This paper uses the film 'Thank you for smoking', to discuss the notion of pseudo-communication and audience persuasion of 'rightness', as opposed to the old-fashioned notion of communication (or 'truth'). It is argued that the former may reveal a complex notion of communication and 'truth' of a specific sort in its interstitial rhetorical spaces. This is especially important for South Africa, where 'persuasive communication' makes up part of communication studies curricula. The paper sets out to demonstrate how myopic the unqualified focus on 'persuasion' is, particularly in South Africa.