For my TED Talk, I am considering talking about what my paradigm shift paper was on: the n-word.  I think it would be especially interesting to examine the effect that the word has on the audience.

I was originally planning on picking a different topic for the TED Talk because I was very uncomfortable giving a presentation in which I would have to say the “n-word.”  But when I thought about it more, I think that my speech would be even more effective.

It could make people slightly uncomfortable (myself included), but I think that would encourage the audience to pay more attention to what I have to say.  I think that it would definitely affect the audience’s pathos, but I will have to be careful in my implementation to not offend people.

I am not totally sure yet what I want my thesis and actual point of my message to be.  I do, however, know that I would like it to revolve around people’s perception of the word, and how this has changed over time.  I would like to examine the shift from “nigger” to “nigga,” as that is a huge part of popular culture today.

The concept of audience in this case will be a little bit challenging for me, especially since the bulk of the “audience” will not actually be sitting in the room.  It will be a different medium which I will need to account for as I am rehearsing my speech.

Overall, I am very excited about the topic of my TED Talk, and I look forward to delving further into it.

This week I’d like to talk a little bit about the classic “Got Milk” advertisements that I guarantee everyone has seen at some point.  They are (or at least used to be) everywhere.  In case you haven’t seen them, they are posters and advertisements of hundreds of different celebrities with milk mustaches.  These can be famous historical figures, cartoon characters, athletes, movie stars, and pretty much any other famous person you can think of.

I think the  most obvious rhetorical device used in these advertisements is the relation from the celebrity depicted in the poster to the viewer of the poster.  The ads have the obvious message that “they drink milk, so why don’t you?”

Not only do they relate the viewer to the celebrity, but the people in the ad are always smiling.  I don’t think I have seen a single “Got Milk” ad in which the person is not smiling.  In both of these ways, the advertisements appeal to pathos.  They appeal to our emotions because we are drawn into the lives of the celebrities at hand.  If we drink milk, we can be just like them.  If we drink milk, we will be happy.  These are some of the obvious messages that the creators of these advertisers are trying to get across.

I think that these ads are very effective because they are so well known.  You don’t have to read past the first line to know what they are trying to tell you, and all you need is a quick glance at the signature milk mustache to know what the advertisement is for.

And yet, after the hundreds of this type of advertisement, they don’t seem to get old.  We still like seeing which celebrity will be the next model for them, and they always catch our eye and draw in our attention.  In these ways, I think the “Got Milk” ads are very effective.

What other ads have stood the test of time and have continued to entice us today?  And, going further, what part of these advertisements continues to draw our attention even after years of viewing the same type of ad?

This past weekend, I had the incredible opportunity to go canning.  For anyone who doesn’t know what canning is, here is a brief explanation.  Canning involves getting off campus in order to raise money for THON.  When canning, you go to different street intersections with cans and collect money from cars driving by.  This is most organizations’ biggest fundraising effort for THON, and if you are out and about on these weekends, it is almost guaranteed that you will see at least one or two groups canning around the state.

While canning this weekend, I began to think about the rhetoric surrounding the fundraiser.   Canners often wear big signs that are distributed to the different orgs around campus.  Unfortunately, I do not think that these signs are too effective.

As you can see, the posters say a lot about what the canners are collecting money for.  My problem with them is this, though: the print is way too small for a car driving past to be able to quickly read.  As I was canning, I found that many people were able to give the poster a quick glance but drove away frowning because they could not read everything that it says. In addition, for people who are stopped at traffic lights, it is tough to read these signs unless you are one of the first cars in line.   In this way, I think these posters are not as effective as they could be.

I do think that, at some intersections, these posters can be effective.  One of the main goals of THON is to raise awareness for pediatric cancer.  When most people think of cancer, they tend to think of skin cancer, breast cancer, lung cancer, etc.  Most people do not stop to think about pediatric cancer.  That being said, these posters do indeed raise awareness for the disease that is more common than most people think.  I just wish that they were more effective in accomplishing this goal.

Canning is a great way to spread awareness further outside of the Penn State community, and it is of course a great way to raise money for the Four Diamonds Fund.  My only suggestion would be to make a poster that was easier to read.  I think this is one way that THON can further spread awareness and raise even more money for the kids!

WARNING: This blog post contains some language that may be offensive to some people.  It is not, however, supposed to be taken in an offensive way.

My idea for my essay is not exactly traditional.  As we were discussing this essay in class, one thing kept coming to mind: a shift in the use of the word “nigger.”  This used to be a very derogatory word to describe African Americans, but it has recently become a very common word among the younger population.  To many of them, it is not a negative word-it is a word used in greetings, rap songs, and movies.  There is one main difference, though- instead of “nigger,” it is now “nigga”-well, at least in most contexts.

I think it would be really interesting to research the background of this word and how it came to have a totally new meaning.

Research Questions:

• Where did the word originate?
• What did it used to mean to people?
• What does it mean to people now?
• Do many people still find it to be offensive?
• Where can the word be seen in popular culture?
• What is the difference between “nigger” and “nigga?”
• Who used the word throughout history?
• Who uses the word today?
• Who came up with the idea to change the “er” to an “a?”
• Where exactly did the shift occur?

I came across this advertisement this week on the internet, and, at first, as I’m sure most of you were at first glance, I was flabbergasted.  I could not believe that a beer company would advertise their products with a pregnant woman on the ad.  Of course, when I looked more closely, I saw the words on the side, which changed everything.

The audience of this advertisement is obviously pregnant women, considering the fact that it pictures only a pregnant woman and their product.  This advertisement makes being pregnant and drinking (even if it’s a nonalcoholic drink) sexy.

I think that it is interesting that the ad emphasizes the fact that she is pregnant just as much as it emphasizes that she is holding a beer.  It almost makes them seem equal, like being pregnant now means that you can drink beer.  They go hand in hand-literally.  One of the woman’s hands is on her stomach and the other is holding the drink.

This advertisement is extremely effective in drawing the audience’s attention to the poster.   It, at first, seems completely ridiculous that a company that makes alcohol would encourage pregnant women to drink alcohol.  In addition to the specified audience, though, it also draws the attention of the lesser audience: the average person.  Not everyone likes or wants to drink alcohol, and by drawing everyone’s attention to this seemingly ridiculous ad, they draw in an even bigger audience.

It is especially interesting that they chose to make the words on the side blend in with the surrounding background colors.  This draws the viewers’ attention directly to their point-that it is now perfectly acceptable for pregnant women to drink beer.

When this advertisement went to the press, I’m sure that it was a topic of much controversy.  The deceiving rhetoric chosen in creating the poster is very interesting, and it is sure to have sparked a great deal of conversation surrounding it-but maybe that is exactly their point.

A few weeks ago my residence hall sponsored an activity called “Sex in the Dark.”  The posters for this activity simply announced the name of the activity, the time, place, and who it was sponsored by.  These posters, which were posted throughout my hall, were the “talk of the town” in the days leading up to this event.

Because no one knew or understood what this activity was (although we did all know that it was not to be taken literally), everyone was interested to know “Sex in the Dark” was really all about.  My friends and I were planning to go until I realized that I had a rehearsal that night.  I, therefore, did not have the opportunity to learn all about “Sex in the Dark.”  The rhetoric surrounding the poster was very interesting, though.

By getting people to talk about the activity, the poster was successful in bringing together the residents of my hall.  For example, I talked to many people I didn’t know, whether it was in the elevator or while sitting in the lounge, in order to try to find out more about the activity.  Because of this, I was able to meet new people and form new friendships.

In addition, the poster was successful because it caused people to be curious, and it, therefore, made people want to go and find out what this was all about.  While none of my immediate friends were able to go, I know that there were a lot of people there.  By creating this curiosity-driven poster, the creators were able to draw people in, and this allowed more integration between the residents in my building.

Curiosity is one of the best ways to draw people in, and this poster definitely took advantage of that.  This poster was extremely successful in its attempts to bring people together and create conversation.