I stayed up way too late last night watching infomercials and late night TV, and I noticed some interesting uses of nonverbal behavior intended to provoke or display emotion. I thought it was funny that in exercise infomercials, the "before" pictures of the participants always show them frowning or looking sad. This gives the viewer the impression that they are totally unhappy with their entire life. In the "after" photos, they always have a huge smile and are holding their head high. This makes the viewer feel like everything is now great about their life and they are completely happy. It was interesting to note that the sellers of the exercise programs used facial expressions to encourage people to buy their products - so that they can be just as happy as the other people who have used their products.
The second type of commercial I found interesting was the James Scott Farrin "We mean business!" commercial. This commercial is meant to give the viewer the impression that the company really takes care of your business, and that they can intimidate anyone who has wronged you. The speaker holds a very stern look on his face, speaks very clearly and at a moderate pace, and holds steady eye contact with the camera. He also slams his fist down on a table which indicates that his aggression and also gives the impression that he will fight for your rights. This commercial would probably be totally ineffective if it used an actor who grinned, spoke with a lot of laughter and made wide, airy gestures with his hands. The expressions, gestures, tone of voice and eye gaze were definitely intentional and meant to send a certain message to the viewer.
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