Ignorance and apathy are common themes among the general population nowadays. But really, who knows and who cares? In the Onion’s recent article, “Ukrainian-Russian Tensions Dividing U.S. Citizens Along Ignorant, Apathetic Lines,” they achieve humor by satirizing the situation. In using a very real current world event that does actually split opinionated citizens down a political line and changing the opinions to ignorant and apathetic, they make a bold and humorous statement about the state of Americans’ political and current event views. This statement is derived from the commonplace (among the rest of the world) that Americans are stupid and lazy. They also make use of hyperbole in order to make the situation seem comically extreme. Lastly, they appeal to their audience, namely the more intellectual and/or college crowd, by “speaking the language” of these two groups of people.

(body x3)

(Conclusion)

For paper 3, I’m going to do an analysis on this article from the Onion:

http://www.theonion.com/articles/ukrainianrussian-tensions-dividing-us-citizens-alo,35428/

It’s about Russia “invading” the Crimean region, and US citizens reactions to it, or rather, their lack thereof. It does a good job of encapsulating the general feel that America seems to take towards Russia nowadays; that of a worn out sober friend just trying to last through the party while their hammered friend does one stupid thing after another.

I plan to dissect what it says about Russia, and the fact that Americans are ignorant, apathetic, or both.

Paper one was a fun paper to write. I dealt with the rhetoric strategies involved in the Dodge/Anchorman commercial. It was a fun little work of parody on other car commercials but the most interesting thing about the commercial was the many nuanced layers of irony involved. This was mainly due to the character of Ron Burgundy in the commercial. It was a very complex reasoning.

Paper two was a really enjoyable one. I analyzed the debate that Billy Nye (of the Science Guy fame) had with Creationism Museum president Ken Ham. The debate was a wildly popular story because everyone absolutely loves Bill Nye. Not only was it fun to read about this debate but reading it from two different sources was also quite interesting.

As a writer, I feel like I have grown much more comfortable in my writing style. In high school, all we ever wrote were five paragraph essays on whatever book we were reading. It was very hard to make it interesting because there were set rules in place and it was hard to incorporate humor into my writing–which I’m very fond of doing. I think that maybe it has come from the blogs because I have a much more conversational style of writing and my topic of choice is one that I really enjoy writing about. It also lends itself to be more humor-oriented. I’m just really loving the blogging.

Ask anyone who was alive during the 90’s with a TV who the “Science Guy” was and they would immediately respond by naming Bill Nye. What may come as a surprise to some people is that Nye is actually a very intelligent and respected scientist, an oft-overlooked fact as he hosted a child’s show on PBS. Bill Nye did not just stop at educating kids, he seems focused on now educating the world. Recently he has taken to debating public figures on various topics, and a few weeks ago that topic was evolution. At the Creation Museum in Petersburg, Kentucky, Nye went up against the head of the museum, creationist Ken Ham. This was a widely covered news story mainly because of Nye himself and the repertoire he has earned.

Just as there are two sides to every argument, there is also often two sides to every news story. Since the debate was so widely covered, many sources added their own spin as to how it went. Fox News’ article seems more interested in finding a ‘winner’ of the debate and focused a lot on the power behind Bill Nye’s star status. NBC, on the other hand, looked at the debate itself and focused on the remarks given by both debaters. The two sites show their subtle bias in the ways they present the articles.

What is the first—and sometimes only—thing that people read in articles? The headline. It is large, attention grabbing, and gives a general idea about the following article. The two headlines on the Creation/Evolution debate are no exceptions. Fox News went with the headline, “Bill Nye the ‘Science Guy’ debates head of Creation Museum on evolution, earth’s origin” and NBC chose, “Bill Nye wins over the science crowd at evolution debate”. There is clear bias going on in these titles.

Starting with Fox’s, the most obvious part of their title is the fact that “Science Guy” is in quotation marks. That is what Bill Nye went as when he was on TV, but the way that this is phrased does not seem quite right. It is hard to convey sarcasm through printed word, but using quotation marks is usually the popular choice. So already it seems that they are attempting to slightly diminish Nye’s credibility by harkening back to when he was a TV personality for children and sort of poking fun at that. Meanwhile, his opponent, Ken Ham, is not mentioned by name but instead is called “head of Creation Museum,” which seems pretty impressive next to “Science Guy”. One is the head of a museum while the other is a guy.

NBC’s headline is a much more gripping one. It is much simpler and yet more powerful because of one word: “wins”. It is giving the ending before starting so now the audience wants more. More importantly it shows who the clear favorite in this article will be. The second piece of evidence is the fact that the debate mentioned is the “evolution debate,” not the “creation/evolution debate,” or something else along those terms. NBC is showing how throughout the article they’ll be backing the man in the bowtie.

The next thing a reader will look at is the pictures. People are naturally drawn to looking at pictures over reading. The articles, however do not show many pictures. Fox has a small slideshow that shows both debaters, Bill Nye, and then Ken Ham. The picture in which both debaters are present has the two men barely in the picture with only their heads poking up from the bottom. The picture is dominated by a slide in the background saying “SCIENCE” and then an accusation. It works for both sides, really. The word “science” catches the attention and Bill Nye comes to mind, while the accusation is in favor of Ham. The next two pictures contrast, favoring Ham. The shot of Nye is from far away and from an angle, making him seem smaller and not centered. This makes him seem slightly less significant. The picture of Ken Ham has him dominating the photo.

NBC has one large title picture of the Science Guy and then a video of the entire debate. With the title picture featuring a very impressive photo of Bill Nye it is once again clear who the favorite speaker is. In fact, Ken Ham can hardly be seen, even in the screenshot that the video is frozen at. In it, Nye is standing up behind his podium, giving his speech. Ken Ham is in the background, sitting down at a desk, hardly looking up. From the angle and quality of the picture, he looks like David Letterman. NBC made it hard to tell exactly who this man is, clearly showing their support for the Science Guy.

Just like any debate, an article can also have two sides. Of course, it is in the form of two articles, but they both cover the same event. Fox depicts Bill Nye as a victor only by popularity, almost mocking his 90’s stardom among elementary schoolers. NBC shows that they support Nye and almost have forgotten about Ham, were he not crucial to the article. They could have just titled the article in words of Bill Nye himself, “Science Rules!”

The holiday season is the prime time for quality advertising. Companies make the decision to go with quantity or quality. The Anchorman 2 ad executives decided to do something unheard of before. They would create quality Anchorman 2 commercials and make the broadcast equivalent of junk mail. In this Dodge Durango commercial, of all places, legendary fictional anchorman Ron Burgundy acts as spokesman for “last of the real SUVs.” The commercial plays upon other car commercials using a similar format as well as incorporating a beloved character into their ad. By having Ron Burgundy as their spokesman, Dodge parodies other car commercials in order to impress the audience with how very nice the Dodge Durango actually is.

In order to really sell a product, it is often helpful to use some sort of public figure or celebrity to really sell the product. This implements one of the three basic appeals a person can make while in an argument: ethos. The celebrity—in this case, Will Ferrell’s Ron Burgundy—describes the product and its many wonderful and amazing features. The audience responds to this because they know this oft-spoken-of person and know what sort of message this person carries.

The Durango commercial uses Anchorman’s anchorman for two reasons: to use his image to get the audience to make connections and to get the audience to laugh. For anyone who has not watched Anchorman, Ron Burgundy is a classy gentleman who is well-versed in the finer things in life. This is evidenced throughout the movie in his choice of suits, drinks, and music. He knows the right choices when it comes to looking classy and being successful. So when Ron Burgundy comes on screen and says that this is a beast of a machine and everyone should buy it, people will listen to him. The secondary reason for using Ron Burgundy is for his comedic appeal. Getting an audience to laugh makes them more receptive to persuasion (Thank You For Arguing Heinrichs). Ron Burgundy, with his 70’s style mustache and maroon suit already cuts a comedic figure. Anyone who has seen him before in Anchorman will already be thinking about his antics from the movie. The audience is now laughing, happy, and much more receptive. The hilarity continues when he gets mad at the dancers and chases them off-stage. The happy audience now feels more inclined to purchase this Dodge Durango.

In a very sneaky strategy employed by the folks at Dodge, the type of advertisement that they make fun of is actually incorporated into the commercial. Comparing the car being advertised to something of power or grace is a commonplace used in car commercials for years. Many different comparisons have been drawn, but a familiar one is the dancer. Another commonplace, a dancer is beautiful, elegant, powerful, and precise; exactly what a car should be. This appeals logically to the audience. The dancer, so graceful and elegant, being in close proximity to the car causes the audience to associate the dancer with the SUV. Also, in showing shots of the car as well as the dancer, it only helps the audience speed up the association process.  So even though the commercial pokes fun at other advertisements that compare cars to people, the audience still makes the connection that the Durango is in many ways like the dancers.

Even though the audience does make the connection between cars and dancers, Dodge still parodies those types of advertisements. There are a variety of ways why this is a good strategy by Dodge, Firstly, it once again invokes humor because normally in these types of commercials the narrator and dancers do not meet. This parody of commercials adds another element of humor to the advertisement, thus making the audience more receptive still. Secondly, his unexpected outburst at the dancers draws the attention to what Mr. Burgundy has to say about the great SUV he is selling. He becomes quite worked up that the dancers are there so his compliments are shouted. People listen to a man shouting. More importantly, by making fun of the commercials, Dodge is saying something along the lines of “look at this, we are not like other car companies. This is a special car,” because they broke the tradition and got away with it, the audience respects that and looks into it.

The Anchorman 2/Dodge Durango commercial is a fantastic bit of advertisement. It plays with commonplace of comparing cars to dancers by parodying it. It makes the car stick out by saying that it is different from other cars like it, but still says that it has these dancer-like qualities. It employs the ethos of Ron Burgundy to get the audience to listen even more to what he has to say, because he knows a good car when he sees it; his reputation precedes him. All in all, Dodge is saying that purchasing the Durango would keep a person living up to Ron Burgundy’s standard of staying classy.

Here’s the article:

http://www.foxnews.com/science/2014/02/05/head-creation-museum-debates-bill-nye-science-guy/

I don’t have a corresponding article but that’s in the plan.

• Introduction explaining what the news story is.
• Explain how both news sites give the same story but with different perspective
• Analyze wording
• Analyze pictures
• Analyze context
• conclusion

The holiday season is the prime time for quality advertising. Companies make the decision to go with quantity or quality. The Anchorman 2 ad executives decided to do something unheard of before. They would create quality Anchorman 2 commercials and make the broadcast equivalent of junk mail. In this Dodge Durango commercial, of all places, legendary fictional anchorman Ron Burgundy acts as spokesman for “last of the real SUVs.” The commercial plays upon other car commercials using a similar format as well as incorporating a beloved character into their ad. By having Ron Burgundy as their spokesman, Dodge parodies other car commercials in order to impress the audience with how very nice the Dodge Durango actually is.

In order to really sell a product, it is often helpful to use some sort of public figure or celebrity to really sell the product. This implements one of the three basic appeals a person can make while in an argument: ethos. The celebrity—in this case, Will Ferrell’s Ron Burgundy—describes the product and its many wonderful and amazing features. The audience responds to this because they know this oft-spoken-of person and know what sort of message this person carries. The Durango commercial uses Anchorman’s anchorman for two reasons: to get the audience to laugh and to use his image to get the audience to make connections. For anyone who has not watched Anchorman Ron Burgundy is a classy gentleman who is well-versed in the finer things in life. So when Ron Burgundy comes on screen and says that this is a beast of a machine and everyone should buy it, people should listen to him.

In a very sneaky strategy employed by the folks at Dodge, the type of advertisement that they make fun of is actually incorporated into the commercial. Comparing the car being advertised to something of power or grace is a commonplace used in car commercials for years. Many different comparisons have been drawn, but a familiar one is the dancer. A dancer is beautiful, elegant, powerful, and precise; exactly what a car should be. So even though the commercial pokes fun at other advertisements that compare cars to people, the audience still makes the connection that the Durango is in many ways like the dancers.

Even though the audience does make the connection between cars and dancers, Dodge still parodies those types of advertisements. There are a variety of ways why this is a good strategy by Dodge. Firstly, it draws the attention to what Mr. Burgundy has to say about the great SUV he is selling. He becomes quite worked up that the dancers are there so his compliments are shouted. People listen to a man shouting. More importantly, by making fun of the commercials, Dodge is saying something along the lines of “look at this, we are not like other car companies. This is a special car,” because they broke the tradition and got away with it, the audience respects that and looks into it.

The Anchorman 2/Dodge Durango commercial is a fantastic bit of advertisement. It plays with commonplace of comparing cars to dancers by parodying it. It makes the car stick out by saying that it is different from other cars like it, but still says that it has these dancer-like qualities. It employs the ethos of Ron Burgundy to get the audience to listen even more to what he has to say, because he knows a good car when he sees it; his reputation precedes him. All in all, Dodge is saying that purchasing the Durango would keep a person living up to Ron Burgundy’s standard of staying classy.

So I decided to go with the Anchorman 2 Dodge Durango commercial.

I think I’ll mainly by focusing on Ron Burgundy’s ethos and what his character brings to the party.

Also the logical connection we can make between the car and the dancers. Despite the fact that Ron chases them off.

The concept that the car is far superior to the dancers because of the whole way the commercial plays out.

That’s all I can think of for now…

The two commercials I have chosen are the “Old Spice fake Spray Tan Party commercial” and the “Anchorman 2 Dodge Durango Dancer commercial” and the links are found below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMOXL_2jXOQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6YfpBbPDVZA

Old Spice:

This commercial is a wonderful bit of advertising because it starts with a fake advertisement for spray tans and then the real advertisement bursts in to smack some sense into the viewer. But the real advertisement is unable to do its work without the fake one. It relies on the fact that we already disapprove of the spray tan commercial. It uses an incredibly muscular spokesman who looks like a character from the Jersey Shore. He’s referring to people as “bro” or “chicks” and because of all this, the audience should begin to think he’s kind of a jerk or at least not that bright. Also, the entire commercial appears to have been made by a 9th grader in the 90’s, in the sense that there’s an unnecessary amount of effects in the commercial. All this points to the fact that we should be disdainful of this commercial. And yet, something about the energetic presentation is enticing. The Shore, like guy is offering you a way to be “better” by going to these “Spray Tan Parties”. So even though we laugh at this commercial, something in the back of our minds doesn’t completely rule out this option as a good idea. Then the “real” commercial starts. It starts with the usual Old Spice spokesman’s voice saying “Did you really just watch a commercial for Spray Tan Parties?” or something along those lines. He enters and begins his spiel. Aleady, the audience knows him and is relaxed by him. He’s a familiar face with a soothing voice and isn’t disgustingly muscular like the spray tan guy. His strategy is to tell you the error of your ways for sitting through the commercial as an opener. He uses a humorous chart to describe just how low the viewer has sunk through this viewing. Then the important part: he offers a choice. He says, “It’s not too late to change,” albeit repeatedly and it is pretty funny, but he offers the choice. Dealing with the future tense, saying “You can stay at rock bottom with these spray tans OR you can buy Old Spice”. We see just how well Old Spice can make our lives. We can be like the suave Old Spice guy, live in an immaculate mansion, the whole nine yards. In order to convince the audience; to argue with us, it presents a common enemy.

Dodge Durango:

The Anchorman 2 commercial uses a preconcieved notion of car commercials to sell its point, once again through humor. You hear Ron Burgundy’s voice saying words like, “elegance, form, passion,” and etc. and all the while we’re seeing shots of two ballet dancers doing a routine next to a car. This tactic is employed by advertisers world over; comparing an appliance or machine to something elegant or sleek in nature. So when we finally see Ron walking next to the SUV we all know he was describing we say, “Eh, nothing special,” but then Ron sees the dancer and becomes furious. He’s outraged that these dancers are interrupting his commercial and upstaging the car. It’s funny because of the character and the way that it makes fun of other car commercials. It mainly uses the ethos of Ron Burgundy to really sell the car, because as anyone who’s seen Anchorman knows, Ron Burgundy knows about the finer things in life. If he supports this SUV and considers it better than these dancers, who are we to disagree?

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