times article) to express the ideas and opinion of one to a group of people as well as for building up a relationship with them. But most unfortunately, the ideas and opinions expressed almost led to the deaths of 8 teenage boys, where he convinced them that they had to die in order to become slayers to save the world by killing demons and that world war 3 was coming. He also built up a relationship with this group of boys through active verbal communication, asking them if they had any problems and “always advised them to be good.”

When some of us read about all this, we sometimes can’t help but wonder how they could believe in something that we might feel is ridiculous or something that we thought no one could possibly believe in. But somehow words managed to work its power.

According to one of the boys, as quoted from The Sunday Times, said “….whatever he says, we will believe….”

We are able see the impact of language through this incident. We are able to see how powerful words are. This normal 16 year old teenager’s words had so much power. It even had the power to convince the others that in order to save the world they had to give up their lives.

The power of words can be so powerful that it sometimes terrifies me but in other times amaze me. It can bring someone down but it is also able to push someone up to achieve greater things. It can shape someone’s thoughts and perception. It can hurt someone but it can also comfort someone.

Perhaps perception had a role to play too. Witaya may have , during selecting information, filter/retained certain specific stimuli or information based on his beliefs or preference then organized the information through one of the organizational principle , figure and ground , becoming too focused on a certain point , in this case that certain point being they have to do something to save the world .This resulted in a misinterpretation where he may he have interpreted it based on his individual characteristics , on what he believed in. Thus creating a warp perception of things which was then commuicated to the others.

Underlying Message or Miscommunication?

http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1920703,00.html

The above article from the Time magazine online touches on the recent speech American President Obama was going to give the primary and secondary school students in America as they start their new school year on 8th September . The article features various views that some people have come up with on President Obama’s speech as well as the actual intended message that the President and the US government had wanted to bring out to the students.

“....state Republican chairman Jim Greer called it an attempt to use "our children to spread liberal propaganda" and "President Obama's socialist ideology." ”

Carla Dean, GOP chairwoman of Florida's Collier County, puts it as “Obama "wants to indoctrinate our kids,"

“...Republican governor and possible 2012 presidential aspirant Tim Pawlenty called the speech "uninvited" and voiced concerns about its "content and motive." ”

As quoted and stated above , many Republicans have been pouring out criticisms on President Obama’s speech ,believing that the speech has political aims. Their claims are not all unsupported as they point to prep materials that have been given to teachers who have been advised to use them as having underlying political meaning that others may not be aware of. Sounds familiar?

It is the cultural studies perspective , where communications are seen to have powerful effect and text are not always what they seem on the surface and this time , it is linked to the social force of socialism. Where the critics point to the government and President Obama trying to exert power over the students to get them to subscribe to what they believe in , in this case socialism.

However , the Democrats and the White House insists that there is no other message(s) underlying in the speech and never intended it to be linked to politics.

So was there really an underlying political message or was it one of Bacon’s four idols?

For me , I feel it is linked to one of Bacon’s four idols - Idols of the cave or otherwise known as personal prejudice. This then caused the miscommunication between the two sides.

In Florida last November , President Obama became he first northern Democrat to take Florida since FDR(Former US President Franklin D. Roosevelt). Florida’s GOP( Grand Old Party , another name for Republicans) , as reported in the article is said to have registered the loudest outcry over President Obama’s speech to be presented on the 8th Septmeber to the students. So they may already have prejudices over the President , government and the Democrats due to Obama winning Florida after so many decades , thus causing the misunderstanding of the President’s message.


Also, the Democrats and the Republicans are rivalling parties, each fighting for more support in America for years. There is a high possibility of the idols of the cave in action here, where a prejudice is already created through the special allegiance to a special theory/discipline. The Republicans would naturally want to put down the Democrats to gain favour with the people at every opportunity .This thus causes the Republican’s understanding of the message to be warped , resulting in a miscommunication as they already have a prejudice against the Democrats , which President Obama belongs to.