Sunday, February 22, 2009
Visual Rhetoric Paper
Advertisements are everywhere these days especially places you would never expect to see them ten years ago. Companies are shelling out millions of dollars to promote their products in the most obscure places. These days you will find them about male urinals in any bathroom to ice of a professional hockey game. Even with these gains in reaching the consumer the most standard, and most useful are still television commercials. They have less than 30 seconds to persuade us, the consumer. Companies sometimes pay millions of dollars to promote their product for as little as 30 seconds during big television events such as the Super bowl. With this amount of time the commercials must be precise, entertaining, and leave a lasting impression. In America people are being exposed to these advertisement all day it seems. The best commercials are the ones that have you thinking about them after they are over, or the ones that make you laugh and cause you to bring it up at work the next day. I will show you a variety of commercials that left an impression on me and explain how the techniques they used are the most effective.
The first commercial I chose was part of the Trojan condom brands evolve campaign. It was a special Valentines commercial seeing their product is more in demand in early February. The commercial depicts a young couple in a car exchanging their valentine’s gifts. The irony is the gift is an STD from not using a condom. They make light of the sexually transmitted diseases by smiling and being ironic about it. He gives her gonorrhea but says, “are you sure your good because I was originally thinking syphilis or maybe herpes”. Although the commercial is funny they flash stats about sexually active young people and how 1 on 3 will have a sexually transmitted disease by the age of 25. The commercial is humorous so it catches you attention because of the irony. No guy would willingly spread a disease and no girl would be thrilled to willingly accept. She responds by saying, "I love it I am a gonorrhea girl”. So with the commercials humorous antidotes they hook the viewer in order to get their message across that using a condom ever time is necessary and theirs are the most trusted.
The next commercial is also one promoting Trojan condoms. It takes place in a cool bar you would typically find a younger dating scene. Instead of guys in the bar it’s a bunch of pigs talking to the attractive women. This is referring to the idea that all young men are pigs that are just looking for sex and do not care if they use a condom. So in the commercial, which has no conversation just a song playing, one of the pigs is talking to a seemingly uninterested girl at the bar and leaves her to go to the bathroom and as he purchases a Trojan condom from the vending machine he turns into a good looking guy. When he returns in human form the girl smiles and the commercial ends. It’s a simple concept and uses a common metaphor that men who don’t use condoms are pigs so you should evolve and mature. As straightforward as the concept is the commercial catches your attention from the first second to the last and convinces you its cooler to use protection every time.
Other than promoting products sometimes commercials promote people, views, and to not use a product. The famous commercials from the truth campaign utilize shock value in public to show people the true evil of the tobacco industry. In my opinion their best add is the cowboys in Times Square singing a song. The song is about how you don’t always die from tobacco. It depicts a man dressed as a cowboy singing without a voice box. He did not die from tobacco but like 8.5 million Americans he is someone living with an illness caused by cigarettes. Some people argue that these commercials are free advertising for the big tobacco companies but if I saw a man who sounds like a robot and had to hold something to a large hole in his neck in order to talk it would defer me from smoking. The commercial is powerful because of the shock value it presents. The key part of these adds are the hidden camera aspect that shows peoples reactions to the truth about what tobacco does to people everyday. People were just walking through their day and stopped to see a cowboy with obvious health problems singing out against the people that brought him this pain. In my opinion it is the hidden camera aspect that makes these commercials influential. Seeing how people react to facts they should know is alarming and will cause others to join in their cause to end the use of cigarettes.
A lot of products have a major competitor. Therefore their commercials are trying to show how their product is superior to the other. Be it through simple tests that they can show and the average person will understand or simply human testimony about how they prefer product A to B. An interesting take on the competition type of commercials are Apple computers, I’m a Mac and I’m a PC. The one I chose is the one that plays to Apple computers are ready to go straight out the box. The younger, more appealing actor represents the Apple and the older, more plain looking man represents the PC. The Macintosh image is a modern, more stylish computer so the backdrop for the commercial is pure white while they are in plain boxes. This leads you to focus on the actors and what they are saying without any distractions. As they ask what each other are going to do when they get started the PC states all these annoying tasks you have to go through with set up before you can start using your new computer while the Mac guy say he is going to make a home movie or play with his built in camera. The commercial is good in that it plays to all Apples strength of appealing to a younger audience and their ready to go out of the box trademark. This is why I feel these commercials are effective.
The last commercial I will discuss is the powerful Gatorade “G” commercial. As Lil Wayne narrates it pans across some of the greatest and most influential people in sports history. It’s in black and white, which makes it seem more appealing and powerful to the viewer. As it pans across the legends of American sports you listen to the commentary and are just taken in. As the camera pans you see everyone from Michael Jordan to Muhammad Ali, to Tiger Woods. It’s a very strong commercial that appeals to any sports fan because the cast is so diverse. Lil Wayne discusses being a champion and what it takes to be the best and you are just taken in by the greats. It shows how Gatorade has been there through many greats and how the Gatorade brand defines sports today as being on the Wheaties box was before.
Although all these commercials are very different they all have been successful for their cause. The all leaves lasting impressions that cause us to think about them after their 30 seconds on television are up. Although most of us can fast forward through commercials these day or just flip to another channel occasionally you see a commercial that catches your attention and causes you to think. These are the reasons visuals are so strong in influencing our behaviors.
Cited Videos:
SchwartzVideo. ""What's G?" Gatorade Commercial (Jordan, Woods, Manning, Bolt, Robinson, Hamm, Johnson, etc.)." Youtube. 14 November 2008. 21 Feb. 2009
"Trojan Evolve." Youtube. Ed. Trojanevolve. 18 June 2007. 21 Feb. 2009.
"Trojan Valentine's Day." Youtube. Ed. Trevolve. 09 Feb. 2009. 21 Feb. 2009.
"You don't always die from tobacco." Youtube. Ed. Harry182. 11 Nov. 2006. 21 Feb. 2009.
"Out of the box Mac." Youtube. Ed. Daleon1. 12 July 2006. 21 Feb. 2009.
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Friday, January 23, 2009
Your shit is the chronic!
R Kelly is a genius and an international pop sensation with lyrics that are out of this world.
I'd fly away to to this planet thank you rkelly for presenting us with more hit singes
I'd fly away to to this planet thank you rkelly for presenting us with more hit singes
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
A2
I have had really good English experiences throughout high school. I am not saying English was my favorite class or the one subject I was best at, it was just the class I had the best overall experiences with it. This was all thanks to my past teachers. My freshman year English teacher’s name was Mr. Accardi and he was the man. He was a cub fan who watched the Simpsons, and played guitar before class started. How awesome is that? I had a teacher that had the same interests as a 14-year-old kid. The next year I ventured off to boarding school where I met my favorite teacher I’ve ever had. His name was Mr. Verde. MR. Verde was a 30 or so year old Texan who wore the custom boots and crazy shirts to class. He always had us do strange writing assignments and changed my whole outlook on how to read a book. I think I read more that school year than I ever had before. It was different because the classes made me want to read as well as do well. I even ended up writing my college essay on my experiences in that class. Then junior year I came back to my public school where I had a class of over a hundred people and two teachers. It was chaos and they couldn’t control the class. We wrote papers and put on strange plays where we re-enacted American Idol and I had the privilege of playing Ryan Seacrest. Not the highlight of my English career. It was an experimental class that I do not believe was continued the next year. Finally my senior year was the best. My teacher was a first year teacher, which meant she was less than 5 years older than the class of seniors and was just a total push over. We still had work to do it was just we could get away with a lot more than having a 60 year old witch. So up until now my English past has been pleasant and a class I have enjoyed going to. My
My classes were all different. Some had very long research papers and some had simple book reports. English being the most broad class there were plenty of opportunities to be creative which is what I enjoy the best. My junior and senior year had debates too which were fun because I love arguing and pushing my beliefs on to others. I’m also not a big fan of admitting I am wrong which is one of my worse traits. In my writing I usually wait until the last minute because I dread the amount of time it takes to write long papers. I used to never proofread my papers other than spell check and would turn in my first draft, but in recent years that’s changed for the most part and I do read my work before I turn it in. As for technology I do use facebook like everyone else my age, but I am starting to get sick of it when people at parties talk about what there going to name their picture album from that night. I am addicted to iTunes and I text more than the healthy amount but I figure that’s just the age I am and its how I like to occupy my time.
My classes were all different. Some had very long research papers and some had simple book reports. English being the most broad class there were plenty of opportunities to be creative which is what I enjoy the best. My junior and senior year had debates too which were fun because I love arguing and pushing my beliefs on to others. I’m also not a big fan of admitting I am wrong which is one of my worse traits. In my writing I usually wait until the last minute because I dread the amount of time it takes to write long papers. I used to never proofread my papers other than spell check and would turn in my first draft, but in recent years that’s changed for the most part and I do read my work before I turn it in. As for technology I do use facebook like everyone else my age, but I am starting to get sick of it when people at parties talk about what there going to name their picture album from that night. I am addicted to iTunes and I text more than the healthy amount but I figure that’s just the age I am and its how I like to occupy my time.
A1
For this assignment I chose to interview my mom about my learning development. I asked her basically the sample questions that we came up with in class. The questions were as follows:
Q1- How often did I red when I was younger and did I like to read?
A- She answered that I read a lot more when I was younger and learning to read but once I got to higher levels of school I only read the books assigned to me in school and rarely read for pleasure other than magazines.
Q2- what subjects was I interested in as a child?
A- You loved maps and history. I remember you had the whole United States map with each state’s capital memorized in kindergarten. Also you liked art class because you could be creative and do whatever you wanted.
Q3- what was I like as a student?
A- Your teachers said you were a very bright student but you did not apply yourself. You always got your work done and turned it on time but you would always wait until the night before it was due.
Q4-What ways to I learn best?
A- I remember when we would study together for tests in grade school or middle school it always helped you to relate the thing you had to memorize to something you knew or something funny that would help you remember it when you had to. I think you learned best by doing something rather than sit there and read a textbook
Q5- how do I study best?
A- I think you study best when working with others. I know you can learn something by yourself if you had to but always preferred to work with your dad or me. You always studied with some distraction around such as the television on or your music in the background. Like I mentioned earlier you always waited until the last minute to get the work done.
Q6-What did I like to do outside of school when I was younger?
A- You went through a lot of phases. You always played some sport but it was different every time. You had trouble sticking with things because you would get bored with it and want to try something new. You were like a normal kid I guess because you went to friend’s houses and did anything you could to avoid your homework.
Q7- What job or career do you see me in?
A- I see you in advertising or business (sales) you have an incredible personality and people of all ages like you, you make friends easy and people like to be around you and I could see you being highly successful in sales, yet advertising incorporates both of your strong points. Those are being creative and imaginative and the 2 being personality and I think that you would be miserable within the conformity of a 9 to 5 job and that you will be at a success working with people and using your imagination.
Q8- what kind of person do you see me as?
A- I see you as a kind sincere person that enjoys being social and easily adaptable to people of all ages. I see you as creative and funny and sensitive, I also see you as a risk taker and outgoing. The only negative I can see is that when you get bored, you disconnect and become really d own and that is why it is so important that your future involves a career that you can be creative and social.
Q1- How often did I red when I was younger and did I like to read?
A- She answered that I read a lot more when I was younger and learning to read but once I got to higher levels of school I only read the books assigned to me in school and rarely read for pleasure other than magazines.
Q2- what subjects was I interested in as a child?
A- You loved maps and history. I remember you had the whole United States map with each state’s capital memorized in kindergarten. Also you liked art class because you could be creative and do whatever you wanted.
Q3- what was I like as a student?
A- Your teachers said you were a very bright student but you did not apply yourself. You always got your work done and turned it on time but you would always wait until the night before it was due.
Q4-What ways to I learn best?
A- I remember when we would study together for tests in grade school or middle school it always helped you to relate the thing you had to memorize to something you knew or something funny that would help you remember it when you had to. I think you learned best by doing something rather than sit there and read a textbook
Q5- how do I study best?
A- I think you study best when working with others. I know you can learn something by yourself if you had to but always preferred to work with your dad or me. You always studied with some distraction around such as the television on or your music in the background. Like I mentioned earlier you always waited until the last minute to get the work done.
Q6-What did I like to do outside of school when I was younger?
A- You went through a lot of phases. You always played some sport but it was different every time. You had trouble sticking with things because you would get bored with it and want to try something new. You were like a normal kid I guess because you went to friend’s houses and did anything you could to avoid your homework.
Q7- What job or career do you see me in?
A- I see you in advertising or business (sales) you have an incredible personality and people of all ages like you, you make friends easy and people like to be around you and I could see you being highly successful in sales, yet advertising incorporates both of your strong points. Those are being creative and imaginative and the 2 being personality and I think that you would be miserable within the conformity of a 9 to 5 job and that you will be at a success working with people and using your imagination.
Q8- what kind of person do you see me as?
A- I see you as a kind sincere person that enjoys being social and easily adaptable to people of all ages. I see you as creative and funny and sensitive, I also see you as a risk taker and outgoing. The only negative I can see is that when you get bored, you disconnect and become really d own and that is why it is so important that your future involves a career that you can be creative and social.
Thursday, January 15, 2009
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