Healthy Influence Blog

You remember our Persuasion WAC:  WATTage, Arguments, and Cues.  If it moves the dimmer switch of your mind, it is WATTage.  If it is information of crucial importance, it is Argument.  If it influences with little thinking, it is Cue.  High WATT minds want Arguments on the Central Route while Low WATT minds want Cues ambling along the Peripheral Route.

Now, smart people make a dumb mistake when they think that everything can be classified into one and just one of the three WACs.  Take a classic advertising example:  The pretty blonde with a hot body.  A Cue, right?  I mean all you do is take one look and your mind stops working and all the illumination you need is coming from that hot blonde and not your WATTage.

Let’s work on this.  You’ll need to fantasize, but it’s okay.  I won’t tell if you won’t tell.  All in the name of science!

So, imagine the hot blonde of your dreams (and it doesn’t have to be blonde hair, it could be any color, blonde just works for me and I’m writing this and you promised not to tell.)  Now, add unusually long hair.  Long, lustrous, blonde hair.  Let the wind blow and see that long blonde hair attached to that face, that face, that fabulous face, and that body, don’t even get started on that body, just see that long blonde hair flowing in the wind . . .

. . . while the blonde of your dreams holds the wheel of a surging red convertible.  Blue skies, red metal, hot blonde hair, flowing, going, blowing in the wind.

And now a caption:  For Beautiful Hair.

A classic auto ad.  Take your car, add one hot blonde, label with a clever slogan, and boom, we’ve just saved Detroit.  And we did it on the Peripheral Route with Low WATT thinkers and that lovely hot blonde Cue.  And it’s gotta be a Cue not an Argument because how can a car make hair beautiful and besides why would you buy a car to make beautiful hair?  You wouldn’t . . .

So, imagine now, that hot blonde of your dreams with the long hair, flowing, going, blowing in the wind . . .

. . . while holding a bottle of shampoo with the same caption:  For Beautiful Hair.

What’s your hot blonde now?  A Cue?  Really?  Wait a minute.  If the shampoo helps make that long hair look that good, that’s an Argument, not a Cue.  If my hair will look better because of the shampoo, then those hot blonde tresses are an Argument.

The WAC is not as simple as it seems.  The same persuasion element – in this case long, blonde hair – can function as either an Argument or a Cue.  It depends upon how it is used.  If the persuasion element is something that a High WATT thinker will consider, mull, weigh, elaborate upon, add to, embroider over, then it is an Argument.  By contrast, if a Low WATT thinker stares in slack jawed wonder at that shiny, bright thing wiggling and jiggling with promise and delight, then it is a Cue.  Same object, but different function.

And, “function” is the key to the WAC.  Observe function, not appearance.  Function marks the WAC category.  When you know what it does, you know WATTage, Argument, or Cue.

“But, Steve, how does blonde hair function as that dimmer switch for WATTage?  I get the Argument and Cue difference, but blonde hair turns the dimmer dial?”

It does for me.  I married a hot blonde who also happens to be smart, sophisticated, and experienced.  My married life taught me to turn up the dimmer switch when the (blonde) girl of my dreams starts talking.  I need to go High WATT with her because she often says interesting, useful, and enjoyable things . . . which is another way of saying she provides a lot of Arguments!

Of course, your WATTage with blondes may vary!