Wake Up!

Hey, City That Never Sleeps. Wake up. Folgers

For my second rhetorical analysis, I am choosing to analyze an advertisement found in New York City. Although I have never been to NYC to see this ad, I admire its creativity. Folgers has created an ad that I actually enjoy looking at. TV commercial advertisements can be creative in terms of dialogue and acting; but this kind of ad is something that is going to catch someone's eye as they are walking down the street because of its creativity and design.

Folgers is playing with the irony of telling the "city that never sleeps" to "wake up" with a warm cup of coffee. I say warm because the coffee is placed on a man hole that produces steam and that gives the advertisement a creative, realistic effect.

I can honestly say that I have never been easily persuaded by advertisements, but I feel as though I would crave a cup of coffee if I were to see this ad on the street while walking. I don't necessarily purchase Folgers as my coffee of choice, however, the idea is that after seeing this ad, people associate Folgers with their (mostly positive) feelings about this ad. That is the goal of advertising in general.

In my analysis I will highlight the rhetorical situation, as I have hinted above. The diction for this ad was meant for New Yorkers ("city that never sleeps"). Therefore, the choice of words in this ad would not make sense in London Ontario for example. The purpose is to make pedestrians crave a coffee and to think of Folgers. And the context is a 3D ad located in a busy area where a fast paced lifestyle exists.

The tone of this ad is also very causal and the viewer feels as though the ad is addressed to him personally. These kinds of advertisements are becoming quite popular in large cities and I think ad agencies with these creative ideas are headed in a futuristic direction. If only the steam coming out of the man hole could smell like coffee...

What Lies Beneath

I stumbled upon this image as I was researching environmental statistics for a speech I had to deliver in my speech class last week. My speech was on raising environmental awareness, and although I didn't have the opportunity to provide visuals, I feel that this image speaks to my topic in a way that words cannot.

Naturally, white sandy beaches, turquoise oceans, and pure blue skies evoke positive emotions and feelings of paradise, nature, calmness and opportunity in viewers. But here, we can see what lies beneath. Disturbing nature is something that the human species has become quite accustom to, to say the least. How are we to see nature as beautiful, and optimistic, when we directly and indirectly contribute to its disturbance on a daily basis.

While this image symbolizes our disrespect for our planet, it also suggests a loss of innocence. The little boy dressed in white represents innocence and our naive view of the world. When he literally lifts up the water, he discovers that "just because you can't see it, doesn't mean it isn't there". His "perfect view of world" has been compromised by this new perspective. Problems do not disappear by masking reality, but the first step in the solution process is identifying and accepting the problem as reality.

This powerful image provides viewers with motivation to make changes in their lives to help save the environment. It is suggesting that there is a greater problem than most of us believe there to be. And sometimes you cannot just look at the infinite horizon and see a perfect world when there is a problem  right in front of you, or under your feet.

BMW Defeats Audi in a Game of Chess

BMW advertisement (note the billboard in the background as well)
-click here for source-

I am not much of a car person, but I must say this advertisement definitely got my attention. I like the creativity in having the two billboards play off of one another. In order to understand the advertisement, the two parts of the ad must be seen in the same frame. This could be challenging given that most of the viewers are driving by and might not have much time to see both billboards and understand the message on the fly. However, the placement of the "punch line" part of the ad ("checkmate") is in front, implying to viewers that there is more to the story, and to keep their eyes open for the other segment of the ad.

BMW cleverly uses the comparison-contrast technique, as discussed in class last week, to encourage the consumer to buy their product rather than their competitor's, in this case, Audi. In fact, this image relays quite a few comparisons and contrasts. Let's take a look:

The Game of Chess

Just like a strategic game of chess, there is a strategy in this ad and that is to idealize BMW. In the game between BMW and Audi, BMW wins. BMW is marketing their brand of car as being one step ahead of its biggest competitor, just as a chess player wins by being a step ahead of his or her opponent. To analyze even deeper into the chess metaphor, BMW portrays its product as the "king of cars" that remains standing, while the Audi is forced to stand down, or surrender to BMW.

Colour Contrast

Another obvious contrast between the product and its competitor is the colour choice. The white BMW on the black background really accentuates the bold and sleek qualities of the car. The BMW also has a shadow that helps make the car stick out, giving it a bold, three-dimensional feel. The Audi is black on a white background and doesn't give the same full effect of prominence that the image of the BMW has.

Arrangement


The portrait arrangement of the BMW image makes it seem larger and adds to the dominance of the product over the Audi. As mentioned earlier, the billboard placement makes sense to the readers eye because the the viewer notices the featured product first, and then looks for the counterpart of the ad. If you have the opportunity to step back and see the advertisement in its full form, it also makes sense that the dialogue is arranged left to right. This follows our natural habit of reading and having two separate billboards gives a page turning perspective.

Dialogue

Finally the two different voices in the dialogue of this ad implies that Audi is passing the torch so-to-speak. One might argue that Audi is saying "your move BMW" with a vulnerable tone; whereas BMW's "Checkmate." is very confident and outsmarts its competitor. Again we see BMW coming out on top, and that the game is over; there is nothing else Audi can do to redeem itself, BMW wins.

What's Your Shower Routine?

For this assignment I was thinking of looking for a really clever political cartoon to share with you. However, instead of searching for a political cartoon, I stumbled upon this cartoon strip on my Facebook news feed. It was especially funny because a friend of mine had tagged her boyfriend in it.

I really like this comic because it is very relatable. We all shower if not every day, than hopefully every other day. A lot of people also probably have some sort of shower routine. Since this is not something that we tend to think about (or talk about), I thought it would be fun to pick apart the rhetorical structure of this comic.

I will talk about how showering is a good time to reflect on...well, anything really. I want to analyze the facial expressions in each frame and explain how this comic sends a specific message. At first glance, I think the message that this comic is portraying to its viewers is to "not sweat the small stuff". Showers are healthy not just for personal hygienic reasons but to relieve tension and stress that maybe you had during the day; or if you are a morning 'showerer', perhaps it is a good way to get a positive start to your day. Maybe you stand in the stream of hot water for 9 minutes because you are still half asleep, then you ponder how your busy work day is going to go for the next 21 minutes. Then once you have figured out your day, you remember that the staff meeting got cancelled; Haaaallelujah! You are so happy that you could sing. Then you concentrate on the task at hand: actually cleaning yourself. You better be quick because you can't be late for work. This is me narrating this fellow's thoughts just based on the facial expressions.


I also want to look at the design of the frames, how they are placed, colour choice, writing style (procedural), font used, humor techniques etc.

I may also look into the website (undeclaredcomics.com) to see where it comes from.

I am obviously still in the thought process, but any other suggestions?