Stephanie Smith
Due: Thursday February 28th, 2013 (Took the 48 hour late pass)
English 15
Jessica O’Hara
Letter of Introduction
My first paper is on a texting while driving commercial by AT&T. A young boy who was in a car when it crashed because the driver was texting while driving, now suffers severe brain damage. He, himself, is the narrator of the commercial and briefly describes his life-changing event in a few sentences. Watching him struggle to do things and speak really hits home to whoever is watching and makes the viewers reevaluate their priorities.
My second paper describes the prominent differences in two articles about Pope Benedict XVI. One portrays in a bad light, while the other explains all of his noteworthy accomplishments and how good he was to the church. Depending on which article one would read could really change a perspective on how one feels about the pope.
In revising both papers throughout these past two months, I would read them over every week and take down notes on little changes. I also got help from you during our conference, as well as help from my roommate Jen. I want to try and start coming to your office hours for the next portfolios as well.
I haven’t written an essay since my junior year in high school and I’m not all that creative, so this was a bit challenging for me! It was hard for me to get started, but I can already feel like it’s starting to get easier. I see myself getting better and better as the weeks go on. I feel that by the time this semester ends, I will feel like a competent writer and thinker. I’m excited to see the end results!
No Text Is Worth It
There are thousands of automobile accidents that happen every day. According to the National Safety Council, there’s 1.6 million car crashes each year due to cell phone handling and texting alone, mainly due to young adults. The generation of young people nowadays is becoming accustomed to texting and driving as ordinary, not something that could potentially ruin a life. This generation doesn’t know statistics show that texting while driving makes a crash up to twenty three times more likely. They are also unaware it’s proven that looking at a cellular device for only five seconds while driving at a speed of fifty-five miles per hour equals the length of driving an entire football field while not looking at the road. These statistics are actually pretty scary when brought to one’s attention. This is why AT&T’s commercial, “No Text is Worth Brain Damage,” brings these discounted facts to light. This isn’t your standard campaign that uses humor, sarcasm, or unrealistic ploys to catch the viewers’ attention. It’s actually quite the opposite. With this type of commercial there’s no way of getting around the devastating truth because it uses a story, narrated by the actual victim of the car crash. Observing him struggle with his words and movements as well as the blunt statements incorporated into the commercial makes use of ethos, pathos, and logos. In doing this, the audience is brought to a sense of realism, as well as the consequences of texting while driving.
Giving the audience his experience, the victim was able to convince the viewers that something as drastic as his story can actually happen to one of them. If someone else narrated this ad, perhaps a police officer or a celebrity of some sort, it wouldn’t be able to portray the true meaning inside the commercial. Taking one look at the boy, the audience is able to clearly see he is a victim of severe brain damage. He struggles to put on his sweater, looks at the camera with crossed eyes, and his obvious speech impediment appeals to the viewers’ emotions of sympathy and sorrow for him. Strong pathos makes this commercial most effective. Young adults watching may think that this could be them; they may even think they could potentially do this to some one else. Viewers are not only able to identify with him, but to empathize. He spoke simply, therefore using the fact that less is more and less evokes more from the audience (Heinrichs 2007). The narrator didn’t even have to try to show his strong emotion to his life-changing event. In saying how he wants to “give up so bad” immediately makes the audience grieve for him. Is living a life like this boy has now (full of physical therapy and constant supervision) worth sending a text message? This is a question the ad makes the audience think about without having to actually ask. The audience may feel sorry for him before even hearing his story by just watching him struggle. The boy doesn’t yell, he doesn’t rant, and he doesn’t complain about the person who was texting while driving when he was in the car. He simply accepts it. He accepts the life he has to live, even if he doesn’t like it. This gives the viewers some sort of inspiration as well as hope to help this boy achieve his goal of putting an end to texting while driving.
The use of the boy as the narrator gives this campaign its credibility. It’s easier to persuade the audience to not text and drive when it’s clearly a believable story. Ethos and pathos were strongly tied in this ad by means of the victim himself. He told his story, which appealed to our emotions through its extreme believability. He holds up a sign at the beginning of the commercial saying “where r.” He later explains “this is the text message that changes his life forever.” Six letters changed an entire life but he proclaimed he “will fight on.” The setting of the commercial is in a physical therapy room. He sits on a mat with a lady standing over him for supervision. Next to him on the mat are blocks that look almost like baby toys. Although he clearly has a higher mental state than a child, the blocks symbolize the fact that he must start over again. This is something the audience may take notice to and may make a greater impact on how the viewers take in his horrible situation.
Using simplistic and obvious statements at both the beginning and end of the commercial, this ad made logical sense of texting while driving. The use of logos in this ad was straight and to the point, with short sentences to really evoke emotion out of the viewers. First, the boy holds up a white sign with black bold letters that says “where r.” Again, this message was the text that was being typed when his accident happened. It wasn’t finished, therefore literally being written when the accident happened. The slogans at the end of the campaign include, “No text is worth permanent brain damage” and “TXTING & DRIVING…IT CAN WAIT.” In these three, clean sentences, the audience is able to understand that texting while driving causes accidents and an accident can cause severe, life changing brain damage. The last statement uses the sort of style or slang a person would use in a text which makes the commercial more relatable to a young adult who may also part take in texting while driving. AT&T is not trying to make this commercial difficult to understand. The goal was to make this commercial as simple as possible, because simplicity is all that was needed to convey the message.
Most commercials are somewhat uplifting with catchy music or some sort of background noise. On the other hand, the silence of AT&T’s “No text is worth permanent brain damage” commercial grabs the audience’s attention. It may make the viewers actually want to hear what the narrator has to say. He takes pauses in between some sentences; emphasizing the fact that this may be because of brain damage and also letting his message sink into the viewers’ minds. It gives the viewers time to think about his situation and the devastating ramifications of texting and driving.
Seeing the devastating effects of a small, irrelevant text message really hits home for the audience. It makes the viewers think that maybe that could be them one day. And the fear of this may persuade the audience to not text and drive. As the speaker, he isn’t doing any threatening to cause fear in the viewers. He has no argument. He doesn’t directly tell the viewers to not text and drive. He makes the viewers not want to text while driving because of his actions and what he went through. It’s “naked instinct” (Heinrichs 2007) of the viewers that persuades them to feel differently about the action of texting while driving. The audience is able to see this young boy, empathize with him, and become conscious of the terrible consequences of texting while driving all in a thirty second commercial. The intention of the ad is to use logos and ethos to make a strong pathetic (pathos) commercial and bring the audience to actuality. Not by any means other than a real life story told by a real life victim who had so much going for him before the accident.
References:
1. Heinrichs, Jay. Thank You for Arguing. New York: Three Rivers, 2007. Print
2. “NSC Estimates 1.6 Million Crashes Caused by Cell Phone Use and Texting.” NSC Estimates 1.6 Million Crashes Caused by Cell Phone Use and Texting. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Feb. 2013.
3. “Texting and Driving Statistics.” Texting and Driving Statistics. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Feb. 2013.
How Different Articles Portray the Resigning Pope
The last time a pope resigned was in 1294, so the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI is quite the shocker to the world. ABC News and USA Today sure seem to think so and had to put their input on this surprising news as well. But what is really surprising is how different each article portrays the pope, both having quite different opinions on the way they want the readers to view him. Looking at the titles of the articles alone, give the readers a sense of what he or she is about to read. ABC News article’s title says “Pope Benedict’s Legacy Marred by Sex Abuse Scandal” while USA Today’s article took a lighter approach with the title in saying “From humble beginnings, Benedict made his mark on faith.”
Through ABC News’ article, the writers are almost trying to persuade the readers to believe that it’s a good thing the pope is resigning. This article brings out what the pope did badly for the world, although these allegations may not even be true. The title makes it seem as though the pope himself was a predator of sex abuse. Upon reading the rest of the article, the viewer finally realizes that he himself wasn’t a predator, but may have just covered up other sexual abuse going on. The article states that the Center of Constitutional Rights filed a lawsuit and proclaimed that there were “intentional cover-ups and affirmative steps taken that serve to perpetuate the violence and exacerbate the harm.” This intense, acrid line puts the pope in such a bad perspective. Negative words such as violence, exacerbate, harm, intentional, affirmative, and perpetuate all used in one sentence to be as harsh as possible on the proposed allegation on Pope Benedict. The article makes light of the Pope’s apologies and remorse for the victims of sexual abuse by some priest’s. It quickly, then, reverts back to the fact that advocates of the victims don’t think his sincere apologies were enough. Although most of this article doesn’t show Pope Benedict XVI in the best way, the video in the article doesn’t necessarily parallel the article. Throughout the video, people talk about how shocking it is that the pope will resign as well as what some of the possible candidates for the next pope might be. The sex scandals were mentioned briefly and Cardinal John Dolan spoke to ABC News about how the pope may feel about this. He describes Pope Benedict as having “the most noble, loving, elevated sentiments you can have” for the church and Christian life. He also says that the pope sees these sex scandals and feels the weight of sorrow and grief on for all those assaulted. Although this video may have been easier on the pope, the article itself definitely was not.
The ABC News article appeals to the readers’ emotions, which uses pathos in hopes of opening the readers’ eyes to the pope’s bad decisions. This article tries to grasp the audience’s emotions of grief and sorrow for the poor children who were victims of sexual assault by priests. In proclaiming that more could have been done by the Pope and declaring that the Pope hid some knowledge of what was going on, it really sheds the pope in a terrible light. The article barely recognizes any sort of accomplishments Pope Benedict made or anything he did to benefit the church or population. This article gives the reader thoughts of if the pope could have done more; there would be less victims of assault.
On the other hand, USA Today’s article reflects on all of Pope Benedict’s accomplishments. Starting from when he was a child and explains how he was born to be a man of the church. This article emphasizes more on what the pope has done good rather than harmful. Of course, this article touches on the supposed allegations, but doesn’t bring them to be the center of attention as does ABC News’ article does. Pope Benedict’s life, achievements, and concerns were more of this article’s focal point. Using positive words to describe the pope, such as “sensational” show the reader how this man made an impact on some people. This as well as many compliments from fellow priests, theologians, a Vatican expert, and many more people made the pope out to be a great man, not someone who seemed to be hiding the fact that some priests may sexually abuse children. It conveys a sense that he is truly sorry for such victims, but the article shows that that’s not what his life was only about.
Again, USA Today’s article shows Pope Benedict XVI’s character as an accomplished and respected man, therefore using ethos to exhibit the Pope in a better way than the first article. There’s a video in this article of Cardinal John Dolan speaking about Pope Benedict XVI and how much he admires him. The Cardinal says he admires the pope’s humility. He speaks extremely highly of the pope, which contributes to the build up of the pope’s character as a leader. There are also numerous pictures found on the website: one of the pope as a young man with his hands together in prayer, one of him smiling and hugging three children in Brazil, two of him kissing babies on the forehead, and many more of him smiling and waving to crowds of people. Each of these pictures portrays Pope Benedicts XVI as a man who truly loved what he did. The pictures of him with the children shows his genuine love for children and it totally disregards any type of allegations of a scandal put on him.
It’s interesting to see how two stories stemming from the same idea could be so discrepant. Both articles were written solely because the Pope is resigning due to health issues but both characterize him in completely different ways. ABC News’ article portrayed the Pope as having a ruined legacy and USA Today’s article represented him as a true man of the church with many good things to bring to the religious community. Reader either of these articles can give a reader a totally different outlook on Pope Benedict XVI and how he ruled as pope for the last eight years.
References:
- GOLDMAN, RUSSELL. “Pope Benedict’s Legacy Marred by Sex Abuse Scandal.” ABC News. ABC News Network, 11 Feb. 2013. Web. 12 Feb. 2013.
- “From Humble Beginnings, Benedict Made His Mark on Faith.” USA Today. Gannett, n.d. Web. 12 Feb. 2013.
