Rhetorical and Visual Analysis
In this assignment the student was to analyze the visual and rhetorical aspects of a video or picture. The main subjects that needed to be pointed out of the video or picture were the Ethos, Pathos, and Logos. All of the visual and textual elements were to be analyzed as to how they appeal to different types of audiences.
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Rhetorical Analysis of Cyber Bullying Commercial
Erick Alvarado
University of Texas at El Paso
One of the worst things that anybody could ever experience in life is to be bullied, but with all the new technology in the world today we have something known as cyber bullying. Cyber bullying can be spread to many people very quickly and it can cause problems for everybody. People and organizations are out to stop cyber bullying and some of them even make commercials promoting the fight against cyber bullying. The Ad Council is an organization out to help put an end to cyber bullying and they released a commercial titled “Talent Show” showing how horrible cyber bullying can be.
The commercial shows a girl getting ready to perform in her schools talent show when all of a sudden she starts to speak about another girl from her class. She says hurtful things like she is poor, dirty, that she has no life and really speaks down to the other girl. The commercial is made by the Ad Council organization. They are a non-profit organization that is trying to help prevent cyber bullying along with other things to help benefit the youth. They were founded in 1942 and since then have been helping the youth, but cyber bullying has been their new campaign and they are fighting it strong. This commercial they have produced the “Talent Show” shows a girl making fun of another girl, telling her what is wrong with her and making her feel insecure about herself. The video credibility is very good because it comes from the Ad Council organization. They are credible for helping the youth with many things and one being the prevention of cyber bullying.
They have made many commercial that help try and portray a message, but at this time they are producing a lot more cyber bullying commercials. The “Talent Show” commercial portrays the message of “if you wouldn’t say it in person then why would you even say it at all.” (Ad Council, 2008) They are very informative in both the visual and rhetorical views as to how cyber bullying can be harmful and cause harm to a person.
The visual aspect of the commercial does say a lot, from the colors and dimness of the video to facial expressions of the children in the video. The colors which are dark and dim seem to set a mood that this is going to be an unconformable scene. The colors give off a depressing feeling which in the video the little girl feels after being made fun of and looked like a fool.
The facial expressions on the children’s faces also give a different meaning from each child. The girl giving the speech has a strong and firm facial expression showing assertiveness and adding feeling to the words she is saying. The girl being made fun of has an expression on her face of embarrassment and hurt feelings; she even begins to sink in her chair as if to say she doesn’t want to be there. The viewer can tell that she had no prior knowledge to what was being said about her.
When the speaker is talking all the other students also give off a facial expression, but very different from the speaker and the embarrassed girl. The other students have a facial expression of guilt. After certain things are said the camera changes to a different student and they look away in guilt. The facial expression they give off seems to say that they are the ones who said these things first. It seems that they spread these rumors first and the speaker was able to have all of them because they were all on the internet or received by email or text message hence the phrase cyber bullying.
The visual aspect does say a lot but text is what really lets the viewer know what’s going on and in the commercial at the end of it, it states “if you wouldn’t say it person, why say it online.” (Ad Council, 2008) They state this with a much bigger message than what they are saying. They want to get across the message of treat others the way you would like to be treated. Cyber bullying is a bad thing and the only way to stop it is do not say anything bad about someone online. Yet, how do you apply the “golden rule” to the cyber network? Well if you don’t want someone to say bad things about you online then people must watch what they post. Everyone must think before they post and in the video much of these students did not and they posted things that hurt their fellow classmate.
The video also states some more text that is a big message to helping prevent cyber bullying, “delete cyber bullying, don’t write it, don’t forward it.” (Ad Council,2008) Deleting cyber bullying is only being stated because it’s online but one wouldn’t delete what’s being said if it was about you. The victim would print the messages or posts and show an adult of higher authority. Now they also state it because if you are not the victim then they urge you to delete and make sure no one else may be able to view what was said.
With that, that is why the video says “don’t forward it.”(Ad Council, 2008) If you are the reader of something said about someone else do not forward it, it will only make problems worse because now not only have you received it but sending it to other people spreads the horror of cyber bullying. Its best to delete what was said and move on; trying to forget about the moment saves a lot of trouble. Most cases of cyber bullying end with the victim taking their life and that’s because one person did not think of what they were writing and the other person receiving the message did not think of the impact it would make by telling everyone.
The commercial does a very good job of supporting this detail. When the speaker says the information she has, all the other students look away it seems as if they just realized what they did. Instead of deleting what they saw or not forwarding it everything came out. The text and the visual are key to the commercial they connect together with the expressions of everyone do well to show they impact of not deleting, forwarding and saying.
The audience that the commercial is targeting would be everyone. Yet the message is different towards children, because they are still young and say things they may not mean at the time, as it is to adults. The message towards children may also be different in that it is showing them how cyber bullying is bad and what can come of it. Now for an adult the message is how to prevent cyber bullying and what could happen if they do not act on it.
For the ages between 8-12 the message is very simple do not bully other kids online or in person. For children at this age the rule that we all get is hurting other kids is the wrong thing to do and we can get into trouble if we hurt another person. At a very young age people seem to really not think about what they say. Little children say what is on their mind and do not figure that it will bother anyone till after they say it. They message is very basic for this age group, but for other age groups it’s very different.
From ages 13-19 the message has more detail and a lot more consequences for the actions that are done. If you bully somebody over the internet or even in person and an adult becomes aware of the issue the person will face bigger consequences than that of just getting in trouble. When cyber bullying is something that is taking place at this age group the effects are much different. In society the effects that are seen are suicide, life threats, and deaths. There are stories of people being bullied and not to long after a life is taken. The sad part about most of these deaths is that the victim ends up taking their own life. Being bullied at this age has big effects on both the bully and the victims lives, and what the commercial is trying to add is that there is a much bigger picture than just hurting a person. The message isn’t just do not bully people; it is also stating the long term effects that could be caused by the bullying.
Now the messages for adults ages 20 and on, the message is not do not bully people, but why bullying needs to be prevented. In the video the speaker humiliates one of her classmates and the adults look to be surprised. The message to adults is how to prevent cyber bullying. Children will say and do things that they want and not worry about the consequences until after, yet adults may be able to prevent the bullying. Adults may be able to show what terrible things could conspire from cyber bullying, and show younger children how it can be bad. This may decrease the amount of kids growing older and ending up hurting another person and even ending with a life lost.
Cyber bullying must be stopped but the effort must be there as well. Like the video said, “If you wouldn’t say it in person why say it online.” (Ad Council, 2008) Yet, the message stays the same for all ages don’t bully anyone online or in person. Treat others the way you want to be treated.
References:
Ad Council (creator). Ohio Commission DRCM (Poster) (2008, Dec, 3. Talent Show (Video) retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bdQBurXQOeQ
Link to YouTube video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bdQBurXQOeQ
The commercial shows a girl getting ready to perform in her schools talent show when all of a sudden she starts to speak about another girl from her class. She says hurtful things like she is poor, dirty, that she has no life and really speaks down to the other girl. The commercial is made by the Ad Council organization. They are a non-profit organization that is trying to help prevent cyber bullying along with other things to help benefit the youth. They were founded in 1942 and since then have been helping the youth, but cyber bullying has been their new campaign and they are fighting it strong. This commercial they have produced the “Talent Show” shows a girl making fun of another girl, telling her what is wrong with her and making her feel insecure about herself. The video credibility is very good because it comes from the Ad Council organization. They are credible for helping the youth with many things and one being the prevention of cyber bullying.
They have made many commercial that help try and portray a message, but at this time they are producing a lot more cyber bullying commercials. The “Talent Show” commercial portrays the message of “if you wouldn’t say it in person then why would you even say it at all.” (Ad Council, 2008) They are very informative in both the visual and rhetorical views as to how cyber bullying can be harmful and cause harm to a person.
The visual aspect of the commercial does say a lot, from the colors and dimness of the video to facial expressions of the children in the video. The colors which are dark and dim seem to set a mood that this is going to be an unconformable scene. The colors give off a depressing feeling which in the video the little girl feels after being made fun of and looked like a fool.
The facial expressions on the children’s faces also give a different meaning from each child. The girl giving the speech has a strong and firm facial expression showing assertiveness and adding feeling to the words she is saying. The girl being made fun of has an expression on her face of embarrassment and hurt feelings; she even begins to sink in her chair as if to say she doesn’t want to be there. The viewer can tell that she had no prior knowledge to what was being said about her.
When the speaker is talking all the other students also give off a facial expression, but very different from the speaker and the embarrassed girl. The other students have a facial expression of guilt. After certain things are said the camera changes to a different student and they look away in guilt. The facial expression they give off seems to say that they are the ones who said these things first. It seems that they spread these rumors first and the speaker was able to have all of them because they were all on the internet or received by email or text message hence the phrase cyber bullying.
The visual aspect does say a lot but text is what really lets the viewer know what’s going on and in the commercial at the end of it, it states “if you wouldn’t say it person, why say it online.” (Ad Council, 2008) They state this with a much bigger message than what they are saying. They want to get across the message of treat others the way you would like to be treated. Cyber bullying is a bad thing and the only way to stop it is do not say anything bad about someone online. Yet, how do you apply the “golden rule” to the cyber network? Well if you don’t want someone to say bad things about you online then people must watch what they post. Everyone must think before they post and in the video much of these students did not and they posted things that hurt their fellow classmate.
The video also states some more text that is a big message to helping prevent cyber bullying, “delete cyber bullying, don’t write it, don’t forward it.” (Ad Council,2008) Deleting cyber bullying is only being stated because it’s online but one wouldn’t delete what’s being said if it was about you. The victim would print the messages or posts and show an adult of higher authority. Now they also state it because if you are not the victim then they urge you to delete and make sure no one else may be able to view what was said.
With that, that is why the video says “don’t forward it.”(Ad Council, 2008) If you are the reader of something said about someone else do not forward it, it will only make problems worse because now not only have you received it but sending it to other people spreads the horror of cyber bullying. Its best to delete what was said and move on; trying to forget about the moment saves a lot of trouble. Most cases of cyber bullying end with the victim taking their life and that’s because one person did not think of what they were writing and the other person receiving the message did not think of the impact it would make by telling everyone.
The commercial does a very good job of supporting this detail. When the speaker says the information she has, all the other students look away it seems as if they just realized what they did. Instead of deleting what they saw or not forwarding it everything came out. The text and the visual are key to the commercial they connect together with the expressions of everyone do well to show they impact of not deleting, forwarding and saying.
The audience that the commercial is targeting would be everyone. Yet the message is different towards children, because they are still young and say things they may not mean at the time, as it is to adults. The message towards children may also be different in that it is showing them how cyber bullying is bad and what can come of it. Now for an adult the message is how to prevent cyber bullying and what could happen if they do not act on it.
For the ages between 8-12 the message is very simple do not bully other kids online or in person. For children at this age the rule that we all get is hurting other kids is the wrong thing to do and we can get into trouble if we hurt another person. At a very young age people seem to really not think about what they say. Little children say what is on their mind and do not figure that it will bother anyone till after they say it. They message is very basic for this age group, but for other age groups it’s very different.
From ages 13-19 the message has more detail and a lot more consequences for the actions that are done. If you bully somebody over the internet or even in person and an adult becomes aware of the issue the person will face bigger consequences than that of just getting in trouble. When cyber bullying is something that is taking place at this age group the effects are much different. In society the effects that are seen are suicide, life threats, and deaths. There are stories of people being bullied and not to long after a life is taken. The sad part about most of these deaths is that the victim ends up taking their own life. Being bullied at this age has big effects on both the bully and the victims lives, and what the commercial is trying to add is that there is a much bigger picture than just hurting a person. The message isn’t just do not bully people; it is also stating the long term effects that could be caused by the bullying.
Now the messages for adults ages 20 and on, the message is not do not bully people, but why bullying needs to be prevented. In the video the speaker humiliates one of her classmates and the adults look to be surprised. The message to adults is how to prevent cyber bullying. Children will say and do things that they want and not worry about the consequences until after, yet adults may be able to prevent the bullying. Adults may be able to show what terrible things could conspire from cyber bullying, and show younger children how it can be bad. This may decrease the amount of kids growing older and ending up hurting another person and even ending with a life lost.
Cyber bullying must be stopped but the effort must be there as well. Like the video said, “If you wouldn’t say it in person why say it online.” (Ad Council, 2008) Yet, the message stays the same for all ages don’t bully anyone online or in person. Treat others the way you want to be treated.
References:
Ad Council (creator). Ohio Commission DRCM (Poster) (2008, Dec, 3. Talent Show (Video) retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bdQBurXQOeQ
Link to YouTube video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bdQBurXQOeQ