Visual Rhetorical Analysis

Visual Rhetorical Analysis

Commercial Advertising in our generation today feels as if it is trying too hard to appeal to its audience. Advertising agencies are collaborating to try to connect to their viewers through what seems like its only option left: through humor. Each television commercial I watch, it tries to be edgy and appealing in a bizarre way. Commercials leave me with a feeling of confusion allowing me to ask my self, “What the Hell did I just watch?”

The new(er) Old Spice commercials are a prime example of this. They use elements of humor and abstractness to appeal to its audience. The abnormal appeal works tremendously because it’s hilarious and forces you to remember the product. Geico had a series of fake commercials that made you remember to “save a bunch of money on car insurance.” The audience never knows exactly how much they can individually save, but all the viewer remembers was that it was funny and you could save a “bunch”.

Experian credit bureau fell under the same advertising trap of trying too hard toward its audience. The credit bureau started off with by producing a website, Freecreditreport.com. The site allowed you to view your personal credit as long as you sign up through their credit-monitoring program for a fee.

According to the company’s chief marketing officer, Mike Dean, they have been fueling their advertising campaign tremendously in the past 5 years.  The site increased its budget by 200 percent and spent roughly $70 million.

This money was strictly set out to capture on thing, a younger audience. Dean explained, “We knew our creative was good, and we were targeting a younger audience. That’s exactly what we’ve received with that: we have a lot younger demographic coming into our site.” The company was trying to lure its selective young audience into their site by creating the perfect commercial. The commercial will later be viewed as a pop-culture hit.

Their first commercial consisted of Director Danny Leinor, who has been know to work on “slacker-comedies” and actor Eric Violette. Violette is portrayed as a “lovable loser” who has a hard time in life because of his hesitation not to check his credit score. The first commercial consists of Violette working in a restaurant and dressed as a pirate.

Clad with a band, catchy tunes, and a funny situation what’s not like? The ads focus on identity theft rather than simply checking your score but it leaves a taste in one’s mouth forcing us to ask the question, “Can this happen to me?” The television commercial was run about 90,000 times in 2007 and instantly became a Youtube phenomenon, racking up more than 3 million views.

Aesthetically, the band is perfect toward its young audience. The series of commercials always have Violette in some situation that no one wants to be in-all because he didn’t check his credit score. People seem to relate to people who are down on their luck and have a connection with Violette and the band. The reason why people identified with the commercial is because every element was appealing to the younger audience. Violette’s appearance is young, shaggy, friendly, and approachable. The band is having fun and jamming out no matter what situation they are in.

A reoccurring motif of ‘the lovable old lady’ appears in throughout their commercials, which adds to the appeal towards the younger audience of having a ‘Grandma’ approach. The music and lyrics are obviously the main attraction of the commercial. The clever lyrics and beat to the song make it have an appealing flow. Rhyming ‘Identity’ with ‘Iced tea’ seems to add to the overall cleverness and appeal of the commercial.  The commercials seem to hit young audiences at the core and it allows them to connect with freecreditreport.com with the use of humor, catchiness, and approachability. Later editions of the commercial includes the band living with his in-laws, a Country stage show, a Renaissance Fair, a used car, bicycle riding, Hip-hop pool party, and a roller coaster.

These commercials are ground breaking because it forced Congress to pass the Credit CARD Act of 2009. The company throughout 2005-2006 had been criticized and even sued by the Federal Trade Commission for deceptive advertising. The aesthetic commercials appeal to young audiences by being free, however in the fine print of the commercial there is a claim, “Offer applies with enrollment in Triple Advantage.” This Triple Advantage after 30 days charges $14.95 per month, the complete opposite of free. Trevor Snyder, a National Guard officer deployed from Iraq signed up and later had difficulty canceling the free credit service. His opinion has a valid point that others agree with: “Unfortunately, I think the offer is purposefully designed to make it easy for you to get your credit report, and then forget that you’ve just signed up for an in-perpetuity fee.”

What the audience does not know is that the Federal Government set up a site that allows you to view your score for free at AnnualCreditReport.com. Congress passed the Credit CARD Act of 2009 to any company who advertised their report for free, they must always display they message, “This is not the free credit provided for by Federal law.” Freecreditscore.com was so successful in its advertising that they essentially target an uniformed younger audience that enjoys the approachability of the commercial, but gets tricked out of money in the end.

In 2010 the company renamed its website to freecreditscore.com and decided to introduce a new and improved band. They decided to hype it up by advertising a “Brand New Band!” and a new twist on the old commercials. With a new and spicy name, the Victorious Secrets do everything in their power to bring in the younger audience members back to the company. The new band still brought in the elements of a message “About personal financial literacy, tied to pop music and pop culture.”

The new band seems to be working allowing them access to thousands of fans on Facebook and parodies on Youtube. The creative team at Experian created the commercials “not from the viewpoint of a company with a product to sell, but from the perspective of a character with a story to tell. So you don’t feel like you’re being bombarded with an ad message; you just feel like you’re getting a glimpse into this guy’s life.”

The Experian Company seems to know how to manage their advertising effectively. Money buys effective advertising and $70 million bought the company years of profit. The company knew they wanted to target younger audiences and succeeded in sending out its message through use of humor, music, and pop culture. Everyone seems to relate to the commercials and remembers them in a positive way, but the negative aspects are rarely focused on. The fact that it is not in fact ‘free’, is in itself false advertising.  The sole idea of the commercials is to convince the audience to visit and use the website.

Once the young, uninformed consumer uses the ‘free’ credit report they later get charged for fees per month. This form of advertising is very clever but also unethical. If you trick people into buying your product, then it is extremely unethical. The advertisers knew what they were doing and wanted to earn a profit. The creativity and visually appealing commercials were used to earn respect of the audience and lure them into their credit trap. These commercials are an extremely important case to study due to its uniqueness. The audience is pop-culture and their interests are well represented in the commercial through its excellent portrayal of humor, music, and appealing characters.

Works Cited

NY Times Article http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/04/business/media/04adco.html?_r=1

6 Free Credit Report Commercials

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7dFbNw3bpKE

New Free Credit Score Commercial

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fWlGMUPaZvc

Billboard.com Victorious Secrets

http://www.billboard.com/features/the-victorious-secrets-named-new-freecreditscore-1004109237.story#/features/the-victorious-secrets-named-new-freecreditscore-1004109237.story

Credit Crunch article

http://www.thebigmoney.com/articles/impressions/2009/04/07/credit-crunch?page=0,1

Credit Card Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure Act of 2009

http://www.govtrack.us/congress/billtext.xpd?bill=h111-627

Experian

http://www.experianplc.com/

FTC & Credit Marketers

http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2005/08/consumerinfo.shtm

Grab Life by the Pawpaws

Grab Life By the PawPaws

 

 

Pawpaws, a relative of other such wackily named plants as the sweetsop, soursop, cherimoya and ylang-ylang (pronounced EE-lang), arrive to adulthood in the Appalachian area, which apparently is enough of a reason to have a festival dedicated to them.

The 11th Annual Pawpaw Festival on September 19, located on beautiful Lake Snowden in Albany, Ohio, was a typical Appalachian romp complete with music, gyros, medieval weaponry and, of course, the atypical pawpaw, otherwise known as the poor man’s banana. Growers of the pawpaw aggregate every year to celebrate this unique delectable.

The pawpaw is a fruit that grows only in the temperate woodlands of the eastern United States. They often grow to 3-6 inches in length and weigh roughly 5-16 ounces. They have a creamy yellow center as well as multiple large seeds. The closest taste that can be compared to a pawpaw is the Indian mango.

Pawpaws are also extremely rare. They are not grown commercially because of their short shelf lives. Lance Beard, a bearded gentleman, informed many people about the process of growing this year’s pawpaws. He explained that this season included both a dry spell and a wet spell resulting in many of the pawpaws hardening and cracking on the outer shell of the fruits.

Some people have found ways to preserve them by crafting pawpaws into other longer-lasting foods. Integration Acres Pawpaw Products specializes in making a multitude of other pawpaw goods such as pawpaw crackers and pawpaw jelly. Employee Meghan Amelia Featheringham explained that, in order to make the jelly, they have to extract the pulp and let it ferment for a couple of weeks.

Other ingenious and popular ways of preserving pawpaws include making pawpaw beer and soda. Eric Hedin, owner of the Do-It-Yourself Shop in Athens, specializes in the making of pawpaw soda. He makes three flavors: Pawpaw Sugar, Pawpaw Splenda and Pawpaw Honey. He described the process as churning water with carbon dioxide then adding pawpaws with liquefied honey. Hedin eagerly gave his product out for free during this year’s Pawpaw Festival.

The 2009 festival had many other activities and events, such as fencing, “The Best Pawpaw,” a pawpaw cook off and the ever-popular pawpaw eating contest. The pawpaw eating contest drew a huge crowd. It consisted of 9 contestants from ages 10 to 40 and from Atlanta, Georgia to Cincinnati, Ohio. The objective of the contest was to scrape clean 20 pawpaw seeds as fast as possible while keeping hands held behind the back. The winner was Jim Laske, a native of Akron, Ohio.

Pawpaws have recently been named as Ohio’s native state fruit.

Veteran pawpaw eaters are eager to dish out some advice: “Don’t eat the seeds or the skin, or your toilet will be your best friend for a long time.”

 

4 Loko Craziness

(Pseudonyms have been used for subjects to avoid legal implication)

 

Underage drinking is one of the many concerns across campuses worldwide, and it is no different here at Ohio University. The Princeton Review currently ranked OU as the number two party school in America. As an undergraduate student I can clearly see that it lives up to the hype. However, some (relatively) new form of alcoholic beverage seems to be at the height of popularity among students at Ohio University, the infamous 4loko.

4loko is an alcoholic energy drink that contains 4 main ingredients: caffeine, taurine, guarana, and of course alcohol. They were created by 3 Ohio State University alumni and are headed by Pushion Projects. They come in 6 colorful flavors and just one can contains 12 per cent alcohol. Students around the university purchase and drink them because they are cheap and essentially, “A blackout in a can.”

Undergraduate student, Colonel Sanders says why he drinks 4lokos, “ I mean it’s only about $3 for one can of Loko which equals about 6 beers. You only need to buy a couple to have a good night. Sure it tastes like fart spray but on the other hand so does Natural Light.”

4lokos and other alcoholic energy drinks are a huge concern for Ohio University students and other college students alike. Their colorful cans and “tasty” flavors such as Blue Raspberry and Cranberry Lemonade are specifically marketed to college students. However not all college students are influenced by their attraction. Senior student, Marcellus Wallace said,” I like to steer clear of 4lokos because they make me ridiculously wired. When I drink one I have violent tendencies and usually end up breaking things around my apartment. I’ve seen way too many of my friends get sick from those things.”

There are also many physical dangers to your body once you combine caffeine and alcohol. Health experts say that the caffeine actually delays the effect of alcohol, which allows people to consume excessive amounts of alcohol. This energy drink is affecting college students all across the United States. There have been many reports on students becoming injured or hospitalized after consumption of the drink.

Alcoholic venues in Ohio University, such as the Busy Day Market, Big Cat Drive-thru, or the Union Street Market are known popular places to purchase the energy drink. You can buy either by cans at a time or you can buy them in bulk. Undergrad student, Frank (Loko) Leko claims to drink a 4loko at least once a day. “I usually buy them in bulk and sell them to people to make some extra cash. But I like 4lokos, they get me messed up quick and that’s the whole point.”

4loko is not alone in the alcoholic energy drink world, brands such as Jooze, Sparks, and Tilt are also popular in Ohio University. According to urbandictionary.com the term “Hyper Viper” was created on Palmer Street here in Athens. A Hyper Viper consists of drinking a 40 oz bottle of Cobra beer, and right before you’re finished you pour an energy drink (either 4loko, Jooze, Sparks, or Tilt) into your bottle. This is the definition of dangerous drinking habits, and allows for more injuries to happen at Ohio University.

Fortunately the Federal Trade Commission has been making steps to ban this alcoholic energy drink. They declared that beverages such as Four energy drinks that combine caffeine with alcohol are a “public health concern” and will not be allowed to stay on the market in their current form. Phusion Projects declared that they will remove guarana, taurine, and caffeine from the 4loko (Making future products only left with 1loko).

The FTC is making advances in the right direction but still ignores the fact that college students, especially at Ohio University, will still find alternative energy drinks to use. Ohio University is being overrun by alcoholic consumption and is finding new and more dangerous alternatives in fulfilling its urge.

Media Ethics and Society

Diversity In and Out of the Newsroom

Diversity In and Out of the Newsroom
Nate Podboy
Np377908@ohio.edu

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Facing race, ethnicity, and diversity in the work place is a huge ethical dilemma that journalists face every day. Minorities are growing every day and the media is being forced to acknowledge certain individual groups. The incorporation of diversity in the journalism newsroom leads to a huge advantage to connect to the minority audience. As said in Making the Business Case For Diversity, the increased immigration also leads to increase buying power. Using the audience’s background to try and make a profit leads to many ethical issues. Is it ethical to only attract certain races to your program?

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According to the article, “Race, Ethnicity, and Student Sources…” facing diversity issues can be hit head on early in the classroom setting. “Infusing the curriculum with discussions on race and diversity…can positively impact the portrayals of race and ethnicity and, ultimately, improve the news product.” The Society of Professional Journalists also says that minority expansion must be acknowledged at an early age so that future journalists-or any American- can become better rounded.

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Sensitivity seems to be absent to the certain stereotypes that American journalists carry. Journalists fail to acknowledge certain words that may deem offensive to different minorities. Journalists need to remember the certain political correctness in each of their publications, but many fail to do so including the invincible The New York Times. 

 

Journalists across the United States face hundreds of ethical decisions every week. The issue of incorporating diversity in the newsroom or in their stories is an issue that we need to face head on. The incorporation of racial teachings and understandings is essential in the class room to allow the future journalists to cash in on the many opportunities that diversity has to offer.

Original Blog Posting Here

 

Keurig Media Plan

Keurig Media Plan

• An In-depth media analysis of Keurig Brewers
• Weekly and Yearly budget allocation
• Content:
• Executive Summary
• Competitive SWOT Analysis for Flavia and Nescafe
• Keurig SWOT Analysis
• Keurig Creative Brief
• Media Objectives:

-Target Audience, Media Budget Allocation, Campaign Dates, National Campaign, Geographical Weight, Reach v. Frequency and Media Focus (Television, Magazine, Direct Mail).

Research Team

Kate Slanker

Neal Patten

Anthony Sylvester

Nate Podboy