Artifacts: AT&T “It Can Wait” campaign ad and the Western Cape Government “Safely Home” campaign ad

 

Purpose: To explain how AT&T and the Western Cape Government use different rhetorical approaches to convey the same message of the dangers of distracted driving.

 

Thesis Statement: Despite a difference in approach, both AT&T and the Western Cape Government utilize intrinsic proofs, constraints, and challenges to a dominant ideology to call the public to do one thing: fulfill their civic duty to drive responsibly.

 

AT&T: focuses on how your decision could harm others

WCG (Western Cape Government): focuses on how your decision could harm you

 

Introduction: “No text is worth a life.” This sentiment, echoed so often in commercials featuring permanently disabled victims or parents who have been rendered childless because of car accidents caused by distracted driving, is poignant, and not one taken lightly by the general public. The choice to text and drive is so easy to condemn when sitting in front of a television, yet it seems to slip the mind of those same self-righteous viewers who once thought they’d never do such an irresponsible thing as soon as they slip into the driver’s seat of a car. It’s easy to succumb to the mentality that one quick glance at the so easily accessible brightly lit screen, and both AT&T and the Western Cape Government aim to discredit the idea that any form of distracted driving, especially texting, is ever acceptable under any circumstance. AT&T, through their “It Can Wait” campaign ad focuses the audience on the potential harm brought to others, while the Western Cape Government, through their “Safely Home” campaign ad, calls the viewers to examine the harm distracted driving may bring upon themselves. Despite a difference in approach, both AT&T and the Western Cape Government utilize intrinsic proofs, constraints, and challenges to a dominant ideology to call the public to do one thing: fulfill their civic duty to drive responsibly.

 

Differences in Ideological Challenges

AT&T:

Challenges the ideology that your mistakes have the biggest effect on you

-Dad never texts when there are children in the car; Dad pulls over when the text/call is

urgent, because he recognizes the danger he places the children in if he takes his eyes

off the road

 

-“Never with a kid in the car” indicates that he is willing to do something risky (in this

case, text and drive) if he is alone, because he believes that by being alone, his is the

only person at risk

 

WCG:

Challenges the ideology that you don’t unnecessarily put yourself at risk

-None of the people walking assume that they will be injured just by walking

–

 

Differences in Intrinsic Proofs

AT&T:

Pathos

-Shock when the young boy is killed

-Sadness, fear when you realize what has happened to the boy

-Anger when you realize it is all the man’s fault/completely avoidable

WCG:

Logos

-audience is faced with proof that texting and walking can’t be done safely, and are

asked why they believe it would be any easier to text and drive when driving requires much more focus and is potentially much more dangerous

 

Differences in Constraints

AT&T:

lack of personal responsibility

-the biggest constraint to keeping the road safe from distracted drivers is each individual viewer. The responsibility falls on EVERY individual. It is not a problem that you can advocate for a change or solve without recognizing that you are just as much at fault anytime you drive distracted.

 

WCG:

lack of willingness to acknowledge your inability to complete two tasks safely at the same while driving

-people don’t like to think that they are incapable of something, and each individual’s

lack of willingness to address their own weaknesses cause distracted driving accidents. Before attempting to solve the issue, the constraint of being to proud or indignant to acknowledge one’s inability must be overcome.

Link to Video (embed video is no longer working correctly)

Topic: #ItCanWait Campaign Commercial

Purpose: To analyze AT&T’s attempt to end the dangerous practice of texting and driving and driving distracted in general.

Thesis Statement:  AT&T deploys intrinsic proofs and demonstrates rhetorical constraints to extend a dominant ideology in its attempt to call out the avoidable harm caused by those failing to fulfill their civic duty by texting and driving.

Introduction

Attention Strategy:        “Next time you’re driving, set the cruise control to 55 miles per hour, and drive 120 yards. With your eyes closed. Of course, don’t actually. I’m sure you wouldn’t have, even if I was serious in my request. But if you’re going to text and drive, you may as well do exactly that. Because according to the National Highway Safety Administration, in the 5 seconds it takes you to read or send a text while driving, it’s like driving the length of a football field with your eyes closed.”

 

Orienting Material:

• In the U.S., on average 9 people are killed and an additional 1000 are injured everyday due to distracted driving (CDC)
• Distracted driving is considered anything that takes your eyes off the road, hands off the road, or mind off of driving (CDC)
• Texting and driving is particularly dangerous, because combines all three ways of distracted driving: your eyes leave the road to look at your screen, your hands leave the wheel to respond to the text, and your mind is focused on crafting a message rather than driving.
• 3,477 people were killed in 2015 in distracted driving accidents (CDC)
• 391,000 people were injured in 2015 in car accidents related to distracted driving (CDC)

 

Preview:  The dominant ideology of your mistakes effecting only you, coupled with the pathos employed and exemplification of constraints all conglomerate to call the audience to fulfill their civic duty of remaining responsible, not distracted, drivers.

 

Body

1.The ideology of your mistakes being less severe if they only effect you is challenged with the idea that you may not understand how your mistakes affect others until it is too late.

• Whenever his phone lights up and there is a kid in the car, he looks in the rearview mirror at the children and decides not to look.
• “Never with a kid in the car”
• “You’re never alone on the road”
• The boy tells him “it’s ok” if he wants to check his messages
• The man still doesn’t look, because he believes that his actions could effect someone else
• As soon as the child isn’t in the car, he looks at his phone

2. The use of the young boy employs pathos by portraying him as young, innocent and lighthearted, then suddenly killed by a completely avoidable accident.

• The audience feels immense shock and sadness at the sight of a young child, one who we just saw as sweet and innocent, killed. It makes them think about how, if they text and drive, it could just as easily be the behind the wheel killing him. Additionally, and member of the audience who has a child feels the sorrow that a parent would were they to lose a child, and imagines being the cause of that feeling in reality for another parent, all because of something they chose to do.
• The audience feels anger at the driver, because he was irresponsible and caused an deadly accident that took an innocent life. This anger is heightened by the driver’s previous diligence at not being a distracted driver, because they feel betrayed that he would, after being so careful before, make such an irreversible and detrimental mistake.

3. The video implies that the only constraint precluding the resolution of this issue is the audience, if they refuse to be responsible. These constraints serve as AT&T’s call to the audience to think about how their own personal choices keep them fulfilling their civic duty.

• “Distracted driving is never ok” (Any audience member that thinks that they hardly ever check their phone or drive distracted are confronted with the statement that it is NEVER ok, even once. This idea is furthered in the ad when he only checks his phone once, but that is the time that causes the accident that kills an innocent child.)
• When the man ignores his phone or pulls over to check it, he and everyone else remain safe. This demonstrates that when the audience makes the right choice and drives responsibly, they mitigate the risk of causing an accident. Once he makes the personal choice to check his phone, he kills a child .This shows how it is his choice and his alone, not the work of any external forces. The audience is forced to think about how they are solely responsible for any accidents or harm that is caused by their failure to drive responsibly.

Conclusion

Summary Statement: Rather than ask their audience to do something radical, AT&T simply asks them not to do something irresponsible. They ask for one simple change in the audience’s everyday life that can radically alter, or even save, the lives of those around them. The audience is faced with a challenge to a dominant ideology regarding their mistakes, is forced to watch helpless and feel sorrow at the loss of an innocent life, and then reminded that they are the reason that this is still an issue. The way they feel and the ideas the audience is faced with calls them to fulfill their civic duty simply by acting as responsible citizens who is aware of how drastically their lives can be intertwined with those around them.

Concluding Remark: AT&T never explicitly tells the audience what to do or what not to do. They never say “drive responsibly” or “don’t drive distracted.” They only tell the audience that it is not ok. They don’t ask for action. They let the audience conclude of their own accord that the responsibility to act civically falls on their shoulders. AT&T just gives them the final push to do so.

 

 

Reference Page(s)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVEBJxS2J_Y

https://www.nhtsa.gov/risky-driving/distracted-driving

https://www.cdc.gov/motorvehiclesafety/distracted_driving/index.html

AT&T “It Can Wait” Campaign Commercial

For use as the focus of my speech

 

Western Cape Government “Safely Home” Campaign Commercial

For use in my rhetorical analysis, regarding the different approaches of each organization to convey the same message.

#ItCanWait Advertisment

 

Who Will You Help Campaign Ad

World Wildlife Fund “Terrifying” Poster

 

Cup of Jo

Another blog I came across that I think will serve as inspiration for my passion blog is “Cup of Jo,” a New-York based blog that covers everything from fashion trends and deals to relationship stories.

I really enjoy how this blog has a little bit of everything, but is organized in a way that makes it easy for the reader to either find the topic they are interested in, or read on whatever topic was most recently contributed to. This is achieved by using tabs on the top that break up the categories (“food”, “style,” relationships,” etc), but having the most recent blog post be the first thing on the homepage. This way, readers can either read whatever is there in front of them and recent, or do a little searching for their favorite subject.

I also think the use of visuals to aid in each post is really effective for this blog. Initially, I thought that I would include only one or two images for my posts because I thought that it would be overwhelmed with images otherwise. However, looking at the way this blog uses lots of images to break up big sections of text, I may now be leaning towards a similar style for my own blog.

Finally, I love how open the blog writer is about her personal life, preferences, style, and basically everything else about her. She is not afraid to put herself out there, which makes the blog very authentic and enjoyable to read. The writer’s voice makes you want to get to know her better by reading more, and it is equally balanced with posts/stories contributed by others so that it isn’t just her talking about herself all the time.

Overall, I think that it is obvious why this blog has nearly 5 million readers, because I certainly enjoy reading it! I hope to combine aspects of the previous blog that I wrote about with aspects of this one to curate a passion blog that I look forward to posting on.

Sadie Robertson’s Live Original Blog

One blog that I find particularly interesting is that of Sadie Robertson, a public speaker, advocate, writer, and member of the Robertson clan, who found fame on A&E’s “Duck Dynasty” reality series. Sadie uses this blog to document her personal experiences and struggles, maintain a relationship with her fans, and promote her public speaking tour entitled “Live Original.”

Her blog is very focused on her Christian faith and how it guides her life, which causes the writing style to be very conversational, open, and honest. I like how she writes the way I would imagine she carries on a conversation, and pulls out particular quotes or bible verses she uses to highlight their importance to the blog post or just in general. She typically uses quotes or verses rather than visuals (other than the main image for each post), which helps keep the focus on the written words rather than pictures or other extraneous images that can be distracting to readers.

Additionally, Sadie’s blog has featured multiple guest bloggers for the past few weeks, which I have really enjoyed reading. Each guest blog gives readers the opportunity to get to know a little more about someone they may otherwise never have known existed, or if they do know them, in a way that they wouldn’t have without this blog. The change in writers keeps the content fresh and unique each week, by changing up the style enough to keep it intriguing but not lose the cohesion between posts.

Finally, I really enjoy how simple Sadie’s blog is, no matter whether she wrote the post herself or someone else was a guest writer. The format is the same each week, with the only real change being the picture of who the blogger is that week, and this makes it easy to follow and find a post to read. The writing is easy and not confusing, and helps readers connect to the deeper meaning of the post’s message.

Overall, I really enjoy this blog and hope to model my own using the simple concepts and designs that Sadie does. While I think that I will include more visuals in my own posts, I hope to use ideas from this blog to build upon and improve my own.