Wow, I really can't believe there are only 2-3 weeks left of the semester, which means 2-3 weeks left of taking this communications class. I'm really going to miss it. I've enjoyed the topics that we've covered and I've learned a lot. Well, I won't get too sad yet, since 2-3 weeks is still something.
This week, we covered rhetoric and rhetorical criticism. On Monday, we watched a couple of funny parody videos called, "If 'Real People' Commercials Were Real Life." (I'll link one of the videos here, if you want to check it out.) Essentially, as the title suggests, the videos make fun of commercials that claim to have "real people, not actors." The idea is that seeing "real people" who have "real reactions" will persuade you, the consumer. They'll make you think something like, "oh, if that real person thinks that this product is great, I'd probably think so too, since I am also a real person." So, the videos made you think about the techniques that a company chooses to use, in order to sell their product.
Since commercials were on the mind, I began to think about other commercials that I've seen. Think about the year's biggest day for commercials- Super Bowl Sunday. Companies that want to pay $5 million for a 30-second ad (last I checked, that was the cost) should or will definitely put some thought into their commercials. I mean, isn't the goal to have the most anticipated commercial or the most talked about commercial on the Monday following the Super Bowl? The commercials have to be interesting because, after all, there are many people who just tune into the Super Bowl to watch only the commercials. It's always interesting to see the variety of ads that make an appearance during the game. There's always one or two commercials that you have to wait until the very last second to figure out what the heck is even being advertised. You know, the one's that leave you like this, trying to figure out how the content of the commercial has anything to do with the product:
I think the same can also be said about some music videos. There are some great, well-done videos out there- however, what the actors/singers are doing have no relation to what the lyrics are saying- or do they? That's one of the takeaways from this week. Rhetorical criticism is about trying to figure out what message and purpose is behind what is being said/shown. It's up to us, real people, to do just that.