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Synthetic personalisation is the process by which texts treat their mass audiences as if they were individuals.
Norman Fairclough, credited with developing the concept, calls it "a compensatory tendency to give the impression of treating each of the people 'handled' en masse as an individual. Examples would be air travel (have a nice day), [and] restaurants (welcome to Wimpy!)" (2001: 52).
The use of second person pronouns contribute significantly to the process of synthetic personalisation within the mass media. It is extremely common to encounter constructions such as "See you after the break" on television shows prior to commercial breaks. (This example is also common in Paddy Scannell's concept of Broadcast Socialbilty.)
It developed from the area of linguistics known as Critical discourse analysis (CDA). It concentrates upon how power is articulated.
Synthetic personalisation is not to be confused with Synthetic Personality.
References
Fairclough, Norman (2001) Language and Power. 2nd ed. Essex: Longman.
Talbot, Mary M., Karen Atkinson & David Atkinson (2003) Language and Power in the Modern World. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
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