Appendix C: Communicating Meaning

• Semantics: The Reader’s and Writer’s Roles

• A Statement Is Never the Whole Story

• 1. Assuming we know everything about a subject is a fallacy called allness.

  • Example: In Cause-Related Marketing campaigns, advertisers promise to make a donation to a particular charity for each purchase. When asked what the donation would represent, customers estimated from 4% to 8% of sales prices.
  • 2. Recognize reports you receive may be filtered and you’re almost certainly getting inferences as well as observations.
  • 3. Check correspondence you send out to ensure you provide readers with enough background for them to interpret your message accurately.