Rhetorical and Visual Analysis - Essay Example

Rhetorical or visual analysis Visual rhetoric is a theoretical framework that uses images to communicate. It is a type of communication that is neither verbal nor aural. It puts an emphasis on images that evoke sensory expressions. The nature of images is meant to bring out the components and characteristics of the image that are intended to be communicated to a third party. It is aimed at educating, persuading individuals to act in the way that the image intends to Visual rhetoric is amongst the three categories of visual literacy which are, visual learning, visual thinking and then visual rhetoric itself. Visual rhetoric encompasses art, media and aesthetics. Images are intended to generate arguments or help an individual in decision making. In present times, media of advertising are laying out advertisements that are likely to have a greater impact on the audience, communicate about a product and differentiate it from others in a wide gap of differences by reinforcing a sense of quality and benefits that the individual is likely to get from the advertised image. This essay is intended to highlight and discuss in details the rhetoric artifacts used today. I intend to be clear and concise in laying down the information in this text. The source of this information is credible and has been analyzed enough to ensure plausible facts that cannot be disputed. I have taken time and effort to research and compile the data presented here and can with no doubt approve that every word is believable. I will expound on the different types of rhetoric artifacts available today, a brief history on them and their relevance in the present world. I will then pick one genre in particular and explain how it creates attention and how it persuades the audience. The artifact will be mostly electronic. This choice has been determined by its popularity and influence in the present world. The information is from two important books on visual rhetoric and commercials. I will put down their full details at the end of this essay (reference). This essay is formal and can be used in a formal setting. I will put emphasis in explaining the rhetoric artifact that I have chosen so that the reader can easily understand and flow through the example I will illustrate at the end of the essay. The general point of view of this work is to describe the general effect that images create in a individual, a brief history of what images were like in the past will also be explain. The style of writing this work is simple with no complicated statements and guarantees the reader easy reading and understanding. The current generation is termed as a visual generation that relies a lot on information obtained from images. Image making in the present day is not the same as in the past. Today’s processes are technologically advanced as compared to the past when it was limited in resources. Images are everywhere today, on newspapers, billboards, posters, television and generally it can be assumed that seeing images is a part of our lives. In the past, images were not highly used and people like wine traders would give out wine samples on the streets. At this age, commercials on wine, or large billboards with colorful images are placed. Researchers and scholars are delving into how images whether in the form of photographs, motion pictures, drawings and graphs have an influence on an individual’s behavior attitude and the perspective they develop on a certain image (Charles,2). An image can have different kinds of appeal, humor appeal, emotional appeal, fear appeal amongst others and when an image is being created it should be known that one certain kind of an appeal may not have the same response from different individuals. Commercials, documentaries, cartoons and mass media like newspapers are examples of visual artifacts that use images to create attention. The images can be moving or stationary. Commercials seek attention by repetition of their brand images at specific times and using convenient and appropriate channels in order to position their product effectively in the minds of the target audience. Documentaries involve films that use motion pictures and are mainly for information and storage purposes by documenting reality forums. Cartoons are hand drawn images that feature a certain story and they mostly generate humor appeal. All these artifacts have different impacts and are perceived differently. For example if a business message wants to be aired through television it would be sensible to not use cartoons but a more serious and professional approach. Products for children can gain popularity if advertised by their favorite cartoon images. Commercials use the combination of words and images get the viewer’s attention. They have gained popularity in the present times as compared to the past. They were first aired on television on the 1st of July in 1941 after the federal Communication Commission allowed it( Mellisa 56). They then received shorter airtime than in present times. A 60 minutes program would run for approximately 51 minutes and a commercial break would take 9 minutes. In the present time it will take like a quarter of a program’s airtime. This indicates the importance commercials have now. Commercials differ on the company that own the product being advertised, the age group, gender and economic group being targeted. Have you noticed that commercials for toys run during cartoon, those for cars and trucks run during sports, make-ups are advertised amidst soap operas. Why? It is because of the majority of viewers more likely to be watching the television at that particular time. And the impact it is likely to have will be more than if aired at other times. The persuasion ability and techniques used are also different from other visual rhetoric artifacts. The timing of the commercials is also important. Some depending on the product and the images cannot be aired in the audience of a certain age group. For example beer adverts in some countries are illegal to air to the under 18 group. There are commercials that have been banned even after so much airplay, like the Bill Clinton’s doo doll and the Durex commercial. This only happened after an uproar by the audience claiming profanity and immorality of the adverts. This could mean that they were either perceived wrongly or the viewers did not appreciate what they saw. However television restriction on some adverts to a certain age group cannot be controlled directly. Televised commercials are sensational and are more likely to capture the attention an individual/s because of the combination of images, motion and sound. Commercials have an obvious message and a hidden message. They can either use animations or real life modes. Commercials tend to apply humor in their adverts because the positive feeling it evokes is easy to remember. The use of bright colors is also emphasized as this enables a vivid picture to be left in the individual’s mind. The use of popular models is another factor than can influence the impact a product being advertised has. For example the pepsiman is a very popular figure in adverts. This model has survived through the years since the 1990’s upto date and has been used to advertise more than one product. He has been used in video games and action models have also been made after him. Pepsiman is Pepsi Cola’s shiny and muscular mascot that is viewed as a humorous figure by all kind of individuals. He is athletic and strong to represent the pepsi cola’s can. In his character he goes all around the world giving pepsi drinks to all thirsty people and while he does that he inflicts injuries on himself. This heroic action makes him popular. http://www.kid-game.co.jp/pepsiman Pepsiman’s commercials became so excellent because of the humor in them with a theme song so easy to sing along to. Pepsi Cola in America did not however incorporate pepsiman in their commercials. Pepsiman is a creative and mascot that will never fail to amuse and humor an audience. As for why no one in the United States has ever heard of Pepsiman, the reason is that he and the ads in which he was featured were the product of the Pepsi Corporation's Japanese branch. Produced in the mid-to-late nineties, these commercials were, sadly, only aired in Japan and Korea where they were extremely successful. Pepsiman actually became so successful that in 1996 he was featured in the Japanese version of the fighting video game "Fighting Vipers," before being given a starring role in the Pepsiman game in 1999 for the Play station. Most people changed their drink from cocacola pepsi after seeing this commercial, first to just experiment the drink and a majority ended being regular users of the drink. This mascot with no doubt had a persuasive effect because of his vivid and unique image that does not resemble any other kind in the commercial’s sector. The use of bright colors and brilliant motion has contributed to its outstanding capability to attract people to knowing about the image and the brand it is advertising. In conclusion I can say that the use of imagery has developed over decades to being a most used form of persuasion by improving the features and components of an image. Visual rhetoric has advanced into being more of an art with high regard. The effectiveness of images in persuading people to act according to the aim of the image increase with advertising agencies and other bodies’ experting in image formation. Work cited Hart Mellissa, Media Literacy:, United States of America.; Teacher created resources. 2008 Hill A Charles, Helmers H Marguerite:, Defining visual rhetorics. London; routledge 2004 Prelli J. Lawrence: Rhetorics of display United States OF America: University of South Carolina Press. 2006   Read More