Do you want a perfect face?

Haily Snyder wrote about Proactiv and did an audience analysis on it. I would like to discuss certain language tools used by Proactiv. Wow! I never thought about it before I was a salesman how many tatics there are in writing and in advertisment.
Proactiv uses imgery in their advertisment. It explains how beautiful one's face will become, when one uses it. On the website it states " Proactiv heals acne today, and prevents it for tomorrow". This sentence convinces one that it is a quick solution. They do this because nobody is patient enough to wait. If it said it takes a month, nobody would show much interest, therefore just by their langauge tools are they able to persaude people that it works and works quickly. When people look in the mirror and are not satisfied with what they see, an image may come into mind of a clearer better-looking face. The image of the Proactiv advertisment will appear.

It also says it heals acne "today". That means quick results. This is an overstatement. There is no way that this will work in just one day, but it just means quick results. Proactiv also says in their advertisment that " Get the clear skin you deserve". I am not sure what language tool, but this is a sales tactic. They are using ethos to let people know that they deserve good skin and that Proactiv can do that for them. It makes you assume that Proactiv is helping you,which may be true, but in reality Proactiv just wants your money.

Global Warming and Eating: Linking with Language Tools

An article published by Jennifer Wilkins and Anna Lappe addressed the link between global warming and the way Americans eat today. To make their point the authors use several language tools that invoke sympathy for the planet and arouse a desire to eat better in order to save it.

Personification was well implemented in this article to give our planet an identity. Word usage such as, "The danger the planet faces..."(par. 2) and "...we'll all be healthier and so will our planet"(par. 16). The planet obviously is not able to literally "face" anything, but by implying that the Earth is going up against something or seeing some kind of opposition causes us to naturally feel sympathetic. The Earth, though treacherous in things such as natural disasters, is often seen as an unarmed, helpless woman that can't defend herself from those who pollute and damage her. The second sentence helps us identify that our actions will help protect the Earth, and this will not only make our motherly-benefactor healthier, but we will be better off as well.

Metaphors with imagery also helped make the point of needed opposition towards global warming through eating healthier. The phrase, "...driving an 18-wheeler to the moon and back 13 times"(par. 5), was used to describe how far New Jersians drive, burning fossil fuel and causing global warming, to satiate "fresh tomato carving[s]." Though completely illogical, driving to the moon in an 18-wheeler creates certain images and connections in the reader's brain: 18-wheelers require a lot of diesel fuel which creates extremely toxic fumes; the moon is extremely far away and driving there and back 13 times would amount to a large, almost incomprehensible distance. Therefore, it is understood that citizens of New Jersey drive significant distances, warming the globe, all because they want to eat fresh tomatos. Put in this light, the reader would see New Jersey's global warming participation as something ridiculous and easily avoidable.

More imagery was used in order to describe how much land is used to grow corn for corn-syrup that goes into highly consumed junk foods in relating the size of the fields to "twice the size of Rhode Island"(par. 13). Though Rhode Island is known as the smallest state in the U.S., saying that any amount of detrimentally-used land is larger than a state immedtiatly wows the reader and puts into persepective that the earth is being misused to feed us junk food.

Citation
Wilkins, Jennifer and Lappe, Anna. "Think Globally, Eat Locally," Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Seattle Post-Intelligencer, April 17, 2007. Web, 23 Sept. 2009.

A Prophet's Plea

Often in the Church we don’t give heed to all of the counsel from prophets. If we did they wouldn't be telling us to read our scriptures everyday, hold family home evening, and attend the temple often because we'd all be doing it. Sometimes we find ourselves thinking the talk isn’t for us or that it’s a good idea but our circumstances exempt us from that counsel. We need a reason to listen to the prophet's voice because being a prophet sometimes isn't enough. The prophet, just like any other speaker must give us a reason that we should heed his message. Speaking as the prophet, President Benson tells us that something is different about this talk, "Beware of Pride". We need to listen. We have to listen. He draws us in and motivates change in us to be more humble. How did he do it?

President Benson first alludes to other prophets found in the Book of Mormon to remind us who he really is, “This message has been weighing heavily on my soul for some time. I know the Lord wants this message delivered now.” A few other prophets have used similar language, for example Jacob says in Jacob 2:3, “I this day am weighed down with much more desire and anxiety for the welfare of your souls than I have hitherto been.” This allusion places him in the same position as Jacob and other ancient prophets. We as members of the church tend to place more trust and obedience to old ancient prophets, many times because we read the stories of what happens when the people didn't listen to that bit of counsel. By placing himself with them, he is telling us that he has seen, just as Jacob, Nephi, and Mormon saw what the people needed. We begin listening because we actually believe this message is not an old man's counsel, but comes from the Lord.

President Benson talks to us as if he were not exempt from pride. That he is one of us. This makes us want to listen to him. If he comes in accusing us of being prideful we’ll prove him right by being offended. Instead he allows us to convict ourselves by defining pride by using phrases such as "The proud are not easily taught,” and, “The proud stand more in fear of men’s judgment than of God’s judgment.” Then when discussing the effects of pride he uses “we” and “us” to make it ever more personal. This diction moves all focus off of him as the speaker and towards us and our pride. His credibility is greatly increased because we see him as one of us who has worked hard to overcome his own pride.

Two anaphora are used to motivate us to action. In the first one, President Benson implores us to think again and again how much better our lives would be if we were to eliminate pride. By not defining the specific blessings he allows us to think about what we want. How it would affect us personally. Then playing off of those emotions he uses another anaphora by telling us we can choose to eliminate pride from our life. By continuing to speak as “we” and “us” we feel like we are going to try with everyone else to improve ourselves.

President Benson uses language tools such as anaphora, allusion, and diction in order get our attention and realize that he is the prophet, and that this particular message is from him as a prophet, and not your everyday grandpa.

Flood Kills 8 Georgians

Language tools used in The New York Times address on the flood in Georgia.

Imagery
In the opening paragraph, the authors help the readers visualize the rescuers searching "water-logged houses", while floating down the streets in "mucky red-brown waters." Readers see "spewed sewage in the Chattahoochee River" as a huge problem. Saying that the flood caused significant damage to a sewage plant doesn't help the columnist keep our attention like spewed sewage does.

Overstatement
The word "deluge" used in the first paragraph references the great flood in the Bible. Comparing Georgia's flood with the one that covered the whole earth makes the circumstances in Georgia seem much more bleak.

Metaphor
"The basement was an aquarium,” was quoted from a well known doctor in the area. I say he was well known because he was my doctor on two occasions. I'm sure that his basement wasn't literally transformed into an aquarium, but readers see the connection between what a basement should look like and what aquariums are.



Click to see the video: http://video.nytimes.com/video/2009/09/22/multimedia/1247464768531/georgia-floods.html









Mike Stanley