25 Word Summary of Backpacks vs.

Briefcases:

Understanding rhetoric and rhetorical analysis is how we build upon the fundamental skill of
making judgements, and seeing how it’s in the media, politics, etc.

Opium Ad analysis:

 Woman is naked
 Is lying down
 Pale white skin
 Sharp contrast from black background
 Looks unnaturally white, like a ghost
 Red and fancy looking hair
 Ornate gold jewelry (necklace, wristbands)
 Gold heels
 Wearing makeup
 Big gold lettering for name of fragrance and brand

Analysis notes for Latino Film Festival and Red Mill ads:

Latino Film Festival:

 3 latino names, 1 anglo name

 Made like a bar graph
 Rake is the bar
 All latino names have actual rakes
 The anglo name is just barely a handle
 Probably has to do with representation?
 Caption at the bottom “films and movies, come to see the difference”
 Organization is “latino film festival”, probably means that films are of a higher quality
than movies
 Movies have poor representation of latinos, films have good representation?
 Is probably intended for non-spanish speakers to come show support
 Is in English, not Spanish
 Shows information that non-latinos would not have paid attention to
 Very simple design and basic layout for wide range of audience
 Does not seem to single out a specific gender
 Does not seem to single out a specific occupation
 Plays off of the idea that certain themes present in most “movies” are low quality, and
they aren’t present in high quality “films” and that if you want to experience high
quality, you should come to what they’re advertising.
Red Mill:

 Intended for an older audience

 Uses grainy picture quality
 Old man standing next to old machinery
 Classic fashion style
 Heading “back to basics? We never left!”
 Implying they have been the standard in terms of old-style grains
 Intended for an older audience/more mature audience
 People who are older or more conscious of their body would want to look towards
healthier/older forms of eating
 The subtext talks about nutrition and how Red Mill products are both healthy and
delicious
 The intended audience seems to be more health-conscious people who understand
enough to distinguish between healthy/unhealthy kinds of foods.
 Targets values such as “I need to eat healthier to treat my body well”
 The old-fashioned picture and text aims to evoke a call-back to the good old days
 It draws on the belief amongst most older people that “things were better back then”
and that eating red mill products will bring back a taste of that

Analysis Overviews:

Latino Film Festival:

The advertisement for the Latino Film Festival is a simple, no-nonsense advertisement meant to
spread a simple message; their exigence is that the films they mean to display represent Latinos
in a better and more realistic manner than which popular movies portray them as, and that you
would understand why if you attend their festival. The information is displayed on an eye-
catching background, bright orange with white lettering, and the designs are simple and
aesthetic. The information is displayed in simple English so everyone can clearly understand
what is trying to be conveyed. There is also a bit of humor present in the advertisement, with
the graph using rakes, and the sharp contrast between the large rakes for the Hispanic names
and the tiny handle for the “white” name. This humor also conveys the primary point of their
advertisement, that Latino people are poorly represented in most movies, occupying only
positions as gardeners and landscapers, which plays into common stereotypes. The organizers
of the festival, by contrast, will display media that shows Latino people in more accurate roles
that do not play into common stereotypes. These are examples of ethos and logos respectively.
They, as the Latino Film Festival, would understand what is considered accurate representation
and would share that to their audience. In terms of pathos, the advertisement displays the
unfair stereotype that is being repeated constantly in most movies, and how it is an example of
the Latino community being marginalized in entertainment. By extension, this could also be a
form of logos. The creator and designers of the advertisement make the argument that
representation is indeed important and should be something observed and treated properly;
the media we consume shapes our viewing of the world and the different groups of people that
we share it with, in both positive and negative ways.

Red Mill:

The advertisement for Bob’s Red Mill grain product company plays on visual and literary
themes present in older advertisements and media to better portray their exigence. Their
message is that they are an old-fashioned company that uses old-fashioned techniques to
provide you, the consumer, with products that are healthier and more delicious than their
competitors on the market. Some of the visual cues they use are an old man wearing clothes
that indicate a classic style not found fashionable by today’s standards, machinery that does
not look like it would be commonly used today, a grainy and old picture quality, and white
lettering that calls back to advertisements in magazines from the 1970’s. This is a manner of
pathos that is intended for an older, or more mature audience that aims to find produce that is
healthier, and those who are well-read enough to understand that eating high quality foods are
required to lead a healthy life. The designers of this advertisement utilize this sentiment to
evoke a sense of nostalgia, that times were better back in the day, and that eating in such a
manner would, by extension, lead to your own health being better. This advertisement also
uses ethos to display that the company is qualified to make such claims, and that they can make
the product that they claim is better. The sub caption lists certain a milling practice they
reportedly use to produce their grains–stone milling–and how it imparts a better flavor while
being more nutritious for the consumer. Their listing of this practice would imply that they are
indeed a company that follows the old ways, and that buying their products will ensure that you
will be receiving products that will be in as high of quality as what they reported in
advertisement.