“Not Ever” Rhetorical Analysis Rough Draft

I remember it was very late on what could only be described as a midsummer’s night. Now, being the super awesome popular person I am, I was sitting at home scrolling through my tumblr dashboard. Nonchalantly searching for humorous memes that would produce a chuckle or two. Every once and a while, people post something inspiring, or slightly artistic, but I usually shy away from these kinds of posts, because honestly I’m on tumblr for the comedy. Sometimes in life, you scroll down and see something you cannot ignore. I stumbled upon an ad about rape, and was completely shocked. Why would anyone make a television ad about rape? Turns out that Scotland was having a rape crisis, and unlike many other countries decided to actually do something about it. Henceforth, the intended audience includes the main populace of Scotland, where 1 in 5 people would blame a woman for getting raped.
The purpose of this ad is to shift away from blaming the victim in a rape situation, which could scare a victim from turning in the rapist to the proper authorities. It calls to women to speak out, because no it’s not your fault. You were not too drunk, you did not flirt too much, and your skirt was not too short. No one asks to be raped, not ever. The ad is persuading the audience to change its views on a certain subject, as well as inviting the viewer to visit a website in order to learn more about the campaign. Clearly, it is Intended for rape victims, as well as normal members of society.
To appropriately connect emotionally with such a varied audience, a story had to be told. Story telling allows the viewer to put themselves in the victim’s shoes. First, it shows an everyday girl going out, as well as a possible rapist, on the night out. The potential rapist watches the girl as she flirts endlessly with a guy. He then turns to his friend and slyly comments, “Check out that skirt, she’s asking for it”. His friend smiles devilishly, supposedly in agreement. The scene shifts to the same girl shopping for the skirt in question earlier in the day. A sales clerk asks if she needs help with anything, and the girl replies that she’s looking for a skirt that will get a man to have sex with her against her will because she wants to get raped later on in the evening. The sales clerk doesn’t blink an eye and immediately retorts that the blue is definitely the best choice, as if this were a totally normal question. The girl then swiftly looks directly at the camera, and directly challenges the audience to consider this an actual possibility. The scene then cuts to a background with the skirt, and words spelled out (repetition). Starts out just saying no one asks to be raped, but then it adds, Ever. This redirects the thinker to the name of the program: “Not Ever”. It then invites the audience to visit not ever.co.eu, where the purpose of the 30 second ad is explained in more detail.
The syntax utilizes simple sentences, choppy, and declarative statements such as “no one asks to be raped, ever.” Simple, everyday language is used for style. This could be used for the benefit of the audience, the ad’s strategy is not to sound smart, but to sound real and elicit true emotions and thoughts. Facts and figures were not used in the ad, probably for the purpose of time constraint (This Ad was first aired during a world cup championship during a Brazil game). However, upon visiting the website many facts and figures are shown. So it was not a lack of information, but a lack of need. Too much logos could have also conflicted with the pathos and ethos that was clearly driving the ad. However, it is perfectly logical that a victim is just that, a victim of a situation they themselves did not cause and could not have prevented.
The utilization of logos brings up the question, could this be a real situation? Is it logical to think a girl would intentionally go out to buy an outfit that would get her raped? No. Think about the exact definition of rape: if she wants it, then isn’t it consensual? Therefore, the definition of rape is demolished. With this idea crashing down, how can the audience help but feel a little stupid for considering this notion in the first place?
The use of pathos is not as emphasized as it usually is for the particular topic of rape. In most advertisements concerning the manner, there is usually a tragic story involving some poor, helpless girl who is attacked in the middle of the night. Many of these ads will go through the grieving processes and will provide emotional support and perhaps a hotline to call. However, this particular ad takes a different approach. An actual rape is never shown, it is only implied that it will happen in the future, or that even if the girl wasn’t raped that she would have been judged as someone who deserved to be raped by random bystanders. The ad elicts feelings of shock and concern because at first we think that we would never blame a girl for being raped, but somewhere deep down we do. We say if she had acted in a more appropriate manner, then she wouldn’t have gotten into that situation. This is shown by the potential rapists/ judgmental bystander. Our society teaches don’t get raped, rather than don’t rape. I have seen many ads and posts that have told me strategies to avoid being raped, but very rarely do I run across an ad that says hey this isn’t your fault, it’s the rapists fault. The ad forces one to face this reality and that can appal us, and challenges us to make a stand by changing our views. It made me personally stop what I was doing and go on the internet to research what the exact amount of people actual shared these views, and how these views could be changed.
The add demonstrates ethos in the fact that the victim should know better than anyone what she wants. Obviously, she was not looking to get raped by buying a flashy skirt, she probably just thought it was really cute. Only she can know what she was truly thinking, so who are random passersby to say they know her true thought process better? The girl uses this authority to show that the argument that she is to blame is invalid. This approach to ethos may seem vague, however it seems to hold even more authority than the usual government seal accompanied by facts and figures. Science can’t tell you how to feel, data cannot completely comprehend one’s though process, and when that girl looks into the camera and says “AS IF”, there is no doubt who has the credibility in the situation.
Of course, there are many other topics that could be explored in this ad, however, I chose to focus on a few key points due to the length allotted for this essay. It is important to note the visual aspects of the ad, such as the vibrant colors and the sparkly blue background behind the text in the final cut scene. The significance of actually typing out the final phrase, and waiting to add the ever should also be explored. Is there ethos in the adding of the website, or does it make it more of an advertisment than a campaign? The choice in actors could also have an effect on style, considering if they used an attractive male as the rapist, and an unattractive female as the victim things may have been different. The ad adopts a mocking tone in order to show the intensity of the situation, as well as show how utterly ridiculous it is that a woman could be blamed for wanting rape by choosing to wear a short sparkly blue skirt. These changing tones range from humorous and mocking to sarcastic and vexed, and mock the general consensus on women blaming mentalities in rape.
Although all these notions were not explored, it is evident that ethos, pathos, and logos are all used in this thirty second advertisement. These techniques were used in order to persuade the general public of Scotland that it is not ok to blame women for getting raped, because they are simply victims of the situation. It fights against the don’t get raped, instead of don’t rape mentality and challenges the audience to take a stand against something that is obviously wrong. So I hope I have inspired you, as this ad was meant to inspire you, to take a different approach on a very worn out subject and to speak out. After all sometimes that’s all it takes to change the world.

What to do… What to do…

  • I want to speak about Springfield’s involvement in THON using the advertisement centered around the Hunger Games. 
  • It says childhood cancer, may the odds NEVER be in your favor
  • The hunger games involved the mass murder of children, as does childhood cancer
  • I plan to talk about the disease, in brief and describe how deeply it changes the lives of its victims
  • It’s moving and it ties in a well known figure and phrase
  • There’s no better way to be a citizen then by helping the next generation as well as those in need
  • THON also bring Penn State together as a community. All of the students are working toward one goal, and succeeding in their efforts.
  • Springfield also acts as a family, it brings together its members in group events, fundraisers, and just fun activities.