Monday, January 24, 2011

Rhetorical Ad Evaluation


This ad uses something as simple as a tissue box to make people think of how they "kill" trees. What I mostly noticed was the tissue box. Its print is composed of tree logs representing what the kleenex facial tissue comes from. We all know that there are many things we use that are made from trees. Certain channels on television, such as the Discovery Channel, commercials, organizations, and other ads all seem to constantly remind the world of how many materials we use that require destroying almost entire forests full of trees. It is as if the tree log is a symbol of every single piece of kleenex tissue one uses. As you use and throw away every tissue, you also throw away a tree. It seems a little extreme at first, right? How can one person "throw away" an entire tree? Well, when one thinks about all the people that use and throw away kleenex tissues, they all become that one entire tree or more. This ad is emphasizing on an "simple" concept. One "simple" tissue kills a tree. The ad also has steps to actually destroy a tree: "HOW TO DESTROY CANADA'S ANCIENT BOREAL FOREST IN 3 EASY STEPS." There were three words in this particular sentence that stuck out to me: ancient, forest, and easy. Firstly, something that is ancient usually has a lot of meaning. This forest must mean a lot to Canada and its history to want to save it. If the ad hadn't mentioned the forest being ancient, then some people may not think it is as important to such the particular forest. Secondly, the word forest lets one know that not only is he/she destroying a tree but he/she is destroying a forest. A whole forest and a single tree are on two different levels. Sometimes people may say, "It's just a tree." The ad takes the latter phrase and somewhat cancels it. Yes, YOU may think it's just a tree. However, everyone else is thinking the same thing, and all of you make a forest. The ad makes it impossible to say, "It's just a forest," because one can't really use the word "just" to refer to a forest. It changes one's perspective to not just look at one tree but to see the entire forest. Thirdly, the word easy makes it seem as thought it doesn't take much to destroy a forest, hence "3 EASY STEPS," once again emphasizing the simple concept: One only has to do something something so simple to destroy a forest. There were other things in the fine print of the ad that were mentioned, such as global warming, but the rhetorical things were more noticeable because using rhetorical strategies can pull a person towards a certain side and convince him/her of a certain thing.

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