Rhetorical Image Project

Week #6 Reading Questions

1.) Do you think someday in the future all media types will be replaced by only one or two “superior” types?

2.) Is there an ideal mixture of the different media types (text, video, (split-screen, mulptiple video feeds) audio, etc) that makes for the perfect piece of media? Or does the function dictate the form?

3.) Does complete immersion in a piece of media make it superior?  Do you prefer knowing what you are watching/playing isn’t real, or do you prefer being able to get lost in the media and believe you are actually there?

Advertisement Analysis

For this analysis I chose two advertisements for two different beer companies, one being Budweiser, an American standard, and the other being an Alpirsbacher beer, which is an old German brewing company. The Budweiser ad is typical Americana. A guy sitting around with a pretty girl as they drink beer,  together with a little blurb evoking thoughts of springtime, and reminding the consumer that budweiser is the “king of beer.” The german beer ad is simply a glass of beer placed into what appears to be a puddle in the middle of the forest. with a line under Alpirsbacher saying, “the beer with the famous brewing water from the black forest.”

Both ads clearly have the same purpose, to sell the product, but they seem to have been designed very differently to target the two different cultures they were intended for. The Budweiser ad, in my opinion is intended for a less sophisticated, less inteligent audience. They throw in the pretty girl, because sex sells, and they try to tie in the positive imagery of spring in with the Budweiser brand. Its an ad for the average, or below average American. Maybe i’m against this particular ad because I am not a fan of the product, but the inclusion of phrases like, ” and the best place to be is close to a bud.” bothers me because it is not a quality product, and they’re trying to hype it up to something it isn’t.

The german advertisement, on the other hand, seems much more subtle and designed more to simply put the Alpirsbacher name into the consumers mind, and not to try to persuade it that its the worlds best beer. The only claim they make is that the beer contains famous water from the black forest. I don’t know if the water is acually renowned for some reason, but their company website told me they are in fact located in the black forest.
Everyone knows that germans love their beer, its a well-known stereotype, and the fact that there’s truth to this stereotype says a lot about these two advertisements. The budweiser ad comes off like an insecure kid that has to brag, and be cocky to get noticed, because he knows he isn’t very cool. Budweiser knows their beer isn’t very good so they need to brag and have pretty women on their ads to get the publics attention. The German ad, due to its simplicity, comes off as a calm and confident company, proud of their beer, knowing that its taste can speak for itself. I have to imagine that the Germans know a lot more about their beer then the average American. So they don’t need to brag. If it’s good, people know, and the ad is just a reminder in case the product had slipped the consumers mind.

Word Count: 475

Week 5 Questions

1.) In your opinion is the concept of publicity and advertisement beneficial or harmful to our society? why?

2.) Is there something morally wrong about playing off of people’s emotions, hopes and fears, to get them to purchase the item you are advertising?

3.) Do you feel that advertisements can qualify as a work of art? They’re intended to sell other things, not to be sold themselves. What does that make them?

Week 4 Questions

1.) What is the most important element or visual theme that makes a picture stand out among the others.

2.) Can an image have any other functions from the three stated? If so, what would one be?

3.)  Is realism an asset or a liability when creating an image? Why or why not?

Design of Dissent Analysis

For this assignment I chose the picture entitled Brainwashing, which at first glance  looks like an ordinary dishwasher knob, but when we take a closer look at it we can see the message intended with this piece of art.  On the right side of the know we see the names of a number of different TV stations, the inclusion of CNN leads me to believe that the artist intended the viewer to think of the news reports from each of these stations, as well as their general programming. The image itself is simple, and easy to understand. The image isn’t doctored very much so it is immediately recognizable to the average viewer. This helps to increase the images effectiveness because it gets its message across without much effort from the viewer.

There are a couple of different messages that I was able to pick out from this message. The first, was the artists belief that the programming of these stations is often times intended to “brainwash” the viewer, influencing the opinions of the viewers that they may make. This can be seen throught the commercials played on the network, althought this is also often times seen in a political slant, or bias that a news station may take, especially during elections or times of national crisis. I believe it was fox news that was notorious for having a strong republican bias, and backing the president almost totally oblivious to his actions, and failures.

Another aspect I noticed was the parallel between a washing machines spin cycle, and the c0ncept of spin, used to changes the way a story is perceived based solely on how it is presented. They say there are two sides to every story and that most definitely is true, and White house press secretaries and TV news talking heads have mastered and got it down to a science. In conclusion, progaganda and branwashing  can be an incredibly useful and powerful media element when used correctly and when well designed, however, in the wrong hands, aka hitler, or as in the artist opinion, when used irresponsiblly or too often it can have some severe negative consequences.

Reading #2 Questions

1.) Among other things, art is used as a form of communication and persuasion, how will this aspect evolve in the future, if at all?

2.) There is no right or wrong way to make a piece of art, but what aspect of the design is most important in making a piece of art “good?”

3.) Which aspect of art is more important, Form or Function?

Reading #1 Questions

1.) What does the future hold for the world of blogging? Will they continue to grow in popularity, or be replaced my some newer, perhaps better form of communication?

2.) As useful as blogs currently are, how can they be expanded and improved to make them an even more valuable resource?

3.) Will blogs become the standard form of getting information onto the internet, perhaps replacing sites such as wikipedia.org and others? why or why not?