*Gender Roles on Disney Show*

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tRjy70a9GMQ

In this entry, I will examine the critical question: What gender norm is constructed or undone in this artifact and how does it promote a dominant ideology over a marginalized group?

This rhetorical artifact I will be examining is an episode of the Disney Channel show Phineas and Ferb which is an animated musical comedy show about two brothers Phineas and Ferb who are determined to make the best out of their summer. Phineas and Ferb are stepbrothers who are extremely intelligent and can create anything they imagine. In each episode, the boys challenge themselves to do new things such as building a backyard beach or world’s greatest roller coaster. The two boys’ older sister named Candace, who always get annoyed by her brothers’ invention and continuously tries to tell on the boy but always fails to do so. The show also contains a second plot about the family’s Platypus, Perry, who is an undercover secret agent. Although this show is meant to make the audience smile, it also portrays gender stereotypes by implying that boys are supposed to be intelligent, creative, and innovative while implying that girls are supposed to focus on beauty and chase after their crushes. The show promotes the dominant ideology that boys with their intelligence and creativity have the potential to be more than girls.

The episode I examine is titled “Phineas and Ferb Interview with a Platypus.”  In this episode, Phineas and Ferb try to build a machine that can help them understand what Perry’s chatter mean. On the other hand, Perry escapes for his undercover job, so Phineas and Ferb tryout their translator to help other animals in the city. While this was happening, Candace was trying to spend time with her crush Jeremy by pretending to like video games. However, Jeremy family’s poodle dislikes Candace and interrupt Candace’s date by peeing on her shoe, forcing Candace to leave. Once Candace arrived home, she saw the boy’s translator and instantly tried to tell on her brothers, she ends up failing. On the second plot of the is an episode, Perry stops Dr. Doofenshmirtz (the evil arch-nemesis) from flooding the city and make them his new invented vehicle the runs on water.

While Phineas and Ferb is an amazing comedic show that informs the audiences the values of innovation, creativity, and friendship it also displays certain gender roles. In the article “Undoing Gender,” Judith Butler explains that gender is not constructed biologically; rather, it is socially constructed. She states that gender is not something automatic or mechanical, but it is the “practice of improvisation within a scene of constraint” (Butler 1). She explains that gender is not something an individual can create by him/herself. Instead, society influences the individual through gender stereotypes and build in social constraints that keep them from deviating. Butler further explains through her idea, “the agency of ‘I,’” that gender should be an individual’s decision alone, not society (Bulter 3). However, because of society’s gender norms and social constraints, people are pressured to fit in these constructed gender norms. Furthermore, Phineas and Ferb increase the pressure to fit in by promoting gender stereotypes through fictional characters. There are two main female characters in the show are Isabella, a 10-year-old girl who has a massive crush on Phineas, and Candace to promote these stereotypes.

At the beginning of the episode, Ferb and Phineas are in their backyard wonder what their Platypus Perry’s chatter means. While this was happening, Candice is in her room talking to her friend on the phone about why her crush Jeremy not calling. This scene displays a variety of hidden gender stereotypes. For example, the walls in her room are painted purple, her bed sheet is pink, her pillowcase is a purple color with pink hearts, and her mobile phone is pink as well. The pink and purple colors are supposed to feminine colors, this portrays the stereotype that girls are supposed to be feminine. Hung on her wall is a scripted photo of Candace and Jeremy, Candace dressed as a princess and her Jeremy dressed as prince which depicts the stereotype that girls are supposed to dream about founding prince charming and live happily ever after. Another scene that displays gender roles is when Candace was playing video games are Jeremy’s place. While Jeremy was extremely good at video games, Candace was awful at video games. This portrays the idea that videos are supposed masculine and therefore, is not for girls. The ending scene also does a neat job displaying gender role. In this scene, Candace is by the garage upset that her date with Jeremy didn’t go so well. Suddenly, Jeremy arrives with Candace’s shoe and puts it on her foot. Then, surprised by what just happened, Candace ends up passing out of joy. This is another example of girls waiting for their prince charming to come to rescue them.

The second way the show promotes gender stereotypes is through Isabella. She is always dressed in a pink mini dress with purple headband, and every time she arrives at a low tempo pretty soundtrack is played. Again, this is further displaying the stereotype that girls are supposed to be feminine and wear feminine color. As for the soundtrack, it is only played when Isabella approaches Phineas. This because Isabella has a crush on Phineas and the music is supposed to display her emotions. This is intriguing because both of the main female characters are characterized by their crushes which again goes back to the stereotype that girls are full of emotions and a guy in their lives. Finally, Sabella is also part of Girl Scout; and the help of other Girl Scout members they run errands and find other ways to help Phineas and Ferb. This displays that boys are supposed to be the leaders and girls are there to be submissive and followers.

In the article “A longitudinal content analysis of gender role portrayal in Belgian television advertising”, Verhellen, Dens, and Pelsmacker conducted an experiment to see if advertisements on Belgian commercial television depicts gender roles (Verhellen, Dens & Pelsmacker 181). They discovered that advertisements tend to use younger women of over women and these are portrayed as a housewife, caregiving parents, and sexual objects (Verhellen, Dens & Pelsmacker 181-182). The researchers gathered and analyzed results from two distinct periods, 2002–2003 and 2009–2010, to get a more comprehensive view on gender role and to see if there have been changes concerning gender role across the two periods. They discovered gender stereotypes in advertising has not changed and continued to over time (Verhellen, Dens & Pelsmacker 183). This article provides evidence that gender stereotypes don’t just occur on T.V shows but also occurs advertisement. And this trend of gender role has been going on for a long time.

In conclusion, Phineas and Ferb is an amazing show that teaches its audience to be creative and innovative. However, the show also implies that girls should focus on beauty and chase after their crushes which promotes the dominant ideology that boys are supposed to be intellect and creativity and have potential to be inventors, engineers, and scientists. Furthermore, Verhellen, Dens, and Pelsmacker discovered that these gender stereotypes don’t’ just get displays in the United States in television, but also in Belgian. Judith Bulter states that gender roles are socially constructed, which means they can be social deconstructed.  As a considered citizen, it is our job to be aware of these gender stereotypes and found ways to start deconstructing them.

 Reference:

Butler, Judith. Introduction: Acting in Concert. Undoing Gender, by Butler, Routledge UP, 2004, pp. 1-4.  

Phineas and ferb interview with a platypus. . (2016, Apr 10,).[Video/DVD] Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tRjy70a9GMQ

Verhellen, Y., Dens, N., & Pelsmacker, P. d. (2016). A longitudinal content analysis of gender role portrayal in belgian television advertising. Journal of Marketing Communications, 22(2), 170-188. doi:10.1080/13527266.2013.871321

*My Definition of Rhetoric*

In Communication 320, Rhetorical Traditions, I learned about many theories of rhetoric. This essay highlights how my definition of rhetoric shifted from the beginning to the end of the course. At the beginning of the course, I defined rhetoric as an art of persuasive speaking or writing using figure and techniques to persuade a particular audience. Now, I believe that rhetoric is any form of communication (verbal or nonverbal) that a speaker uses to inspire, inform, educated, or persuade a target audience to change or reinforce values, beliefs, actions, or habits. Although my initial definition of rhetoric is not too far from my final definition, I was not confident about my initial definition, and I could not back it up. However, with my final definition I can confidently support it.

As I learned about the history of rhetoric from Comm 320, I speculated that rhetoric has been around since language was created or since any means of communication was developed. I believe that during the early times, people didn’t know they were using rhetoric when they were persuading, inspiring, or informing their (target) audience. Nevertheless, I believe that people were using rhetoric to achieve their agenda. However, the recognition of rhetoric began in Ancient Greece where rhetoric was seen as an art of public communication. In Ancient Greece, the public performance was regarded as the highest reach of proper education, and rhetoric was at the center of it. Citizens, particularly wealthy citizens, trained and developed tactics of oratorical persuasion to master the art of rhetoric (the art of public speaking) (Garver 308-309).  Upon these citizens emerge scholars and philosophers who tremendously contributed to rhetoric and brought a different perspective to what rhetoric is. Some of these scholars are Pericles, Isocrates, Plato, and Aristotle. Out of these scholars, Aristotle is the one that influences my definition of rhetoric.

Aristotle (384-322 BCE) is one of the most famous Greek scholars. He studied rhetoric in Plato’s Academy but left after Plato’s death. His work influenced medicine, science, and a different division of educational departments. Aristotle defines rhetoric as a tool of persuasion; he states that “Rhetoric may be defined as the faculty observing [or finding] in any given case the available means of persuasion” (Self (Aristotle, Rhet., 1355b26-7 p. 6) 1979).  He divided his definition of rhetoric into three components and referred to them the rhetorical proofs.  These components are logos, ethos, and pathos. One of the reasons why Aristotle’s rhetoric resonated with me is because his rhetorical proofs relate to the speaker’s qualities of trustworthiness, credibility, and credence. His rhetorical proofs are designed to gain the trust of the audience. He clearly stated that his components of rhetorical proofs which are the speaker’s ability to influence emotions in the listener (pathos), their moral character (ethos), and the speech itself are essential in persuading the listener (logos).

Aristotle felt that rhetoric could be used to inspire and enlighten people. His intention was that rhetoric could be used to educate and bring the audience closer to the ideal. He saw how (importance) rhetoric is to establish or reinforces the values and beliefs of audiences. Rhetoric gets into the details about the discourse involved with life. His views were based on a morals and values level he saw in rhetoric. However, He also recognized that there are challenges in using rhetoric to persuade the targeted audience. Even up to date, people have been struggling with this problem for many years. Finally, another reason why Aristotle’s concept of rhetoric influence my definition of rhetoric is about the expectation (it) has for the speaker. He argues that a speaker should only use rhetoric to accomplish their agenda only when the speaker has good intent.

My definition of rhetoric can be symbolized by pictures I took of Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. The school is known to be one of the most “prestige” medical schools in the nation. According to usnews.com, the school has an acceptance rate of 3.9 percent. According to usnews.com, the school is ranked as the second-best medical school regarding research and for primary care is listed in the top 30 medical schools. As an undergraduate student striving to get to medical school, one of my dream schools is Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. This past 2019 winter break, I got to visit Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and got a first look at what type of medical school it is. As I arrived and got to explore the school, I was amazed by their faculty the department, how gorgeous the school is, the students, and all the resources they have.

This school does a fantastic job using my definition rhetoric to convey their message to potential students. For example, to show how elite the school is, they explained that the New Horizon probe, which is a probe that is designed to provide images of Pluto, was built at Hopkins. While I was there, the school informed and show potential students they have some of the best biomedical and applied physics laboratories. The school also informed students that they have one (best space telescope science institute, which I thought was ironic because we were pre-med students looking to be a doctor, not telescope scientists.) Nevertheless, their rhetoric did reinforce my belief of how the elite Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. Another message the school tries to convey to potential students was how fantastic their research program is and how amazing their hospital is. They informed us that they have the brightest professors and research instructors and that the school has been known to conduct the most cutting-edge research in the nation, because of this the school receives more federal funding for research than any other medical school in the country. Using Johns Hopkins Hospital, the school displays how to advance, also how gorgeous, their hospital is to persuade potential students that there is no other healthcare environment like Johns Hopkin Hospital. Regarding my definition of what rhetoric is, I thought my photos and visit to Johns Hopkins shows how the school use rhetoric to inform, educated, and persuade potential students. There are already existing beliefs about how elite the medical school (at least for me there were) and when given the chances, John Hopkins targets and reinforces these existing beliefs.

In conclusion, after being in Communication 320 for a whole semester, I learned that rhetoric is any form of communication (verbal or nonverbal) that a speaker uses to inspire, inform, educated, or persuade a target audience to change or reinforce values, beliefs, actions, or habits. From learning the perspective of many Greek scholars’ definition of what rhetoric is, Aristotle was the scholar that influence my definition of what rhetoric is. After my visit to John Hopkins School of Medicine, I witnessed the school using my definition of rhetoric to influence me about how elite John Hopkins is. From learning in class, I speculated that rhetoric is something that has been around way before the Greek time and people didn’t put a label to it. Who knows, maybe they did, and we just didn’t give them credit.

References:

Garver, E. (1992). The origins of rhetoric in ancient greece. Philosophy & Rhetoric, 25(3), 306-310. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ufh&AN=16242271&site=ehost-live

How does johns hopkins university rank among america's best medical schools? Retrieved from https://www.usnews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-medical-schools/johns-hopkins-university-04043

Matsos, S.About johns hopkins medicine. Retrieved from https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/about/index.html

Self, L. S. (1979). Rhetoric and phronesis: The aristotelian ideal. Philosophy & Rhetoric, 12(2), 130-145. Retrieved from https://www.jstor.org/stable/40237105

*Fear of the Black Counterpublics*

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ociMBfkDG1w

In this entry, I will examine the critical questions: In what ways does this artifact depict a productive or un unproductive framing/ representation of the narrative of a counterpublic?

To investigate this question, I examined a rhetorical artifact release by Saturday Night Live titled “’ The Day Beyoncé Turned Black’ – SNL”. The artifact depicts a productive narrative of the Black culture as a counterpublic by framing the views, rationalities, and their standard of dress and beauty are too “Black” and not acceptable in American society.

Saturday Night Live is a comedy show known for its unique approach to tackling racially tinged issues in the pop culture atmosphere and the political world. The show airs every Saturday on the NBC network. Typically, every Saturday a different celebrity or celebrities could come and host the show. The show uses comedic sketches, satirical news, and digital shorts, alongside popular musical acts to convey what is happening in the news media or politics.

The rhetoric artifact used in this investigation is a skit of a mock horror movie trailer. The trailer starts with an ominous voiceover saying that “For White people, it was just another great week” as white people start their normal day and go to work; then, “they never saw it coming. They had no warning. Then, the day before the Super Bowl, it happened.“ Beyoncé surprise-released her latest song and music video “Formation” which was performed at the Super Bowl the next day. The trailer displays white people are freaking out because Beyoncé’s latest single contains lyrics about black culture and style. She is unapologetically raising awareness to Black people’s social issues and struggles and celebrates Southern Blackness, Black power, and Black femininity leading to them realizing that Beyoncé has been black this whole time. Realizing this, white people begin to panic and act like the world is ending and convinced themselves they have to leave the country after discovering that there are other popular celebrities such as Kerry Washington, are black.  However, at the end of the trailer, the video displays that white still have hope to hold on to and that hope is Taylor Swift.

The idea of the public sphere and the counterpublic sphere were first discovered by Jurgen Habermas (German Philosopher). He stated that the public sphere is “a realm of our social life in which something approaching public opinion can be formed. Access is guaranteed to all citizens (Habermas 49).” Essentially, the ideology is that citizens come together and form a public opinion and move to present their opinion to the state and ultimately influence the state. The public sphere is a fundamental part of democracy; it is the basis of democratic principles, equality, and rationality. However, Habermas states that certain groups of people often get excluded and their voices are not heard in the public sphere, these group of people represents the counterpublic (Squires 118). Catherine Squires further explains this idea of the counterpublic in her article “The Black Press and the State.” She stated that marginalize groups that make up the counterpublic often don’t have the power or resources to contribute or engage in “deliberation.” For this reason, they are often overlooked by the common majority in the public sphere. In her article, Squires specifically uses the Black press as the counterpublic in the United States. She states that the dominant public sphere oppresses the black counterpublic for using their platform to end racism (Squires 122).

The mock trailer displays Beyoncé’s releasing her new video that embraces her Black heritage, “Beyoncé’s’ music video is unapologetically Black, and it features the Black Lives Matter movement. This shocked and angered white people because the Black Lives Matter movement ideologies don’t represent the public sphere. Another way the video oppresses the black culture is the fact that the video is a mock of a horror movie trailer and the evil act in the horror movie is turning Black. The video also depicts that Black people’s language and style differentiates them from the White public sphere, such as the lyrics in Beyoncé’s song “hot sauce in my bug, swag.” The public sphere is upset and confused because they don’t understand the meaning of the lyrics or they do understand but like to associate these lyrics with the public sphere. For example, a White male in the video stated that “maybe this song isn’t for us” then a lady screams in response, “But usually, everything is!” This exchange portrays White people’s privilege in the public sphere.

Furthermore, the video uses other ways to depict how the White public sphere portrays the Black counterpublic. For example, after Beyoncé’s single was released, there was chaos outside; a White woman screams, “We have to go, we have to leave America, Beyoncé is Black!” to her friend, without recognizing that her friend is also Black. Her friend points out that she and many others in America are Black and points to a nearby Black man in a coat with a thick gold chain. In response, the White woman looks at the black male and says, “Well, I know he’s Black.” This exchange portrays the White public sphere “colorblind” attitude to the black counterpublic. This encounter points out that there are certain sets of standards of dress, beauty, or popularity as acceptable to the White public sphere and considered “non-Black” while discriminating and oppressing the counterpublic who don’t follow the acceptable standards such as forefront Blackness, point out racial injustices or portray non-mainstream notions of Blackness.

Some other scenes from the video that highlight White people’s reactions when discovering that their favorite celebrities represent the Black counterpublic’s ideologies are: one, when the people gathered outside and questioned if Beyoncé was Black on all her past movies and music video and two, when the White people discovered that other celebrities such as Kerry Washington are Black who is the star of ABC series Scandal.  This farther stresses white people because Kerry Washington belongs to the ABC network which a network that typically represents the public sphere. At the end of the trailer, there is another scene that associates a negative thought to Black counterpublic. A White mother gets invited to a playdate at her Black friend’s house. The White mother comes to pick her daughter and thought her daughter was also Black and started panicking. Suddenly, the Black mother walked in and confronted her that Black girl was not her daughter and that her White daughter was lying on the bed, the White mom then states, “oh that’s right, thank god.”  Her reaction suggests that being Black doesn’t just make you part of counterpublic and sets you apart from the dominant public sphere but is also shameful.

Overall, the essential aspect of this mock trailer is to portray how the Black culture, values, and ideologies are opposed by the public sphere. The public sphere opposes “Black people music and culture” because of the stereotype of Black people music, typically associated with gangsters, and hip-hop typically references to politics, social issues, and police brutality. Due to this, the public sphere tries not to listen to music that is too “Black” because they don’t want their music to influence the public sphere. The white culture considers few celebrities such as Beyoncé’s music, as “safe”; they followed the expectation of the public sphere’s music. Must of Beyoncé’s music does not depict the stereotypical music of Black people; rather her music is more generic pop music as far as its content. Her music appeals to everyone, not just the Black culture. The SNL video above portrays what happens when Beyoncé doesn’t cater to the specific set of expectation by the public sphere and start to “unapologetically” celebrate her black heritage in her music by bringing forth racism policy, police brutally, and feminist beliefs through her lyrics.  

In a supplemental article, Nicole Files-Thompson reviews Beyoncé’s “Formation” video and her performance at Super Bowl 50 and how immediately it expanded in media and how the video fostered a “dialogue and knowledge production with Generation Z students in two media studies courses (Files-Thompson 174).” Nicole stated that the “Formation” video “caused controversy among the industry and the Beyhive (Beyoncé fans) (Files-Thompson 174).” Nicole states that throughout the week following the Super Bowl, the “Formation” video was on multiple social media platform representing “blackness and resistance of Beyoncé the Black + women + anti-racist + anti-respectability politics + feminist activist (Files-Thompson 174).” This article does a neat job explaining how the “Formation” videos encompass social, political, and racial issues that the Black counterpublic experience. Beyoncé being the voice and giving the Black counterpublic a platform challenged the dominant public sphere. For example, one of the scenes in the trailer, depicts two White male panicking because Beyoncé and Kerry Washington are not just Black, but they are also women. This means that Beyoncé and Kerry Washington have a platform to represent issues of the Black counterpublic as well as the feminist counterpublic.

In summary, the artifact “’ The Day Beyoncé Turned Black’ – SNL” depicts a productive narrative of the black culture as a counterpublic by framing the views, rationalities, and their standard of dress and beauty are to too “Black” and not acceptable in the American society. The artifact does a neat job providing different comedic scenes of how the dominant public sphere response when their favorite celebrities promote counterpublic ideologies. Additionally, the artifact depicts a scenes that highlights the feminine counterpublic as well. The video was made for entertaining the audience and giving them a good laugh while at the same time providing an educational message. Overall, the artifact provides a productive narrative of how the dominant public sphere reacts to the Black counterpublic when they have the platform.

References:

Catherine, S. (2001). The black press and the state. In Asen, Robert Daniel, C. Brouwer (Ed.), Counterpublics and the state (pp. 111-136). New York: State University of New York Press.

Files-Thompson, N. (2018). Fostering classroom dialogue through beyonce’s "formation” media. Women & Language, 41(2), 174-179. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ufh&AN=134089768&site=ehost-live

Habermas, J., Lennox, S., & Lennox, F. (1974). The public sphere: An encyclopedia article (1964). New German Critique, (3), 49-55. doi:10.2307/487737

Saturday Night Live (Producer), & Saturday Night Live (Director). (2016, Feb 14,). "The day beyoncé turned black” - SNL. [Video/DVD] Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ociMBfkDG1w

*Verizon’s Rhetorical Advertisement

In this entry, I will examine the critical questions: “How are Aristotle’s ethos, logos, and pathos are used in this rhetorical artifact to promote their product. Does the artifact convey their message effectively for the target audience? Is it ethical?”

To investigate this question, I examined a rhetorical artifact released by Verizon in 2018. The artifact is a video advertisement title Verizon commercial 2017 Thomas Middleditch wedding. The advertisement starts by displaying a wedding taking place on a rooftop. As the officiant asked the audience if there are any objects to the happy couple’s marriage, Verizon spokesman Thomas Middleditch stumbles into the wedding and makes an announcement. He points out that the couples’ friend Daryl (played by Barak Hardley) who is supposed to be live-streaming the events failed to do so because of a poor network. Daryl states that he missed live streaming almost the entire wedding even know he has an unlimited plan. Thomas Middleditch responses by stating that Daryl had the “right plan wrong network.” Middleditch explains to Daryl and the audiences that “Verizon’s 4G LTE network is built to work better in cities” and lends his phone to Daryl to live stream the event. Then, as Middleditch leaves the ceremony, he looks at the camera and state "Say hi to everybody who wasn't invited." Finally, the advertisement concluded by stating that for a limited time, customers can get the Google Pixel for $15 per month on Verizon's Unlimited plan. This advertisement uses ethos, logos, and pathos to convince the viewers that Verizon wants people to have a network that is reliable, with great coverage, and has excellent data speed; its message is for mobile phone users, and it is ethical because Verizon wants people to have a great network.

Although, this advertisement uses all three components of what Aristotle considered “rhetorical proof”, ethos was displayed the most to appeal to the audiences. This was often done in an indirect way. Ethos is defined as a way to appeal to an audience by using a speaker’s credibility and trustworthiness (Varpio, 2018). For example, the most obvious way the advertisement use ethos is through their spokesman, Thomas Middleditch who is a Canadian actor, comedian, and television writer. He is known for playing Richard Hendrick from the HBO series, Silicon Valley. In the comedy world, he was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series. From Thomas Middleditch biography, he is generally an intelligent person with good quality and communication skills. All of these qualities Middleditch possesses are components of ethos: phronesis which focuses on the speaker’s intelligence, communicating skills and arete focuses on the speaker’s virtue/quality skills (García-García, 2013). Verizon is displaying their trustworthiness through Thomas’ “good quality” persona. Using Thomas Middleditch in this advertisement services as a rhetorical decorum to bolster Verizon’s credibility by suggesting that Verizon has such an amazing network that even a celebrity rely on it, and since celebrity are considered successful people it tells the audiences that Verizon is for successful people. Another way ethos is in play is through the “diversity lens” and the use of appropriated language.  The video displays people from different nationalities, race, and cultures at the wedding, and throughout the video appropriated language (without and cursing) was used to convey their message. Verizon is suggesting that their network is for everyone, making the target audiences anyone (includes people under age) who carries a mobile phone. This also bolsters Verizon’s credibility by suggesting the Verizon doesn’t discriminate amongst people.

The second Aristotle’s rhetorical proof used in this advertisement is the use of pathos. Pathos is the rhetorical appeal that uses emotions to stir the audiences (Varpio 2018). In other words, pathos is when the speaker convey a point to the audiences by triggering a specific emotion. There are few emotions that the ad tried to target. Towards the end of the advertisement, the video displayed smiles on the faces of the audience when Thomas lends his mobile phone to Daryl to live stream the wedding because Daryl couldn’t achieve it with his current network. The smiles incite a feeling of happiness. This indirectly tries to trigger the audience’s emotion by putting them a happier stage and to connect the happiness with Verizon. Throughout the advertisement, there was a low beat tempo music on the background. The music is there to elicit a feeling of curiosity amount the target audiences which make the audience question their current network and why they are not like Verizon. Furthermore, the advertisement also uses a sense of humor to elicit a specific emotion.  After Thomas lends his phone to Daryl, right before leaving he looked at the camera and stated “say hi to everyone who was not invited” this service to incite a little chuckle and a cheerful moment amongst audiences.

The advertisement uses logos as well to convey its message. Varpio defines logos as the rhetorical appeal to the audience by focusing on the argument; it concentrates on the clarity and logical integrity of the argument (Varpio, 2018). There are a few ways the ad uses a concise argumentative style to convey its point. The first argument was made when Daryl was not able to live stream the wedding with his current network but was able to live stream the wedding when Verizon network was handed to him. This indirectly states the other networks cannot live stream like Verizon. Also, by not show us or saying which network Daryl had when he wasn’t able to live stream could be indicating that it doesn’t matter which network Daryl had, none of them could live stream like Verizon. Then, before Thomas lends his mobile phone, he explains to Daryl and the rest of audience that “Verizon has the longest most reliable 4 LTE network in America it’s built to work better in the cities...” He is directly making his argument by stating that Verizon has the best network amongst all other networks. He is indirectly saying to the audiences that they should not settle for other networks. Another argument was where the wedding was taking place. The wedding ceremony was happening on the rooftop, which could be a reason why Daryl was not able to live stream the wedding. When Daryl was able to live stream the ceremony with Thomas’ mobile phone, it is making the argument that Verizon network cover everywhere even rooftops.

Finally, this advertisement conveyed its message to the target audiences effectively and ethically. For example, one reason that made this advertisement effective was using diverse people. By using diverse people, this advertisement was able to target a variety of audience that carries mobile devices. Using a celebrity, Thomas Middleditch, was also an effective way to target a particular audience. Almost everybody is a fan of some celebrity, using Thomas for the advertisement could potential persuade those who are fans of Thomas Middleditch to switch to Verizon and the rest of the population could still be persuaded because a celebrity was the spokesman. The effectiveness of this advertisement was also ethically based because Verizon wants people to have a reliable network that they could dependent, especially in times moments like a wedding. There were also a few moments when the advertisement conveyed its message ineffectively. At the beginning of the ad, there were three stars hung on the corner behind the bride and groom which could indicate to some of the audience that Verizon is rated three stars rather than four or five. Another ineffective moment was when Thomas stated that “…Verizon has largest most reliable 4G LTE network in America it’s built to work better in cities….” This statement could discourage those who don’t live in the cities to switch to Verizon.

The article “Ethos, Pathos and Logos in Facebook. User Networking: New «Rhetor» of the 21st Century” by García-García and Victoria, provides a different setting that uses Aristotle’s ethos, logos, and pathos as a means of communication. The article states that in social media people display ethos (credibility) through their posts such as “written information, pictures or links reveals tastes and preferences...” allowing the people to gain certain prestige (García-García, 2013). The article states that logos is often not used in social media partly because in social media topics that deals with persuasion typically get avoided because users focus on relating to friends. Only professionals use social media for the purpose of persuasion. The article explained that for pathos, social media users use images and videos to incite emotions (García-García, 2013). The rhetorical proof used in social media is similar to rhetorical proof used in this Verizon advertisement except for the use of logos. Just as social media uses images and videos to elicit emotion so does the Verizon advertisement using video of smiling people at the wedding to evoke feelings of happiness.

In conclusion, Verizon advertisement does a great job using ethos, logos, and pathos to convince its audience that Verizon network is the most reliable, with great coverage, and great speed. The target audiences for the advertisement are mobile device users. The advertisement uses Aristotle’s rhetorical proof effectively to convince its viewers and the message come from an ethical place. Finally, García-García and Victoria explained that Aristotle’s rhetorical proof could be used in other settings. If that is the case, maybe we all have been using Aristotle’s rhetorical proof in our daily life without ever acknowledging it.

  References:

Berlanga, I., García-García, F., & Victoria, J. S. (2013). Ethos, pathos and logos in facebook. user networking: New «Rhetor» of the 21st century. Ethos, Pathos Y Logos En Facebook. El Usuario De Redes: Nuevo «rétor» Del Siglo XXI., 21(41), 127-135. doi:10.3916/C41-2013-12

Varpio, L. (2018). Using rhetorical appeals to credibility, logic, and emotions to increase your persuasiveness. Perspectives on Medical Education, 7(3), 207-210. doi:10.1007/s40037-018-0420-2

Verizon (Producer), & . (2017). Verizon commercial 2017 Thomas Middleditch wedding. [Video/DVD] Youtube. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8G1fRoqTfM