Writing & Rhetoric 10 Unit #3 Summative Assessment #2

 

 

Visit livingroomcandidate.org, where you will find US Presidential Campaign commercials assembled from 1952 up until the most recent election cycle, 2016.  Spend some time poking around the different ads from different eras, with the idea in mind that ultimately you will need to choose one to analyze.

 

Now deconstruct the political ad in exactly the same way that you deconstructed your audio/visual commercial, with the understanding that you will give more attention to logic and logical fallacies. Write a one-page essay in which you present this analysis to an audience of people who have viewed your ad, including an introduction, thesis, and conclusion that answers the question: What is the impact on society of the fact that the primary form of political discourse in the western world is now conducted through the medium of political advertising?

in our essay we need to include:
At least
-two specific media tools for analysis

-two deconstruction media message questions
-two logical fallacies

 

 

Specific Media Tools for Analysis

 

1. Symbols can be pictures or music about things that make us have strong feelings. They make us feel happy, sad, scared or safe. Sometimes they make our hearts go fast.

 

2. Hyperbole is exaggerating something. Making it bigger and better sounding than it really is.

 

3. Defensive nationalism, or fear, makes us afraid that if we don’t buy what is being sold, something really bad will happen to us or to our families or friends. “Scapegoating” is blaming someone else for bad things that might happen to us.

 

4. Humor. It is easiest to sell something if people are laughing and happy with what they see and hear.

 

5. (Big) lie. We believe whatever we see or are told; especially if what we are told is something we really want to believe. To get what we want, the advertisers are willing to fool us so that we will think we are getting what we want, even if we aren’t.

 

6. Maybe… This puts together hyperbole and lies, but begins with “could”, “maybe”, “might”. We are more willing to believe the advertisers are being honest if they don’t use positive words.

 

7. Testimonial. If we see or hear one of our favorite athletes or musicians (like Michael Jordan) say they like a product, we will want it too.

 

8. Repetition. How often can you repeat the words or music from an ad, without even realizing that you knew it? This is because you have heard the ad so often that the words are stuck in your head, even if you don’t want them to be.  Then, when you go to the store to get a hat, for example, and you see Nike on one, you automatically think “Winners wear Nike products, so that is what I should have!”

 

9. Plain folks makes you think that girls and boys just like you, from towns just like yo¶urs and who have friends and parents like yours, will buy what is being sold, no matter what the cost.

 

10. Strength leads you to think that strong, smart people who are macho, huerte, and in charge will want what is being advertised and, of course, since you are all those things, you will want the product too!

 

11. Name Calling. To cut down others is not ok, but ads do it all of the time. We also see it in movies, on TV and in political advertising. Guess what? We may not think we like to hear it, but we listen and will fall for the idea that “the other guy” is better than the one who was called names.  “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but names will never hurt me”.  IS THAT RIGHT?  Do names hurt?

 

12. Flattery is using nice words or actions to make someone feel that they need to use or buy a product because they are so smart or so beautiful that they deserve the thing being sold.

 

13. Bribery makes you think you will get something for nothing! Two for the price of one??? Or are you really paying for two things, one would be only half of the price you are paying.

 

14. Diversion. Advertisers or especially political campaigns need to talk about serious problems. Then, the advertisers stick something in (like a puppy being petted or they film their ad by a beautiful lake with sail boats on it).  They do this to take your thoughts away from the main subject.  Your thinking has been diverted and you might have trouble thinking about the real value of the product!

 

15. Denial gives you the chance to avoid being connected to anything unpopular. For example, an ad for GAP jeans might show a girl wearing very nice pants and saying, “I would NEVER be caught dead hanging out with them” as she looks over toward a couple of girls wearing thick glasses and older clothes. She would then turn and walk away with the GAP label showing at the corner of the screen.

 

16. Card Stacking. This is when the advertiser only picks out some of the information about a product to talk about, and ignores other facts that make their product seem less valuable. When they talk about only the good things, it makes their product sound extra-special and great!

 

17. Band wagon makes you believe that everyone is using or buying a product and for you to fit in and be part of the crowd, you have to do or buy it too.

 

18. Simple solutions. Make the use of a product seem to fix all sorts of problems. “You’ll get better grades, be more popular, look great, lose weight and have tons of friends if only you’ll drink Diet Coke!”

 

19. Scientific evidence uses charts, graphs, doctor’s statements or pictures of re-painted vehicles to make the product look better than it really is (even if it is made up).

 

20. Group dynamics uses how groups work together and how the lonely person feels.

 

21. Rhetorical questions…The salesperson will try to get you or whoever is the target to nod their heads and agree with what is being said, THEN they will try to sell you whatever is being advertised!

 

22. Nostalgia. Even though you are young, I bet you remember very fun and special times you have had. Advertisers will help you to remember the good things that happened to you and try to attach their product to those wonderful memories, so you will think that buying their product will make you feel that good again!  “Emotions rub off of one idea onto others.”

 

23. Timing. The advertiser will pick very special times to try to sell you their product. For example, they might pick during cartoons or right after school when you will be watching television to try to sell you cereal or toys. They sell chips and beer during sports events.  When do you think would be a good time to sell candy?

How to Deconstruct a Media Message

 

A basic media literacy skill is “deconstruction.”  This is the careful and close analysis of a piece of media, looking beneath the surface – the characters, plot, ‘language’, etc. – to understand its subconscious manipulations.  Any piece of media – a magazine ad, a sitcom, a conversation, a feature film, a TV commercial, or whatever – can be analyzed in this way. There is no one “correct” way to deconstruct a media message.  One of the basic concepts of media literacy is that individuals construct their own meanings from media.  This applies to the deconstruction process as well.

 

Use the following questions to deconstruct a media message:

 

• What demographic group is being targeted? Identify the text, images and/or sounds that support this conclusion?

 

 

 

 

• What is the text (literal meaning) of the message?

 

 

 

 

• What is the subtext (unstated or underlying message) of the message?

 

 

 

 

• What values/concepts of normalcy are expressed? Identify the text, images and/or sounds that support this conclusion?

 

 

 

 

• What tools or techniques of persuasion are used? (consult the handout).

 

 

 

 

• What story is being told? What story is not being told? (Psst: not the plot summary of the commercial).

 

 

 

 

• In what ways is this a healthy and/or unhealthy message? Identify the text, images and/or sounds that support this conclusion?

 

 

 

 

• In what ways is this message communicated ethically or unethically? Identify the text, images and/or sounds that support this conclusion?

  Logical Fallacies or Fallacies in Argumentation

There are different kinds of logical fallacies that people make in presenting their positions. Below is a list of some of the major fallacies. It is a good idea to be familiar with them so you can point them out in a discussion thereby focusing the issues where they belong while exposing error.

It is true that during a debate on an issue if you simply point out to your “opponent” a logical fallacy that he/she has just made, it generally gives you the upper hand. But then, merely having the upper hand is not the goal: truth is. Nevertheless, logical fallacies hide the truth; so pointing them out is very useful.

1. Ad Hominem–Attacking the individual instead of the argument.
2. Appeal to Force–Telling the hearer that something bad will happen to him if he does not accept the argument.
3. Appeal to Pity–Urging the hearer to accept the argument based upon an appeal to emotions, sympathy, etc.
4. Appeal to the Popular–Urging the hearer to accept a position because a majority of people hold to it.
5. Appeal to Tradition–Trying to get someone to accept something because it has been done or believed for a long time.
6. Begging the Question–Assuming the thing to be true that you are trying to prove. It is circular.
7. Cause and Effect–assuming that the effect is related to a cause because the events occur together.
8. Circular Argument–See Begging the Question
9. Fallacy of Composition–Assuming that what is true of the part is true for the whole.
10. Fallacy of Division–Assuming that what is true of the whole is true for the parts.
11. Fallacy of Equivocation–Using the same term in an argument in different places but the word has different meanings.
12. False Dilemma–Giving two choices when in actuality there could be more choices possible.
13. Genetic Fallacy–Attempting to endorse or disqualify a claim because of the origin or irrelevant history of the claim.
14. Guilt by Association–Rejecting an argument or claim because the person proposing it likes someone whom is disliked by another.
15. Non Sequitur–Comments or information that do not logically follow from a premise or the conclusion.
16. Poisoning the Well–Presenting negative information about a person before he/she speaks so as to discredit the person’s argument.
17. Red Herring–Introducing a topic not related to the subject at hand.
18. Special Pleading (double standard)–Applying a standard to another that is different from a standard applied to oneself.
19. Straw Man Argument–Producing an argument about a weaker representation of the truth and attacking it.
20. Category Mistake–Attributing a property to something that could not possibly have that property. Attributing facts of one kind are attributed to another kind. Attributing to one category that which can only be properly attributed to another.