Stereotypes in media

Do you think that advertisers have a moral duty to avoid stereotyping people?

Advertisers should not have the moral duty to avoid stereotyping people, people should post whatever they want as long as it is not offensive to a point it would gather up thousands of people and protest to take the video down. All people have different perspectives and take in things they see in a different way, some viewers watching certain advertisements can be very sensitive and easily offended which would cause them to speak out. But, a lot of the times they overlook the whole point of advert which in most cases would include some kind of hysterical and funny appeals to connect with the audience. In my opinion some of these people missing the intended point of the advertisement would be the minorities, but although some advertisements can go overboard in clearly adding in the stereotypes in an offensive and negative way, most would put the characters in a position where some kind of comedy can be created.

Nivea Advertisement Visual Analysis

In products for beauty and skin related brands, women have often become the focal point. Media has shaped and influenced social and cultural standards on how women should look like now days, and this product is no different. In this advertisement it is visible that the women is the intended audience for this product while using the man as more of a side character or someone who would help emphasize a more of a sex appeal for the women. The standards which are set by this product on women, is that they should apply their product on their skin to look like that person and therefore giving the idea of men being more attracted to women with smooth skin by showing interest and affection through the hand gestures and eye contact (vectors). According to the ad, one can see that the more important characteristics or values shown is having smooth skin. While the women being empowered through the use of the woman's placement and vectors. The man gazes towards the woman by side which makes her the focal point and then moving the viewers eyes straight to her direct eye contact which eventually finds the product at the elbow. The man is marginalized in this ad, to emphasize the target audience and and use him as more of an accessory, similarly to the Honda bike ad or as a sex appeal.

Pitch Reflection

The main appeal that was used in the speech was the rational or logical appeal, focusing on the consumer's need for the practicality and functionality of the product. The speech had an explanation of why having a T.V advertisement as the form or medium of advertisement was necessary mentioning its functionality and its exposure to a bigger number of the target audience. Some persuasive techniques used in this speech could be described as the cause vs correlation technique by explaining that the timing of advertisement would be best in the middle of the news as people are often focused and fully aware of its happening in the world, therefore the people would be in a state of awareness when being shown the ad just after the news. This would be effective in persuasion as it tricks the listener by intentionally confusing correlation with causation. The audience and context influenced my approach on this pitch as it made me create persuasive techniques in order to persuade (in this context) a company in advertising their product, had the audience been difference, my text type and context would have changed to fit the needs of the audience and purpose. Things I would do differently in another presentation would be adding in more persuasive techniques and express further more appeals. Some of these that could have been included would be an analogy and an ad hominem. The presentation itself could have been prepared better by adding in more slides showing the main topics and images to help adding in more of a persuasive outcome.

Rhetorical Analysis

This anti-smoking ad by "The truth" targets a wide audience which would include non-smokers by warning them of the damages and outcomes of smoking, to persuade them not to start, while it can also target smokers, to make them realize what they are doing to their bodies when smoking. This therefore makes the smokers consider getting help to try and stop this addiction and prevent further damage or death. 

The ethos in this advertisement is present in the website and organization name "Truth" which helps on spreading awareness and inspiring action in the fight to end smoking. Pathos is used in a very direct way by demonstrating the image of someone who is covered in a white blanket which would mean that the person is dead. This image stands out even more by the tag saying "smoking kills" giving the audience the feeling of nervousness, self-consciousness, regret and fear of dying due to smoking related diseases.  In the result of these pathos, the audience would most likely feel the appeal to their emotions and make/persuade the person to consider a change in their lifestyle. Finally, logos are found in the picture by the organization "Truth" giving out multiple facts that have an impact on people's emotions therefore connecting to a pathos by giving them the sense of awareness of what smoking can do to you. These statistics including 440,000 Americans dying each year of smoking related diseases and 90% of them starting as teenagers. This gives reason and rationality of the negative impacts of smoking with the use of statistical evidence to prove said case.