In today’s highly politicized culture, one cannot avoid the topic of healthcare. Often Americans hear the debate surrounding quality, affordable healthcare, but it begs the question, which one is the more pressing issue, the quality or affordability of medicine in the United States? Currently, western medicine focuses on how white, males present various diseases. In a country as diverse as the United States, diverse medical diagnoses are needed to ensure the best quality of care for all American citizens, no matter their race, gender, or ethnicity. On the other hand, millions of Americans struggle to afford life saving medical treatments and medicines. Johns Hopkins’ ‘The Promise of Medicine: How far would you go?’ ad addresses the commonplace of inadequate health care throughout the United States by highlighting their medical prowess as the future of medicine. In contrast, CareFirst Health Insurance launched their 2015 ‘Live Fearless’ campaign, which promised CareFirst card holders affordable healthcare that was accepted with ‘most’ healthcare providers. While both ads try to address the overarching issue of poor healthcare in the United States, each ad focuses on one aspect of the issue: affordability (CareFirst) versus quality (Johns Hopkins).

Source: https://digitalismedical.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/color-johns-hopkins.jpg.webp

Source: https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2015/09/14/768086/35947/en/photos/357251/0/357251.png?lastModified=12%2F09%2F2016%2023%3A57%3A58&size=3

Outline For Speech

I would first explain the background behind the two ads and then analyze how each add establishes credibility with their intended audience. I would highlight the modes of appeal used as well as underlying messages being presented in the ads before concluding with a re-emphasis on the purpose of each ad.

Shan did an amazing job presenting her artifact. Oftentimes, it’s hard to build credibility as a speaker if you are not considered an expert on the material. Shan had no trouble building credibility with her audience. By utilizing her natural confidence and good posture and adding it to her already strong delivery, Shan had us hooked from the beginning.

Shan’s sticker artifact is extremely endearing in that it is both comedic and satirical. While already having a naturally eye-catching artifact, Shan’s delivery and dramatic pauses to allow a reaction from the audience, brought a new element of urgency to the topic of global warming.

Stickers are generally used as a subtle way to spread awareness. Shan combatted the subtlety of her artifact by emphasizing the initial line “Girls are hot. Guys are hot.” This initial shock to the audience grabs their attention so that further explanation is desired. And it was. the response from the room further proved her impeccable delivery skills and left us all cracking up in our seats.

Overall, Shan did a great job making a serious topic, accessible and conversational with her audience. By adding humor in her delivery, Shan managed to make her message more desirable to her audience. I can’t wait to see the final product of Shan’s project!

With climate change being a major topic of discussion in the media, climate activists have had to find new ways to keep the topic relevant. The question has become, how does one convince people who are not actively affected by climate change, that it is a pressing issue involving them?

Many are familiar with Zac Efron’s Netflix documentary, Down to Earth, in which Zac Efron travels the world seeking out environmentally friendly solutions to climate change and having fun while doing it. In his documentary, he brings humanity to the experts trying to solve the global climate crisis and makes them accessible to the general public. By doing so, he combats the narrative that the climate crisis doesn’t affect everyone, and furthermore, provides hope that it can be reversed if we all come “down to earth.”

Zac Efron is by no means an expert in environmental science and engineering, but he had a major impact on revitalizing the climate change movement through his documentary. By bringing images of real people being displaced by forrest fires and showing how other countries are fixing them, more people took to social media to provide aid and resources. At the end of each episode, options on how to help those around the world fight climate change would appear on the screen. A lot of the options included monetary donations to places like Puerto Rico and California, but others were as simple as reusing your dirty water to water your garden or starting a compost in your backyard.

Ultimately, Down to Earth, provided new meaning to “reduce, reuse, recycle,” because it gave people concrete insight into how changing small parts of their lives would have a greater effect on somebody else in the global community. And hey, if Zac Efron is doing it, why shouldn’t we?