Common Task 12.

Answer one focus question from one of the county themes. Then, tailor your
focus question response to two different audiences in two separate written
responses. Each paragraph must include one outside source to support your
response. Be sure to proofread your writing and review the rubric before
submitting.

Focus Question
What compels people to deceive others? What are the consequences of deception?
Before we get into this question, take a quick second to define what deceit is because
sometimes people can be blind to it. To deceive is to make somebody or someone you trust
believe something that is not true, to get what you want. There can be multiple things in play
that compel people to deceive others like false advertisement for someone's personal gain. The
consequences of that is someone might end up getting hurt because they followed something
offline or they might end up getting scammed.

First Audience
Teenagers

Paragraph Response to the First Audience

There are a lot of grimy people in this world, they take and hurt others. Trust me I know and
we gotta stay cool off them people but they always seem to find a way to slither their way into
your life. Yes, I said slither because people are real-life snaking people out here and they just
clinch on to your life. And high school is already stressful enough we gotta worry about people
trying to deceive you. You probably like "deceive, nobody is about to be playing with", but it
can happen to you blindly because you put your trust in people or things: like companies. They
end up taking that trust and using you for their gain. A perfect example of this that I'll hope
you'll keep with you throughout your incoming adult years is, "When influencers create
content that showcases a luxurious and glamorous lifestyle, it can be menacing for others.
They are called ‘influencers’ for a reason. It has proliferated, and it can be dangerous"
(Rath, 2017). I hope y'all process this information because social media is like a basic
necessity to y'all and y'all be on your phones for almost the whole day. I know as y'all scroll
through your favorite social media site and see people posting their life and their daily moves.
In doing this you begin to change yourself to be like somebody else and not yourself. And it's
funny because some people on social media be living lie to make their life seem more
interesting than it is which can be harmful be there are a lot of people that are some type of
leader or some type of clout and other people look up to them and the things they do other
people might want to those things too. I hope y'all take this with a grain of salt. This big issue
and y'all have so much life ahead of you so be yourself and don't let other people's influence
compel you.

Rath, J. (2017, February 27). 18 false advertising scandals that cost some brands millions.
Business Insider. Retrieved October 27, 2022, from https://www.businessinsider.com/false-
advertising-scandals-2017-2

Second Audience
Adults

Paragraph Response to the Second Audience

Good evening ladies and gentlemen if I could have a minute of your time, I know y'all have a
busy schedule but there is a serious issue going on and that is deception. I know y'all
experience deception either by a partner, someone you trust, or companies you put value in. On
the topic of companies, it's crazy as working-class citizens y'all put your money in a company
that you support just for them to be scamming you for example, "In 2016, the Federal Trade
Commission (FTC) filed a lawsuit against Volkswagen, which claimed the car company had
deceived customers with the advertising campaign it used to promote its supposedly "Clean
Diesel" vehicles, according to a press release"(Ramirez, 2019). This demonstration of
deception gives you a real-life idea of how the length a company will go to deceive you for
personal gain. I know many people might like that type of idea of a car so they used that
against people to possibly raise their company value. Also, I wanted to get this information
across so people just can be more aware and the more aware it possibly saves from making a
bad investment in a company. You can also pass this type of information to your kids or your
nieces and nephews.

Ramirez, Rachel. “Hiding behind Screens: Deception by Social Media Influencers.”

Medium, Medium, 1 Mar. 2019, https://medium.com/@rachjuramirez/hiding-behind-
screens-deception-by-social-media-influencers-b0fc1becd45a.