Description
Briefly reviewing we can say that:
Rhetoric = is interested in what something does, the relationship between design and effect.
So far, we have thought about how we can experience rhetoric or persuasion in nearly everything we do. Seemingly, the entire social world is designed to create some sort of effect.
As we move forward, we continue to think about how we can build a vocabulary to describe the relationship between design and effect more precisely.
One way to speak precisely about the rhetorical situation is to consider the situation in which it occurs. Accordingly, we can use three terms to break up the situation: ]
Audience: At whom communication is directed, for whom it is made.
Purpose: What communication is trying to get done, its goal.
Strategy: The design choices made so that the purpose might be achieved in light of the audience.
We can then perhaps think about the rhetorical situation using an oversimplified formula:
Audience + Purpose = Strategy
We can perhaps, then, think about rhetorical situations as an equation: Audience + Purpose = Strategy. That is, once we know who our audience is and what our purpose is we can begin to develop what we might think to be effective in a situation.
With that in mind, please consider the following writing task:
Choose three rhetorical texts. These texts can be anything as long as they strike you as clearly rhetorical, that is, they seem to be clearly trying to generate an effect on the viewer. Also consider that since you’ll be writing about each of these texts individually that you choose something on the shorter side. It can be anything though: an image, a meme, a tweet, a video, an article, an ad, etc.
Include in your canvas post either the text itself or a link to text.
Under each text, describe briefly whom you take to be the intended audience of text and the intended purpose.
Then, for a much longer section of writing for each text, describe the strategy. What are the choices being made here in light of the audience and purpose? How are these choices adding up to an overall strategy?
Bullet points 2-4 should be repeated for three different texts, and your writing does not have to connect between texts.
Format
approx. 250 words per text for approx. 750 words all together.
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Example 1
Here is an older advertisement for Camels cigarettes that I found online that seems to clearly be
rhetorical. I would have to say that the intended audience for this advertisement would be those
who smoke and enjoy cigarettes. People who are on the fence about smoking or trying cigarettes
can also be the intended audience of this advertisement. The intended purpose of this
advertisement would of course be for them to purchase Camel cigarettes over any other cigarette
brand. When it comes to the strategy of this particular advertisement, the main one that gets
shown would be the credibility of doctors. Doctors are often highly respected individuals in
society, and many people trust what they have to say about many topics. This advertisement
clearly states that most doctors smoke Camel cigarettes over any other cigarette brand out there.
It then shows three reviews from Camel cigarette enjoyers and how they enjoy the brand so
much. As I previously said, doctors are highly respectable and have a great reputation among
citizens in society. If doctors are saying that they enjoy camel cigarettes the most and that they
feel the best on their throats then that can sway a lot of people from other brands into trying
Camels. They had used a credibility strategy you could say, that whenever somebody with
credibility speaks on a topic, more people will listen and potentially follow. I believe that this
strategy can work a lot of the time, especially when coming from people whom individuals trust
most.
Now to jump on the other side, here is an advertisement located in New York City. The intended
audience for this advertisement would be individuals who already smoke cigarettes regularly, and
even people who are potentially thinking about smoking them. The intended purpose is to of
course prevent them from smoking or continuing to smoke these cigarettes. When it comes to
the strategy of this specific advertisement, the one that pops out would be a scare or frightening
tactic. Showing or displaying an individual who has already smoked cigarettes and how its
consequences have been cast down upon them for doing so. As you can see from the image, the
person in the advertisement claims to have had a stroke from smoking cigarettes. Within the text
itself, it claims that death from this is never quick and always painful. This can definitely steer
people the other way from ever trying or continuing to smoke cigarettes. When they see the
consequences of it and how it can have deadly effects on people who smoke them often can
make them think differently about their actions. This advertisement strategy can potentially make
somebody think about their future and how they want to live when they get older as time goes
on. Do they want to live a long healthy lifestyle, or risk the chance of getting cancer, having a
stroke, being unable to breathe effectively, or at the worst, death? I believe that this strategy can
definitely work on people, as many who see the consequences of their actions before they
happen to them can think differently about what they are doing.
The above link is a video or advertisement on YouTube aimed at getting people to enlist in one of
the military branches based in the United States of America. The intended audience for this video
or advertisement is individuals who have an interest in serving their country and also have an
interest in being around and having access to or using advanced technology. The main purpose of
this video or advertisement would be to get as many people to enlist as possible. The strategy
here is that it shows off its resources and how you can be able to have access and use these
resources if you end up enlisting or joining. The video, shows a female enlisted in the Space Force
and working with advanced technology which helps rockets launch off into space. This is the type
of resources that the military can provide as I previously stated. The female in the video also
states that she wishes to help protect her country using these advanced technologies. This can
help relate to other individuals who have similar desires to protect their home country. This
strategy can be very successful, as when it comes to advanced technology that our military has in
its possession, there really aren’t many other options to be able to get your hands on this type of
technology yourself. I myself have always been interested in technology, and advertisements or
videos like this really work for me as I have always been intrigued by joining some branch of the
U.S. military after I am done with school.
Example 2
I chose this piece of rhetoric to discuss because this advertisement moved me when I
first saw it. This is a full page advertisement in a magazine that is showcased in a theater
guide. I had gone to a Broadway show and this is a sort of Playbill magazine that was
given to each audience member as we entered the theater. The lion’s eyes immediately
draw you in as the eyes seem to connect with you. The eyes seem to be sad and the
animal seems to plead with you to help him. As the viewer’s eyes travel downward, we
see that in fact, he DOES need our help (along with 700 other RESCUED animals.) I am
an animal lover and I support animals. In fact, I have been a vegetarian for over three
years. This advertisement has all the elements of a successful rhetoric. The placement of
the ad in a theater magazine appeals to a more affluent crowd. This places the ad in the
hands of typical theater-goers, who value culture and have extra money to spare. As I
looked through the theater, I saw mostly middle aged women in this particular show,
which was Riverdance. This ad certainly appeals to a middle aged woman to help this
poor creature. The advertisement somehow convinces the reader to put aside the fact
that this blood thirsty, massive creature, often referred to as the King of the Jungle is
pitiful and in need of extra help in the form of donated money.
The next piece of rhetoric that I am using is straight from my inbox on Black Friday. It is
a company called Blissy that I have never heard of nor ever bought anything from. I am
not sure how they got my email, but I found their advertisement both amusing and
disgusting. The ad claims that my tired, dry skin and damaged hair is all due to my “old
infested pillowcase.” That was a hook that got me to read further. It goes on to detail the
disgusting nature of dust mites. It gives shocking facts about how dead skin falls off of
people in the night and turns your pillowcase into an environment as nasty as a toilet
seat. It goes on to say that bugs are pooping all night on your pillowcase and tells the
audience what to do immediately. Blissy uses a shock marketing scheme to get potential
buyers. And who would the buyers be of Blissy pillowcases? I wonder how they got my
email. Was it because I clicked on a cleaning website or possibly because I clicked on a
shampoo for dry skin ad? I would reach that possibly this would be the audience that
Blissy is targeting. A person that is frustrated with dry skin or damaged hair or a clean
freak. I would place the audience to be a female of middle age. The photo alongside the
article also featured a happy couple laughing hysterically in bed and an obvious
transformation of their sleep due to the Blissy pillowcase. They look to be well rested
with glowing youthful skin all due to the Blissy “number one rated” silk pillowcase in
America.
This is another piece of rhetoric that I remember from their catchy slogan of Life is too short to
clean. This ad pops up on my instagram feed from time to time and I also have received a mailer
with these types of ads. This business woman has a phone to her ear with her laptop clearly open
on the couch and her briefcase on the floor. She is busy multitasking in this photo and cleaning
up after kids and their messes with scattered train tracks. The audience for this ad would be
women with kids who relate to this situation. Of trying to walk out the door only to see an
overwhelming mess to have to pick up. Again, I’m not sure how they got my information as I don’t
have kids, but who wouldn’t want a maid to keep the house clean. The slogan is clear and in bold
colorful letters in this ad which immediately draws the eye to the space above the mess where
we notice that something doesn’t seem quite right about this perfectly decorated room. Then,
the eye is drawn over to where we see the poor lady balancing a high powered job with the
household duties of a mom trying to do it all. It is obvious that this woman needs assistance and
offers an enticement of a free estimate with just the click of a button to learn more. The strategy
works well to combine the slogan with the elements in the ad
Example 3
Here Is an advertisement that is describing acne and showing a famous young musician named
Justin Bieber. The audience for this piece of rhetoric definitely seems to be teens that are
struggling against acne. The intended purpose of this advertisement is to have teens that are
struggling with acne to purchase this product by using a catchy slogan of “you have nothing to
lose but your acne”. The Strategy they are using here is that they are trying to relate to teens,
especially those that are big fans of Justin Bieber. This music artist can be seen very highly by
teens and may even trust him because they love his music so much. This can make teens think
that Justin Bieber may have also struggled with acne and he trusts proactive to fix his acne
problems. Another way they can describe this type of strategy is credibility, since this music artist
has such high credibility teens are going to trust him and be persuaded to buy his product. This
type of strategy I believe is very smart and something that will appeal to teens, it would surprise
me if they did not turn over any new types of profit with this strategy. Another thing about this
article about acne is that the slogan itself can arguably be heard by this music artist, which is
making it more arguably believable to teens that are reading this article.
Now taking a look at this other advertisement that can be commonly found in tv
commercials is one that is describing the drastic effects of smoking. This advertisement
is meant to target those people who already smoke and people that are thinking about
starting smoking. The advertisement is usually trying to tell the audience that smoking is
bad for you, and that if you continue to smoke, it’s going to take time off of your own
life. This type of strategy is a scare tactic, it’s meant to make the viewer scared of the
decision of smoking, and make them feel that every cigarette they smoke is causing them
to lose 14 minutes of their lives. The image also shows that the cigarette itself seems to
have its own timer on it, representing that if you smoke past this point, you are losing a
minute off your life. This is also causing people to rethink their stances of smoking and if
they continue down this path, its going to leave them with less time in their lives and
eventually to death. The scaring type of strategy is very useful in making people make
rational decisions in there lives so they can quickly make the best choice possible and if
people that smoke keep seeing ads like this that make them believe that there lives are
at danger by each smoke, then it’s going to promote the message of quitting smoking all
together.
This next piece of advertisement can be found either in a video or just the image above to get
people to enlist in the army in the united states of America. The intended audience of this piece is
to get people motivated or give some people in sight on what the army is like and it is tailing
those individuals that are interested in joining the army. The main purpose of this advertisement
is to get people to enlist in the army and especially those that are women. This advertisement is
showing that women can be warriors and serve their country just as well as men can. Having a
woman be the figurehead of this advertisement is smart because the army is trying to tailor to
the female audience sense they need more people to enlist. The type of strategy is very strong
because it is also showing multiple positions women can excel in the army, making it so the
consumer can have a good understanding of how the army may have many positions that she can
go into and do well in. Also the tagline of “what’s your warrior” is very effective because it
appeals to people that feel a sense of pride for their country and those who want to serve their
country as well. I believe that this is a very effective strategy because when I look at this, I think
it’s really cool and what they’re doing seems very interesting, which sparks my own interest in
potentially joining the army to do one of these jobs. Keeping these strategies in mind, the army
definitely has a good chance at pandering to their audience with this ad.
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