SWA #21

1)

It is very obvious what is being argued right off the bat in this article by The Onion. They are arguing that society never reads anything in a newspaper they only skim and look at pictures because they want to move on with their lives and don't have the time to read all those words. Everyone freaks out when all they can do is read a big article versus just reading a subtitle or looking at a picture. I can tell this is the argument because the quotes in this article from random people convey that they hate having to take the ten minutes out of their day to read and if it was something important, there would be a picture.

2)

This article uses hyperbole to convey the extreme impatience that Americans have when someone puts down a large article to read with only words. For instance, when they say, "endless 500 words" it is an exaggeration because 500 words is not that much writing to read. The best example of hyperbole in this article is when they say, "Sources also reported a 450 percent rise in temple rubbing and under-the-breath cursing around this time." This is extreme exaggeration and shows that society is in that much of an uproar over something as small as reading an article. All of the hyperbole helps to advance The Onion's argument because to a degree it is true and all of the reader's of this article know it. It strengthens the argument because mixed in with the quotes it is just proof such as Landsman saying "Whatever it is, I'm pretty sure it doesn't even have a point."

SWA #19

1)

Andriesen takes the stance that most people end up taking when he talks about what really defines a sport. Most definitions don't fit enough sports or include an "activity" that shouldn't be considered a sport. As he says near the end, "the only point of agreement likely to be reached is that we'll never agree."Every time Andriesen brings up a factor to consider something a sport, there is something that counter acts that factor. For instance, racing under human power is always considered a sport but when one brings a horse or a car into the conversation, can it really be considered a sport? (235) Everytime Andreiesen talks of the activity having to be physical or scoring being apart of the sport there is always a but. He believes that scoring must be objective or boxing isn't a sport. There are so many tiny details that go into claiming something is a sport Andriesen doesn't make his own claim but just that everyone can agree that you know a sport when you see it.

2)

There are a couple circumstances that are important to have accepted criteria for constituting a sport. For instance, the Olympics is something where having an accepted criteria might be important because then no can complain about their "sport" not being in them. Also activities that are very similar to sports could not complain if there were criteria for constituting a sport. For instance, table tennis versus actual tennis. If tennis was defined under sport and table tennis wasn't then there would be no argument to go further with. Having a certain criteria would help to end the argument and the disappoint for certain activities. Activities like "sport stacking" wouldn't be arguing that their name needed to be changed from cup stacking to sport stacking.

SWA #18

Three Possible Issues

1)      Should performance enhancing drugs be allowed in all sports?

This issue has always caught my attention and after doing a lot of research I am hooked on it. It is so interesting to research the pros and cons of all the performance enhancing drugs. The numerous amounts of articles both scientific and argumentative on this topic didn’t surprise me. This was an easy topic to research because I am obsessed with the sports world and everything that is going on in it. The facts on the topic are eye opening. For instance almost 50 times more people have died from playing professional and college football than from performance enhancing drugs. I am leaning towards this topic because the topic is worldwide and a huge debate in the sports world.  

2)      Should the drinking age be lowered in America and to what?

Another issue I could possibly explore is the topic of lowering the drinking age in America from 21 to 18. This is another hot button issue throughout the country and also has quite a few credible sources for research. Most sources boil down to the fact that 18 year olds can vote and serve their country through war so why can’t they have a couple of beers. Alcohol is seen as a “forbidden fruit” to youngsters therefore this topic becomes heated because even though that might be true the higher drinking age has saved lives. I am really considering this topic for my paper because it pertains so much to me since I am right in the middle of it being nineteen years old.

3)      Washington D.C farmers market food safety issues.

This issue caught my eye because it bears striking similarities to the Jaime Oliver topic. This is a harder topic to create an exploratory essay on because it doesn’t have a lot of information to go off of. If I could expand it a little and compare this to the nationwide troubles with food safety I would enjoy this issue. Researching this topic was tough and steered me away from wanting to go further on the issue.

Natural News Article Response

In Ethan A. Huff's "Factory Food artificially cheap, bad for your health", his argument is clear and straight forward when early on he says, "the new methods have actually reduced the overall quality, nutritional value and safety of food, which is why there are frequent contamination outbreaks, not to mention skyrocketing increases in new disease among the population."Huff's claim in this article is that factories are producing problems not only with food but with the health of society. By giving all the antibiotics to these animals just for cost benefits versus health benefits Huff believes that this is creating a lower quality product and in turn making the antibiotics ineffective against bacteria. He also claims that the tight courters and over crowded farm factories is making for a bacteria filled food product and is also making all the animals sick and not healthy. I believe that Huff's argument is well planned and convincing because he goes from explaining what is happening in these factories and why it's bad, to ending his article with suggestions on how it should be. By using the recent example of the salmonella outbreak in Iowa the reader can understand first hand the bad affects of these factories having to dense a population in such small areas. His argument is sealed at the end when he suggests that we need to respect the land and have local farming that employs clean and natural methods of growing and raising foods.

Fear Factories #1

In Fear Factories by Matthew Scully, his support for getting the animal cruelty movement backed by a conservative cause is best summed up by the statement, "We need our conservative vaule voters to get behind a Humane Farming Act so that we can all quit averting our eyes. The basis of Scully's argument is around the negatives of animal cruelty in the factory farming system coupled with the basic value that consertives are turning there head to it and ignoring it because of the corporate side of it and also because they believe humans come first, animals come second. That statement to a certain degree is true but as Scully says, "they don't follow their own thought to its moral conclusion". Scully goes on to say how far do we want to see all of the industries and technological advances go before a change is made with animal treatment. The most telling statement Scully makes on conseratives having a twisted sense on the subject and on why they need to not turn their heads is when he speaks about the review of Dominion. All the conservatives said how awful a business factory farming was and a "betrayal of human responsibility. It statements like these that should show the conservatives a public policy or law of some sorts should be put in place.  

Rhetorical Outline #2

Cody Mangano                                                                                                                                                              

English 102-028

10/6/2011

Essay 2, Outline

Title: Rhetorical Analysis of Alcohol Advertisements

Thesis: Using two different, yet the same, styles of advertising to attract the same consumer, Sello Dorado crosses the boundary of inappropriate while Bacardi Limon sticks to a much more common tactic of advertising.

I.                   In comparing these two ads slogans the viewer gets exactly what the ad makers want to convey because of how upfront and over the top each are.  

a.       Does one slogan’s color, font, or meaning pull you in more to buying that alcohol?

b.      With key placement and style of each slogan for their respective ad, the values and morals of Bacardi Limon and Sello Dorado are conveyed in completely different manners.

II.                Each ad approaches their image in a different style. While one shows a classy, social gathering, the other shows a field party.

a.       Sello Dorado uses a silhouette to convey a more abstract theme. They want the audience to feel at ease but then end up having a great time.

b.      While on the other hand, Bacardi Limon is conveyed in a classy bar scene with well dressed, young adults all around a sparkling theme.

III.             Each ad has its own unique twist to it that makes one more effective than the other. Now whether that be good or bad is at question.

a.       In effectiveness on the audience I believe that the Bacardi Limon ad is much more effective if not only for that it isn’t offensive in the way the Sello Dorado ad is.

b.       Is Sello Dorado’s claim that if you drink this you will make decisions you normally wouldn’t make better than the claim of Bacardi Limon?

C.  I believe the claim of Bacardi Limon portrays itself in a much cleaner way than that of Sello Dorado for the simple fact that the Bacardi ad is focused more on the social aspect of alcohol rather than the sexual portrayal Sello Dorado is putting out.

            a. Does sex really sell alcohol as these ads are trying to do?

Conclusion: While alcohol ads will always try and sell the aspect of creating sexual tension between men and women, the Sello Dorado ad does this in an obscene manner while the Bacardi Limon ad does this in a much more subtle way. Even though selling alcohol on the basis that it makes one want to “party” and “loosens them up” comes off as ugly, it sells, plain and simple.       

2 Ads

http://www.presidiacreative.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/ADS5.jpg

first alcohol ad

http://www.stanford.edu/class/linguist34/advertisements/alcohol%20ads/pages/09bacardilimon2_jpg.htm

second alcohol ad

I am analyzing two different alcohol ads. Neither ad says if they are from magazines or a newspaper. I just found both online searching as alcohol ad. The audience of these two ads is definitely a younger crowd. It appeals to a younger crowd because it’s about partying and girls. The one ad for Bacardi Limon is all about women. It has mirrors in it so when you look at the glass you see a beautiful woman staring back at you. It’s in a club of some kind and people are dancing and socializing. The big mirror on the wall has lights reflecting on it. The color yellow is the theme of the bottle and everything around. There are yellow lemons at the bottom and the writing for their slogan is at the top. All the counters are sparkling clean to catch your eye. The ad shows you the beautiful woman and good looking man look at his drink. The girl in the glass has sparkles all around her and there are bubbles around her. You can specifically see another beautiful girl in the background and a different couple standing next to her. The text is simple and over the top. All three words in the text start with an M. The name Bacardi Limon is in all capital letters. The other ad is for an alcohol called Sello Dorado. It is a silhouette style ad. The silhouette is of a big group that looks like a family out in the field partying. The slogan in the middle is in old English font and starts off very large and gets smaller as it gets to, “Marital status: single”. The top corner has a medal of honor that says Sello Dorado. The bottom right corner has the bottle of alcohol just sitting there. The night sky has a faint pattern to it of some sort of crest. The trees in the background are both white and pop off the page because everything is so dark. I chose these two because one is a very typical alcohol ad in today’s society while the other is extremely offensive. They both are rooted to have the same affect but one has very wrong morals while the other is based off of alcohol bringing people of the opposite sex together.

3 ads

http://www.dailydawdle.com/2010/09/10-best-lifes-too-short-for-wrong-job.html

1)      Life’s too short ad

2)      People looking for jobs and/or whom want to get a job they love because life is too short.

3)      Jobsintown

4)      The consumer has the values of wanting a job they love and not dreading all the work.

5)      The consumer for these ads wants a job they love and can keep for a very long time.

6)      This ad doesn’t have anything to buy in besides the idea that getting a new job through their searching will make their life happier.

http://www.presidiacreative.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/ADS5.jpg

7)      Sello Dorado alcohol ad

8)      A younger crowd that wants to drink and have no cares in the world.

9)      Sello Dorado

10)   The target consumer wants to party and have a good time. The ad makes it sound like the target consumer doesn’t have any cares or good morals.

11)   The target consumer wants to buy alcohol and have a good time.

12)   The consumer should buy this alcohol because it makes all your cares in the world go away and it makes you “not care” about having children.

http://www.trendhunter.com/trends/candy-cocaine-ice-breakers-pacs

13)   Hershey’s ice breaker packaging looking like drugs.

14)   The audience is broad. Anyone that wants to have fresh breath.

15)   Ice breakers

16)   The audience’s values aren’t very obvious in this ad. The ad shows that they might not have good morals or values because the ice breakers look like illegal drugs.

17)   The consumer should buy the ice breakers because they make your breath fresh .

Post Secret Card

The secret for my post secret card is about Michael Jordan and his "other" life. He allegedly payed his former lover Karla Knafel  $250,000 to keep their relationship secret. She also claimed that he said he would pay $5 million for remaining silent and agreeing to not to file a paternity suit after she learned she was pregnant in 1991. I conveyed this all very implicitly. I used pictures of all of the businesses Jordan is involved in, owns, or  is sponsored by. Also I used a divider line and a picture of the word "Shhh" crossed out to show that he has a secrets that he doesn't want to mix into his business life. He was such an entrepaneur and didn't want to involve his personal life into his business life. I positioned everything split apart because that is what it was actually like in Jordan's life. I wanted to portray the persona that everyone see's "me" as a superstar basketball player/business man but that in fact I have my own problems and secrets. I wanted every viewer to see that even the biggest and most "perfect" superstar athletes have their own problems and secrets.