Preliminary Thoughts

I have a strong feeling that I'm heading towards a family advertisement for my first paper assignment. The ad that caught my attention was the new 2011 Kia Sorento commercial; it's called "Joyride Dream". To start with, I got into this show called "Yo Gabba, Gabba", well my little siblings got me into it. Surprisingly, I think that this is the most successful kids show since "Dora, the Explorer". At first, I dislike the show, due to my perception as a teenager. But I gradually grew into them since my siblings watched it like everyday! And very slowly, I couldn't wait for it to come on so that I could jump up and down with my brothers and sister, laughing and singing.
Well, that's when this Kia commercial came on and I saw a character from this show. I was astonished and asking if that was legal or not! So every time I saw the ad, I would finish it till the end. Then after seeing it commonly on t.v. I started to notice some other familiar mascots, like "Sock Monkey"! I said to myself that I've seem he from somewhere. The commercial also had a "Mr. X" which is popular...somewhere. But more importantly, they had a teddy bear and a robot, two of the most classical toys ever!
This commercial was advertising a family type SUV and these toys were the perfect way to attract consumers. Especially towards children, they would just stare and question their parents for why they don't have that car. And another great addition to the commercial is the song: "How You Like Me Now" by The Heavy. This song is upbeat and gets you moving, it helps with ingraining the commercial into the heads of it's viewers. I would definitely have to say that the strongest rhetorical appeal of this ad is pathos. Mainly because it affects our emotions towards the toys we had when we were younger.
Roadblocks that I must overcome for completing my first paper is time management, procrastination, using too much colorful words and not staying on topic. I want to be able to have that feeling of time being on my side so that I can get my work efficiently. Because if I'm under pressure I'll get my work done much quicker, but it'll be full of nonsense and colorful words. And therefore I must stop procrastinating, I must start my paper with enough time to pull at all of my ideas and put them together so that they'll make sense. I basically need to work on my time management so that I'll be able to stay on topic, instead of going off on my colorful tangents. And what's really helpful is blogging, and that I am able to read my classmates' blogs. Hopefully I can get some feedback and am able to change my writing habits. So now my thoughts are that I don't regret taking a hybrid class. It'll help me with finding out how I can manage my time wisely and independently. But I will definitely use the time that I have in class to be productive.

Toilet Gender!

At first when I read the "Go Where?: Sex, Gender, and Toilets" blog, I felt like I was reading an article about inequality among genders or the unfairness that women face. Regardless, I kept on reading mainly because of the images of the different bathroom signs for men and women of all over the world. It was interesting to see how other countries viewed men and women. It was like a cultural experience through toilets. Although, I was annoyed by the little remarks that were italicized and below the images. Ironically, those little remarks caught my attention the most, simply because I wanted an explanation for how restaurants choose their men and women bathroom designs and why? But I was really disappointed to find out that they were just "clever" remarks from the writer. I also felt uncomfortable reading this blog, because it felt like I was targeted just for being a guy. The tone also enhanced how I read this article. The way she wrote "male as the universal and the female as the variation" was a bit chilling. Its as if she's saying that men had this unnecessary power over women and that it was not right.
But all and all I do agree with some of what Marissa wrote, which is how differently men, women and trans genders are viewed. To start with, some of the signs didn't really make sense and some were a bit offensive. To me, the apples were the ones that didn't make sense at all. But before we get to that, there was this one sign that had a red apple and the other with a yellow apple, I mean since when do apples have genders? The most offensive sign has a man "in a mobile position" and a woman who "looks like she's pinned against the wall". The man looks so free when the woman looks like she is about to get raped, or at the very least, held against her will. But if you're optimistic, you can say that she's just getting ready for a different sexual position.
For the most part, these signs were really creative! I was annoyed by her because she never said anything good about some of these signs, she never judged them for their creativity. It's obvious that there has always been status differences between men and women in the world. History has filled our schema with stereotypical materials or symbols relating to each gender. It's common to see these differences, but what's important is how we understand them and how we deal with them. I wouldn't blame most of the owners for what they did, because most of these signs we could tell which restroom belongs to which gender without thinking twice about it. So before we can change restroom sign, you should change our own perspective of each gender. But then again, if men and women were to reach perfect equality, then how are we to tell the difference between bathrooms? Maybe we should just have a unisex bathroom, that way problems for trans genders would disappear! But that's just ludicrous, for safety reasons obviously. So what should we do? Well just sit back and enjoy the signs or question them. I mean they don't bite, they're there to help you with your bladder emergency right? On and my favorite sign are the kids crossing their legs with eager looking faces. And the one with the blue guy climbing over to peep at the girl was hysterical!

The Rhetorical Triangle Smell of MAN!

When I first saw this magnificent creature of man, I couldn't help but to keep watching in humor. Recently Old Spice has been a sensation, not because of the product but because of this guy, Isaiah Mustafa! His role is the "perfect" man whom every man wants to be and who every woman wants to have. His campaign for the Old Spice product has been most entertaining and humorous, even his quotes are amazing. He has been booming the internet with his presentation of Old Spice.

As you can clearly read from my paragraph above, I have been writing about the man on the motorcycle rather than the product itself. So to me this is a weird strategy for advertising, but it's effective and it catches the attention of the general public. I believe that people will just buy this product because they are entertained on how the Old Spice was presented, I mean I would too. Their competitor Axe uses women, a desire of men, for there campaign. I think it's a great strategy, but I gotta say, Old Spice was way more original and their humor was awesome! Plus they kept me wanting to watch more, while I can easily predict that Axe will have an ad involving a man and how its product can woo women.

So in a way, logos was an appeal in this ad. Even thou the product's claims are outrageous, their approach was very logical. I mean we, as men, all want to be perfect, especially for the ladies. It's absurd to be perfect but hey, we all try right? And what's more reasonable was who they chose as their spokesman, Mustafa. Mustafa was a former wide receiver in the NFL; I mean what's more manly than an all-American football star, that was a rhetorical question! Secondly, this ad does appeal to pathos. It appeals to the audience with great persuasion, aiming for the attention of men and women everywhere. Men should buy it because it makes them more of a man, supposedly. But hey maybe the product will give men confidence, through seeing this ad we may start to be more extroverted. The power of persuasion should not be underestimated! I do agree that this ad does appeal to ethos. Although there's no reliability that this product can do all it states in it's exaggerated claims. It is endorse by a celebrity, especially one with great charisma. For this ad the speaker is the one with the power, not the product. He has complete control over his audience because he is able to catch your attention. And if you can remember the product and retain what he has said, then he has definitely done his job.

I believe that pathos was the strongest element in this ad, just simply by looking at this ad you can tell. A buff man on a motorcycle, definitely a great way to persuade the audience. For men, it's the idea or envy and for women, it could be the lust...eh? The message is that using the product will make men smell like a man, as if they know what the smell of men is. Well this ad is meant to catch and entertain it's viewers. What the man say made not relate to what the product can actually do, it is, however, comical to watch. It just makes you want to follow this campaign and cheer it on. I think that this ad is highly effective, but not so much the message, I mean I just loving watching the commercials. But I don't know if I would really buy this product. Well I do hope that Old Spice will make more commercials like this one.

I Can't Believe this Dude Knew How I Wrote my Essays!

After reading Roberts' essay, I felt that most of what he said applied to me in a great deal. I do admit that when writing my essays for most of my classes, I tend to use "colorful" words. I also tend to write down obvious content, even till the point of repeating the fact. I tend to use these techniques just to get to however many pages I need for my assignment. And in the end I get so use to this type of writing that it has been integrated to how I write, which is a terrible habit. I love his thought about taking the unusual side. I have learn from a friend that whatever you read try to contradict it, even if you agree with what is said. You should at least think about the topic from another point of view, that way you get more out of what you believe in.

I like how Roberts pointed out that we tend to not go into depth with what we write. He even gives us an example and how to fix them. When I read his second example compared to his first about football, it changed my perception on how I viewed football. And I actually believed that, wow, maybe playing football isn't that great for college students. Perhaps now I can learn to write more in depth rather then obviously paddling around or rushing to get an assignment done just because I'm lazy. What caught my interest was how Roberts wrote about colorful, colored and colorless words. He differentiated them apart as well as giving us examples. At first, I read the title and I didn't understand what he meant. After reading it through I had mixed emotions, because I use those techniques in most of my essays. I felt like Roberts knew what most students want today. And that is to get their work done early to get some play. We all just want that feeling of relief that we finished our work and that we don't have to face that penalty of being scolded. I personally, am still going through this same phase, even in college! I just want to finish work and get the sense of nothing to worry about and relaxation.

Although, reading most of Roberts thoughts, I would have to disagree with some of what he wrote. Under "Call a Fool a Fool", he writes that if a students thinks that his principal is a fool, then that student should just go out and write it. I believe that as anybody is writing, they should at least show courtesy or at least be cautious of what they write. Because other people could read it and can interpret it as a student just hating. And most writing full of hate are usually ignored and seen as foolish. This essay was written over 50 years ago and the times have greatly changed. School has gotten tougher due to after school activities and the amount of work a students has to do. My high school AP Psychology teacher even states that college is a lot more difficult than when he was in college, perhaps because of money issues and new technology. I mean we are a fast moving economy and we tend to find the most quickest and efficient way of getting our work done. Even if it means that we have to use colorful words then we'll use them; any means of reaching that level of relaxation and comfort. But I have learn that I should carefully analyze my topic and how I would present them, and that I should be more original. For the most part, this essay has been very educational. I hope to apply from what I learned from Roberts onto my next essays.