Rhetorical Analysis Essay
This was our fourth project. For this project we chose from a group of college advertisements from different schools around the country and analyzed what made these ads effective, if they were even effective at all. Who is the ad's target audience? Does the ad effectively reach that target audience? How does the ad do so? These are some of the questions we were tasked with answering. This was our culminating event bringing together all we had learned over the semester, then finding and explaining these things in someone else's work. Below you will find hand written drafts, a link to the specific ads I wrote about, the essay, related outcomes, and a brief description of how those outcomes were applied.
Joshua Siler
20131120
Honors Composition
Bethany May
Rhetorical Analysis
On June 29, 2012 the University of Utah posted an article on their website announcing that school advertisements part of the “Ski the U” campaign won best print advertisement award from the Utah Office of Tourism. It’s not hard to see why. The advertisements look exciting. The design elements in the advertisements do a good job of creating excitement before you ever walk through their doors; their use of color and imagery and somewhat humorous text makes one long for that feeling of excitement contained within the pictures.
There were three different programs from the school that participated in this specific ad campaign; the school’s college of pharmacy, scientific computing and imaging institute, and entertainment arts and engineering program all participated, giving the ad campaign a pretty narrow, yet unique blend of perspective students to target, with the pharmacy department adding some diversity to the other two similar departments. Understanding target audience is important in making an effective advertisement. And I think one reason they work is because, given the nature of these fields of study, their audiences were already chosen. They didn’t have to worry about who they were talking to; they just needed an ad to convince people to come. I believe with the elements chosen (images, color and text) they narrowed that audience down even more to make sure their ads reached exactly the people they were targeting.
As stated before, these ads achieve their goals mainly with enticing imagery. They took pictures of skiers and snowboarders and as one of the ads stated, used the photos as the mainstays in the ads. Now obviously the pictures they took didn’t come out like the final product. And it is safe to assume they took more than just the four pictures they used for the ad. But why these pictures? And why blow the pictures up or zoom in or out? These pictures speak to the adrenaline junkies and adventurists in its target audience. I think this is made apparent by their choice to include very little text in their ads and even more so in the pictures. Look through them and you will find a zoomed out picture of lone skier getting big air off of a cliff with nothing but the bright clear blue sky in the background above him and the white snowy mountains below him. They used this picture in this way for one specific reason, emotional appeal. They want to make those adventurists and adrenaline junkies feel as if they can’t get this picture perfect experience anywhere else. Another picture shows two skiers doing flips off a ledge in the middle of the slope. In this picture the shot is zoomed in a little closer up (not too close) and it follows the same guidelines as the first; that is a big blue clear sky in the background and the white snow filled slope below. Matter of fact, three out of the four pictures (including the first two I mentioned) follows these guidelines. The last picture is more of sky shot from above. It captures a skier ripping down a slope leaving nothing but a trail of snow behind him. With the limited and small text looking almost out of place in the ads, the school is saying that they offer much more than an education. The school knows that perspective students are looking for a higher education and they know that the university is just one of literally thousands of schools that can do that. By highlighting this adventure with these amazing pictures the school looks to set themselves apart by letting perspective students know that they not only offer a great education, but a great adventure along the way.
One really cool thing about these ads is how they begin to personalize their message. If you look at all of the pictures in the ads you will notice that you can’t clearly make out anyone’s face. Not only that, but the people in the pictures are adorned in bright, vivid colors. Both of these are purposefully done. Set these two concepts against the backdrop that is the Wasatch Mountains and you start to see a more defined message. How do they make this point? Go back to the faces; by not lending a recognizable face to the ads, this makes it easier for a reader to imagine themselves there. By not attaching names of current students, alumni, or faculty to the ads the school does away with the “This is what we did for James, and could do for you” cliché and instead insists “This is you.”
The colors do two things to help send a message (now while I am no color expert, I have worked for one of the largest paint stores--Sherwin-Williams--in America, and my experiences there combined with the little bit of knowledge I have gained through school have given me a lot more knowledge about color than the average person). First blue (the color of the sky) and white (the color of the snow) represent calmness and tranquility (blue) and purity (white); there are multiple meanings for both these and every other color i.e. blue also meaning sadness or “the blues”, but given the whole context of their use in the ads I have chosen to analyze the meanings the university was most likely trying to send to readers. The school is comparing themselves with nature. Given that there are little to no clouds in the sky, and no blemishes in the snow (i.e. places where someone other than the people photographed have ripped through the snow) the school is implying that they are a calm peaceful place with little to no bad press about/against them; in other words if they are not the perfect school, they are really close to it.
The only other colors are the ones on the people themselves. They are wearing very bright colors like red, green, yellow, orange, and blue. I don’t think the message is in the meaning of these colors (remember every color means something) but rather in the quality or brilliancy (brightness) of these colors. These colors stand out. Even when set against this massive backdrop of mother nature your eyes are immediately and automatically drawn to them, especially the red (think the “lady in the red dress” cliché) and yellow (think the yellow sports car idea). These and the rest of the colors being worn are almost neon-like, and this bright quality simply means that there is life and action here. Think about all the nightclubs and bars that adorn there businesses and signs with bright neon lights. They are simply letting customers know that even in the still of the night when everyone else is quiet there is life happening inside their doors, and you can’t help but notice them when walking/driving/ passing by. When you combine the elements of these colors you see an underlying message; that is the school saying that even in this big, almost perfect university you can be noticed, stand out and bring life.
Last but not least is the (limited) text. The text here does two things at the same time. First it praises the schools associated with the campaign; for instance one ad states “Ranked among the top schools in the nation, our College of Pharmacy stacks up against the best.” The second thing the text does is to continue to push the theme of adventure I mentioned earlier while adding a more relatable human touch to the ads as the rest of that statement finishes “Our snow just stacks up.” The school is saying they realize there is more to being a well-rounded student than simply pounding knowledge into students all day. They are not only recognizing the fact that sometimes students need a break from all things school related, but are encouraging students to get away. Another statement reads “Best snow on Earth. Second best video game program in the nation.” Here they acknowledge the snow first, again purposefully done. The university is promoting itself as the all-in-one school; a place where you can get the best education and have the best fun. One can even assume from the last statement that the school is implying some kind of correlation between the snow and the success of their programs. The university could take the traditional approach and write paragraphs about all of their college’s successes, but instead they use limited text to brag about the snow. Even without many words, the ads are saying a lot.
Now take all of the different elements discussed here from beginning to end and combine each of the “sub-messages” and you will see that the university is pushing one all-encompassing message. I imagine if they were to actually write that out it might go something like this: “The University of Utah. A thrill seeker’s dream. A learner’s paradise. A place where both education and adventure collide. Our colleges of Pharmacy, Entertainment Arts and Engineering, and Scientific Computing and Imaging rank among the best in the nation. We are big enough to give you the tools you need to succeed, yet we are a university where you, the individual will stand out. We are also close enough to the Wasatch Mountains to allow you a weekend getaway between studying and standing out. The University of Utah. A place where adventure isn’t only for the slopes.”
20131120
Honors Composition
Bethany May
Rhetorical Analysis
On June 29, 2012 the University of Utah posted an article on their website announcing that school advertisements part of the “Ski the U” campaign won best print advertisement award from the Utah Office of Tourism. It’s not hard to see why. The advertisements look exciting. The design elements in the advertisements do a good job of creating excitement before you ever walk through their doors; their use of color and imagery and somewhat humorous text makes one long for that feeling of excitement contained within the pictures.
There were three different programs from the school that participated in this specific ad campaign; the school’s college of pharmacy, scientific computing and imaging institute, and entertainment arts and engineering program all participated, giving the ad campaign a pretty narrow, yet unique blend of perspective students to target, with the pharmacy department adding some diversity to the other two similar departments. Understanding target audience is important in making an effective advertisement. And I think one reason they work is because, given the nature of these fields of study, their audiences were already chosen. They didn’t have to worry about who they were talking to; they just needed an ad to convince people to come. I believe with the elements chosen (images, color and text) they narrowed that audience down even more to make sure their ads reached exactly the people they were targeting.
As stated before, these ads achieve their goals mainly with enticing imagery. They took pictures of skiers and snowboarders and as one of the ads stated, used the photos as the mainstays in the ads. Now obviously the pictures they took didn’t come out like the final product. And it is safe to assume they took more than just the four pictures they used for the ad. But why these pictures? And why blow the pictures up or zoom in or out? These pictures speak to the adrenaline junkies and adventurists in its target audience. I think this is made apparent by their choice to include very little text in their ads and even more so in the pictures. Look through them and you will find a zoomed out picture of lone skier getting big air off of a cliff with nothing but the bright clear blue sky in the background above him and the white snowy mountains below him. They used this picture in this way for one specific reason, emotional appeal. They want to make those adventurists and adrenaline junkies feel as if they can’t get this picture perfect experience anywhere else. Another picture shows two skiers doing flips off a ledge in the middle of the slope. In this picture the shot is zoomed in a little closer up (not too close) and it follows the same guidelines as the first; that is a big blue clear sky in the background and the white snow filled slope below. Matter of fact, three out of the four pictures (including the first two I mentioned) follows these guidelines. The last picture is more of sky shot from above. It captures a skier ripping down a slope leaving nothing but a trail of snow behind him. With the limited and small text looking almost out of place in the ads, the school is saying that they offer much more than an education. The school knows that perspective students are looking for a higher education and they know that the university is just one of literally thousands of schools that can do that. By highlighting this adventure with these amazing pictures the school looks to set themselves apart by letting perspective students know that they not only offer a great education, but a great adventure along the way.
One really cool thing about these ads is how they begin to personalize their message. If you look at all of the pictures in the ads you will notice that you can’t clearly make out anyone’s face. Not only that, but the people in the pictures are adorned in bright, vivid colors. Both of these are purposefully done. Set these two concepts against the backdrop that is the Wasatch Mountains and you start to see a more defined message. How do they make this point? Go back to the faces; by not lending a recognizable face to the ads, this makes it easier for a reader to imagine themselves there. By not attaching names of current students, alumni, or faculty to the ads the school does away with the “This is what we did for James, and could do for you” cliché and instead insists “This is you.”
The colors do two things to help send a message (now while I am no color expert, I have worked for one of the largest paint stores--Sherwin-Williams--in America, and my experiences there combined with the little bit of knowledge I have gained through school have given me a lot more knowledge about color than the average person). First blue (the color of the sky) and white (the color of the snow) represent calmness and tranquility (blue) and purity (white); there are multiple meanings for both these and every other color i.e. blue also meaning sadness or “the blues”, but given the whole context of their use in the ads I have chosen to analyze the meanings the university was most likely trying to send to readers. The school is comparing themselves with nature. Given that there are little to no clouds in the sky, and no blemishes in the snow (i.e. places where someone other than the people photographed have ripped through the snow) the school is implying that they are a calm peaceful place with little to no bad press about/against them; in other words if they are not the perfect school, they are really close to it.
The only other colors are the ones on the people themselves. They are wearing very bright colors like red, green, yellow, orange, and blue. I don’t think the message is in the meaning of these colors (remember every color means something) but rather in the quality or brilliancy (brightness) of these colors. These colors stand out. Even when set against this massive backdrop of mother nature your eyes are immediately and automatically drawn to them, especially the red (think the “lady in the red dress” cliché) and yellow (think the yellow sports car idea). These and the rest of the colors being worn are almost neon-like, and this bright quality simply means that there is life and action here. Think about all the nightclubs and bars that adorn there businesses and signs with bright neon lights. They are simply letting customers know that even in the still of the night when everyone else is quiet there is life happening inside their doors, and you can’t help but notice them when walking/driving/ passing by. When you combine the elements of these colors you see an underlying message; that is the school saying that even in this big, almost perfect university you can be noticed, stand out and bring life.
Last but not least is the (limited) text. The text here does two things at the same time. First it praises the schools associated with the campaign; for instance one ad states “Ranked among the top schools in the nation, our College of Pharmacy stacks up against the best.” The second thing the text does is to continue to push the theme of adventure I mentioned earlier while adding a more relatable human touch to the ads as the rest of that statement finishes “Our snow just stacks up.” The school is saying they realize there is more to being a well-rounded student than simply pounding knowledge into students all day. They are not only recognizing the fact that sometimes students need a break from all things school related, but are encouraging students to get away. Another statement reads “Best snow on Earth. Second best video game program in the nation.” Here they acknowledge the snow first, again purposefully done. The university is promoting itself as the all-in-one school; a place where you can get the best education and have the best fun. One can even assume from the last statement that the school is implying some kind of correlation between the snow and the success of their programs. The university could take the traditional approach and write paragraphs about all of their college’s successes, but instead they use limited text to brag about the snow. Even without many words, the ads are saying a lot.
Now take all of the different elements discussed here from beginning to end and combine each of the “sub-messages” and you will see that the university is pushing one all-encompassing message. I imagine if they were to actually write that out it might go something like this: “The University of Utah. A thrill seeker’s dream. A learner’s paradise. A place where both education and adventure collide. Our colleges of Pharmacy, Entertainment Arts and Engineering, and Scientific Computing and Imaging rank among the best in the nation. We are big enough to give you the tools you need to succeed, yet we are a university where you, the individual will stand out. We are also close enough to the Wasatch Mountains to allow you a weekend getaway between studying and standing out. The University of Utah. A place where adventure isn’t only for the slopes.”
Related Outcomes
- Develop flexible
strategies for generating, revising, editing, and proof reading – The hand
written drafts. That is how I like to work and edit and revise. For one when I do
write I like the way my hand feels against the paper (weird, I know) so I almost
always start a draft by hand. This also gives me a foundation so to speak. I cross
things out that way I can see what was there in case I wanted to go back to
that idea
- Understand
writing as an open process that permits writers to use later invention and
rethinking to revise their work – This outcome is applied through the use
of the draft and final product. On the draft you can see where I crossed things
out and wrote new ideas or words on the top. And yet still those things might
have changed once I got to the final draft. I feel as though my writing is
never complete, like there is always something more to say.
- Practice
appropriate means of documenting their work – Referring back to the drafts.
This is how I document the work I have done. This helps me keep track of past
and current ideas. And if this were a research paper I would also have documentation
of where I found corresponding or supporting information (like notes or
websites in the margins).
- Understand
and exploit the differences in the rhetorical strategies and in the affordances
available for both print and electronic composing processes and texts –
This essay could have been hand written given the type of project it is. The big
difference here is in the affordances. Another reason I like to write on paper
is because it is quick and easy to get to. When I have an idea I can write it
down as I did in the first two drafts. Computers do allow this convenience as
they are not always accessible.
- Write in
several genres – This was a very academic paper. The kind of paper that
someone else could potentially use to support their own similar ideas. Each project
from the profile to this one took its own form. It is more appropriate to say
that this paper is an analytical one (hence rhetorical analysis).
- Use
conventions of format and structure appropriate to the rhetorical situation – In this essay there are no facts given
(other than the obvious i.e. there are people in the picture). The situation
called for me to analyze and a part of analyzing is giving an educated opinion.
I say that because mostly everything in here is my opinion. What I think
the colors mean and why I think certain pictures were used.
So I approached this not as an advertising expert but as a student who was in
some way affected by these ads.
- Learn to
critique their own and other’s works – I have learned to critique my own
work as you can tell by all the revisions, especially on the draft work. We also
achieved the second half of this outcome by performing peer reviews a few days
before the final draft was due. I can’t show the critique of someone else’s
work as we make our comments on their draft.