Sisley: Fashion Junkies Ad

This ad from the fashion brand Sisley is clearly making a statement about the way people in today's society act when it comes to the newest fashions and trends. It depicts two women ("Fashion Junkies") in what appears to be a club snorting the straps of a dress as if they were huge lines of cocaine. The two women look completely intoxicated and appear to be a complete mess while they continue to snort their drug of choice. However, while the ad depicts a behavior that is illegal and frowned upon in our society, Sisley nonchalantly prints their name right in the middle of the image. So, surprisingly, they're promoting this type of obsession and addiction to fashion, as long as its with their brand of clothing. That you can be a "Fashion Junkie" with Sisley clothing and it would be ok. They've managed to take a scenario that would turn most people away from the product and tried to sell their own with that message. It's really quite astonishing.

They did use a good form of kairos and pathos with this ad however. They printed the ad at a time when large portions of the world focus only on the material aspects of people's appearance. Not even necessarily their physical attributes anymore, just what types of clothes they're wearing and what accessories they have with them. I know you wouldn't expect this, but it's very similar to the movie The Devil Wears Prada (yes I actually like that movie). Anne Hathaway is looked down on because she isn't wearing name brand clothes or what is considered "fashionable" at the time. However, once she starts wearing those things, she moves up in her job and people start thinking she's attractive for once. The ad also utilizes pathos in that it invokes a strong reaction from the audience and sparks up their emotions. You don't often see ads with people snorting lines of cocaine and Sisley knew that. They wanted to cross the line and grab your attention in order to get their name out there. They knew that by having the girls in the ad doing an illegal drug, it would incite anger and controversy around their name, but people would still be talking about them. It's like the saying "Bad press is better than no press". Even though what people are saying may not be the best things to have said about your company, they're still being mentioned and they're still on people's minds, which is exactly what the advertisers wanted to happen. So, since the advertisers got their desired result, this is a very successful form of rhetoric. It persuades you to think about Sisley even though those thoughts may be negative, and that's all that Sisley wanted you do to.

Cagley Comic Analysis

I found this comic on the website www.cagle.com, and just looked through some of their comics until I found one that I personally found appealing. The artist of this cartoon is very upfront and direct with the point he wants to make addressing the nations enormous debt issue. It depicts Captain America, someone who is supposed to embody all of the qualities that make America superior, as a morbidly obese man sitting on a chair shoveling junk food and sweets into his face from his shield that are labeled "DEBT", while a scientist behind him yells at a colleague "No! No! No! I said give him 'Super-SOLDIER serum' not 'Super-SPENDER serum!'" The author also utilizes a single frame composition in his comic in order to further the image's impact and give it a much more direct appeal to the reader.

The artist is trying to appeal the American public of today, saying that by allowing ourselves to become such wasteful spenders, we have abandoned many of the principles that America once stood by as a nation. By having a symbol of American superiority look so utterly defeated and pathetic, he's using a pathos appeal to show that if we don't change our ways as a nation, it's only going to end in turmoil for us. He also makes the words and image equally important in conveying his message. Without one another, the message would not be as strong. Without the words, one could horridly misconstrue the meaning of the cartoon, thinking possibly he could refer to the obesity problem present in America today. But, by adding the dialogue and label of "DEBT" on the junk food Captain America is eating, the artist makes a much larger statement than if he had left the image alone.

Again, the author is simply looking to open the public's eyes to what is happening within their own country and to realize that something needs to be done and it needs to be done quick, otherwise, this country is headed down a path of destruction. By utilizing the image of such a well know American hero as pathetic and defeated, he's trying to appeal to the audience on an emotional level in order to stir up feelings and reactions within them in hopes that maybe they'll actually realize that something needs to be done and they can help get things rolling.

Rhetoric

Prompt: Give some examples of rhetoric you see on a daily basis. Try to consider what you see on your way to class.

The amount of rhetoric we see from day to day is much more than any of us would have ever realized. As soon as we wake up, we're being bombarded with ads and signs and arguments for every possible point of view and group out there. We see signs for the intramural sports, for special meetings where they persuade you with free giveaways, TV ads trying to get you to buy the latest product, ads on Facebook trying to get you to join christianmingle.com. You'll see bumper stickers advertising a certain surfing company, billboards promoting a certain fast food chain that's "Right At The Next Exit!" or a flyer hanging up in your hall showing how much fun it is to attend the school football games and that you should go as well. It's ridiculous. Granted, we aren't persuaded by every single piece of rhetoric we see, but others are, and that proves that the ad has done it's job. The small portion of rhetoric that does persuade us, however, has to be something we personally identify with, enjoy, or are interested in. Otherwise, we simply ignore the argument they're trying to present to us. This is where you have to analyze the audience that the ad is aiming at. If a guy walks up and sees a poster talking about joining a sorority, he's not going to pay much attention. He's not going to be able to join that sorority so there's no point in listening to their argument. However, if an entering, female freshman who has always wanted to rush sees the exact same poster, she's probably going to give it more attention that others would. So, we see non-stop rhetoric throughout our daily lives, but that doesn't mean that every single bit of it has an effect on our behaviors and beliefs.