Choose a vintage ad that you can analyze based on its rhetorical appeals (ethos, logos, pathos).

Choose a vintage ad that you can analyze based on its rhetorical appeals (ethos, logos, pathos). One thing: Please make sure that your chosen ad is appropriate for classroom use and the workplace.

At the end of your essay, copy/paste the URL or website address for your ad–it will begin with http:// Include it so your instructor can see the ad, too.

Give examples of the rhetorical appeals (ethos, logos, or pathos) in the advertisement. Pages 182-184 from your text might also be helpful as you begin working on this assignment.

You have a rough draft of this essay due at the end of this week to the Dropbox; the final draft of this paper is due at the end of Week 2 to the Dropbox.

Successful drafts will:
1. Be focused on analysis.
2. Be between 1-2 pages in length.
3. Contain a well-crafted thesis statement appropriate for the essay’s purpose.
4. Follow APA formatting rules for the look of the paper, as identified in the APA sample paper in the Doc Sharing tab above or through this tutorial: APA Tutorial. Include a title page, running heads, and page numbers–don’t include the References page. Instead, include the URL (http:// website address) for your ad at the end of your essay.
5. Be typed and submitted as a Microsoft Word 2010 document (.docx), double-spaced, 12-pt font
6. MICROGENRE: The Ad Critique
7. An ad critique evaluates an advertisement to show why it was or was not effective. If the ad is persuasive, show the readers why it works. An ad critique can also help you explain why you like or dislike a particular type of advertisement. You should aim your critique at people like you who are consumers of mass media and products.
8. Today, ad critiques are becoming common on the Internet, especially on blogs. They give people a way to express their reactions to the kinds of advertisements being thrown at them. Here are some strategies for writing an ad critique:
9. Summarize the ad. If the ad appeared on television or the Internet, describe it objectively in one paragraph. Tell your readers the Who, What, Where, and When of the ad. If the ad appeared in a magazine or other print medium, you can scan it or download the image from the sponsor’s Web site and insert the image into your document.
10. Highlight the unique quality that makes the advertisement stand out. There must be something remarkable about the ad that caught your attention. What is it? What made it stand out from all the other ads that are similar to it?
11. Describe the typical features of ads like this one. Identify the three to five common features that are usually found in this type of advertisement. You can use examples of other ads to explain how a typical ad would look or sound.
12. Show how this ad is different from the others. Compare the features of the ad to similar advertisements. Demonstrate why this ad is better or worse than its competitors.
13. Use ample amounts of detail. Throughout your critique, use plenty of detail to help your readers visualize or hear the ad. You want to replicate the experience of seeing or hearing it.

 

Salesjerk
Seth Stevenson
The Spot:A man demonstrates an absorbent towel called the “Shamwow.” It cleans up spills, polishes cars, washes dishes, and so forth. “Eight Shamwows for $19.95,” goes the salesman’s closing argument. “Comes with a 10-year warranty. Here’s how to order.”
The ad is summarized.
There’s something captivating about Vince, the Shamwow pitchman. I always perk up when I hear those initial, outer-borough syllables: “Hi, it’s Vince wit Shamwow. Dis is fuh da house, da car.” A friend of mine—a guy who’s never succumbed to an infomercial come-on—says he finds himself strangely tempted to order a Shamwow each time he watches Vince’s spiel.
There are zillions of ads like this on late-night TV. A pitchman (or -woman) demonstrates a household product, then issues an aggressive “call to action” (as the marketing lingo goes). You’re urged to “act now” and given a phone number or Web site through which you can order the product. Often, there’s a time limit (“call in the next 20 minutes”), and you’re promised free bonus items for beating the deadline. Ads of this ilk generally wash right over me. What makes the Shamwow ad different?
In part, it’s the astonishing capabilities of the product. (Holds 20 times its weight in liquid! Instantly extracts cola spills from your carpet! Lasts for 10 years! I’m certain all of this is 100 percent true!) But lots of products make impressive claims. The real star here is Vince, who demonstrates an impressive and subtle mastery of the pitchman’s art.
The who, what, where, when is described.
The first thing I notice is the physical grace. Vince puts the Shamwow through its paces with the fluid dexterity of a three-card monte dealer. Cleaning up spills appears not just effortless, but fun.
Here are the unique qualities that make the ad stand out.
There’s a genius, too, in his hectoring tone. He makes us feel like idiots for even entertaining the notion of not buying a Shamwow. “You’re gonna spend $20 every month on paper towels, anyway,” he says, palms up and head tilted back. He seems truly dumbfounded that anyone might fail to see the wisdom of dropping 28 bucks (including shipping) on a set of rags.
Vince also conveys a street-smart persona—with his headset microphone, rat-a-tat phrasing and fuhgeddaboudit confidence—that’s intended to get the viewer thinking, “Hey, this guy’s sharp. He knows a good deal.” (It may also get us thinking, “Hey, this guy’s a douche. He needs a better haircut.” But that’s a secondary issue.)
I’ve made several attempts to get in touch with Vince, hoping to quiz him about the finer points of his delivery. As of this writing, my phone calls have not been returned. But Internet sleuthing suggests (and a Shamwow spokesman confirms) that Vince is a man named Vince Offer.
Offer’s history includes lawsuits waged against the Farrelly brothers, Anna Nicole Smith, and the Church of Scientology. He also wrote and directed the 1999 film The Underground Comedy Movie. The New York Post review gave the film zero stars, said it “may be the least amusing comedy ever made,” and asked, “How can the War Crimes Tribunal indict Slobodan Milosevic but let Vince Offer still walk the streets?”
Harsh! But hey, Vince is certainly not boring, and therein lies a significant component of his effectiveness. The guy’s jerky, aggrieved attitude jumps off the screen—particularly when he berates his own crew, snapping, “You followin’ me, camera guy?” Vince manages, in the course of a minute spent swiping counters and dabbing at carpets, to make us wonder, “Whoa, what’s the deal with this freak?” That makes the ad an attention-grabber, and it helps the Shamwow stand out from a crowded field of useless doohickeys.
Lots of detail helps readers visualize the ad.
Vince’s abrasive manner might also mark a unique, new strategy in the annals of pitchdom. TV salespeople tend to be warmly enthusiastic, not confrontational. Watch the crew of hosts on the Home Shopping Network. Their role is to serve as easily wowed surrogates for the viewer. They’ll run their fingers along the jeweled necklines of a knit separates collection, rapturously whispering, “Look. At. That.” The constant ruse is that the hosts covet these products for themselves.
The reviewer shows how this ad is different from the others.
Billy Mays—likely the most famous pitchman of the last decade—also traffics in friendly excitement. A black-bearded fellow who shills for OxiClean, Hercules Hooks, Ding King, and other as-seen-on-TV dreck, Mays’ celebrity no doubt stems from his signature, high-decibel style. (He locks into his upper vocal register and stays there for minutes-long, breathless monologues. Check out the YouTube clip of Mays doing multiple takes as he seeks the perfect way to yell, “You don’t need a cabinet full of cleaners!”) But through all the screaming, Mays is always an upbeat pal of the viewer—never a sneering bully.
Can Vince become the next Billy Mays—a ubiquitous, mercenary pitchman hawking products up and down the TV dial? I don’t see why not. If anything, the current moment’s more suited to Vince’s smooth-talking condescension than to Mays’ earnest fervor. Jaded consumers expect to get snowed and almost distrust the very pretense of trustworthiness. As my friend who’s been tempted by the Shamwow puts it: “What I think I like about Vince is that he is up front and seemingly comfortable with his schtick. He appears to be saying, ‘I am a carnie huckster, you know it and I know it, but that’s OK because this product is that good.’”

 

 

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