132 years. Longer than anyone here in the year 2022 will be alive. This is the projected length of time it will take the gender gap to reach full parity. This means that not a single female on our planet today will ever get the opportunity to be treated with genuine equality, or viewed as an even peer to male counterparts. Though this is a pressing matter just as prevalent now as it has been for the last century, companies such as Wittner Shoes and Verizon have made waves in media advertisement with their “Future is Female” and “Inspire her Mind” campaigns. While they are seemingly opposites in rhetorical approach and overall execution, both promote an overall future of equality for women, and provide a sense of empowerment, urging our next generation to follow their dreams, not the societal expectation so deeply engrained in our minds.

Outline-

Introduction (rough draft above)

Background on gender equality (lack-thereof)

Contrast of ad’s (Verizon pulling at heartstrings vs bold simplicity of Wittner)

Deeper rhetorical analysis of video

Deeper rhetorical analysis of ad

Overall comparison + meanings 0f both (way they come together to relate as a bigger picture although vastly different)

Conclusion (way our society has miles to go before reaching equality, but ad’s like these are a step in the right direction and sign of hope)

“We are all a bunch of fossil fools”. This is the opening line of Shoshana’s elevator pitch speech on climate change from class today, and the words that got me and i’m sure the rest of the class drawn in to her passionate and informational speech on the alarming state of our nations environment. Through her attention-grabbing opening line and overall passion and knowledge of the subject, both evident through her tone of voice and presence in front of the class, Shoshana presented a beautifully written and extrmely informational pitch.

The introduction of her artifact is another thing that Shoshana did a great job with. Using an artifact found on Tik Tok helps to again ensure the audiences presence and keep everyone engages, as it’s a platform the majority of us are present on and therefore holds our interest. The idea that any one of us in the room could be scrolling through our feed and see the artifact described, “Environmental Sustainibility Ninja Leaves No Footprint”, and an animated ninja in the corner, brings a sense of hope to our generation. If one person can see it on Tik Tok, millions can, and that means that millions of people could also now be more knowledgeable on the environmental crisis of our nation and willing to take a stand for it, all through seeing a commonplace on Tik Tok.

Overall, Shoshana’s pitch not only brought great awareness to an extreme issue in our nation and one of the sustainability goals, but kept her audience extremely engaged and eager to learn more about what we as a society can do to help.

132 years. Longer than anyone here will be alive. That is the projected length of time it will take the gender gap to reach full parity. This means that not a single woman in this room will ever experience true equality.

In light of the fairly recent events regarding our nations backpedaling of women’s rights, “The Future is Female” is a fitting call to arms for the gender equality movement of this generation. First coined in the 1970’s and now most recently regaining traction in the form of not only t-shirts and signs for women’s rights marches, but advertisements and even awards, this seemingly simple statement is one that holds immense power.

Presented as a slogan for one of Wittner Shoes collection, and used to reinforce their company mantra of putting confidence in your step, “The Future is Female” is a slogan that pushes equality for women. Their advertisement showcases not only beautiful shoes and powerful female models, but the four words that without context mean nothing, and with it mean everything. Through the use of visual rhetoric, this ad campaign completely avoids any backlash inducing claims, and spreads the purely positive message of women’s rights through equality.

The future IS female, but that doesn’t mean it’s anti-male, it simply means that women WILL get the rights we deserve, and this campaign is a fitting representation of the power that we as a generation have to make a difference. We can speed up that lengthy projection easily through the continuation of campaigns such as Wittners.

Thank You.

Of the 17 UN goals one that resonates with me is goal 5, gender equality, specifically the movement of woman empowerment. While it has been an issue addressed for years, taking what was seeming to be decent strides towards success, recent events have caused backpedaling in the fight for gender equity, and one commonplace has jumped out as a prominent representation of the movement, making wave across countless nations. The future is female.

While there is no single clear event that bred this commonplace, it’s safe to say that now more than ever it’s a strong and meaningful slogan, used everywhere from t-shirts, to posters at women’s rights rallies, to campaigns for popular brands, such as Wittner Shoes, who based an entire new collection of shoes and the promotional video for them around “The Future is Female”, as seen below.

Although widely used and supported, this commonplace has also caused a bit of backlash. With it’s seemingly straight forward way of “cutting men out of the equation” as some put it, people in disagreement claim that it’s aa push for roles to be completely reversed in the future, with men being in the position of lesser treatment while women gain success and opportunities.

This advertisement however does not seem to make any of these types of claims or insinuations, and instead focuses on showing off the beauty of both women and their product, using what would have already been an existing advertisement to spread a message of support during these less than ideal times in so many places for women’s rights. This advertisement is a great example of the way that a simple few words without context can mean so little, but adding context can make all the difference in the world. The future IS female, but that doesn’t mean it’s anti-male, it simply means that women WILL get the rights we deserve, and this commonplace is a great asset on the track to change.