TOW #24 - Singapore Article

The Editorial Board of the New York Times chronicled the passing of Singapore founding-leader Lee Kuan Yew earlier this week. In their article, "Lee Kuan Yew's Mixed Legacy in Singapore", they focus on two conflicting aspects of how the leader will be remembered. While Yew was an economic genius who helped to make tiny and weak Singapore into a global economic model, he was also an authoritarian who controlled opposition and the media to favor himself, only "retiring" to still very influential position after political pressure. The article is trying to make a very careful and balanced point: This one wasn't so bad, but let's try to do even better with the next one.
Any New York Times readers who have heard the name Lee Kuan Yew probably knew him as a purely good force in Singapore. Obama went as far as to call him a "giant of history". The article's address of his positive legacy was therefore mostly reassuring, it included a few different effects and ways of phrasing the basic concept of economic prosperity and stability. This wasn't overtly effective, but that is a testament to its subtlety then its impact.
Alternatively, qualifying the economic claim by reminding an audience of his human rights violations and freedom infringements required a bit more skill. The text does this in a bomb shell method. Right in the middle of list of positive to neutral facts, it switches to a terrible event. For example, "His 'Singapore model', of economic development inspired other leaders, including Deng Xiaoping of China, toward free-market policies. He was also an autocrat who silenced critics and sent opposition leaders to jail, suppressing dissent and intimidating the press." There is no subtlety, but there is a lot of shock value, and for this piece of evidence, it is effective to get it out up front as much as possible.
In short, this is  not just another text article. The introduction full of subtlety and doubt. As the subtlety gives way to impactful-ness present at the end of a paper. Perhaps the strategies themselves were not effective, but  it did make the point more obvious and force the audience to reconsider widely help beliefs.

TOW #23 - McDonald's Nightlight Ad

This advertisement for McDonald's has, as its main selling point, the 24 hour work day of McDonald's. It was created under art direction by Bart Batchelor but was photographed by Hans Sipma for the Cossette West advertising agency. The purpose of the piece is fairly straight forward: Convince the viewer to buy McDonald's. However, there is significantly more going on in this image than might first appear. The rhetorical strategies of juxtaposition and visual implication are exemplified here for instance.
Batchelor, if that is the correct person to credit with this text's strategies of rhetoric, has replaced a nightlight with a box for McDonald's fries to signify that, like a nightlight, McDonald's fries are available long after sundown. This is the basic core mechanic behind the ad. But by surrounding the product with a familiar scene associated with comfort and rest, Batchelor is also leeching off some of that association to make his product seem more familiar and comfortable. This strategy is effective, even if it is not very subtle. Obviously the image's context will influence how it is perceived and generally positive images can pass on generally positive interpretations to what is close to them.
Additionally, visual implication is also at play. The shafts of warm yellow light projecting up from the french fry container are obviously meant to look like french fries. When one views the picture as the creators intended and finally see the light as fries, it inspires an "Ah ha" moment of clarity. This moment is more likely to stay in someone's memory than a typical other advertisement or expected image. I can only be certain that strategy is effective for me, but there is evidence that it can be a lucrative decision. The main risk in visual implication (or any subtle indication attempting to inspire a Eureka moment) is that the audience will not understand it correctly and wish to buy the product.
This marketing campaign my McDonald's was very effective. The juxtaposition strategy exists in far more ways than detailed here, such as color and placement of the light on the top outlet. The visual implication strategy works to a degree and certainly forces one to think about a product for a far longer period of time, but without the associations that are presented to be connected with the product, a potential customer will only know about, and not want to buy, the product in question.

TOW #22 - Heart Attack Article

Laura Geggel, Staff Writer for Live Science News, explains in her most recent article how Daylight Saving Time can effect an increase in heart attack frequency. This article seeks to warn those at risk of heart attacks and to further the culture of fear that keeps people reading news articles like hers and her coworkers'. Her two main rhetorical strategies for this are grounding her unusual claim in scientific evidence, and stressing the variety of symptoms which may be signs of a heart attack. 
The first of her two strategies really only seeks to give teeth to her article. She explains the scientific context of the study that found the information and stresses numerical data saying, "The number of heart attacks increased 24 percent on the Monday following a daylight saving time, compared with the daily average for the weeks surrounding the start of daylight saving time". Geggel knows that her reading audience will be the scientifically minded people that read Live Science. Therefore it is logical to stress the data and meta-data of the study to her audience.
The second of her two strategies is the one that actually furthers her causes of safety and fear. Approximately one half of the entire article discusses exactly what symptoms might point toward a yet-to-come heart attack, who is at risk, and exactly what to do. Geggel writes, "With this in mind, people who are at risk of a heart attack — such as those who smoke, have a strong family history of heart attack or have high cholesterol or high blood pressure — shouldn't delay a trip to the emergency room if they feel chest pain". This both informs her audience as a safety briefing and begins to induce a mild hypochondria and self-evaluation of personal heart health. These can lead to seeking out similar articles on this and other websites in the readers. This tactic is common place and entirely effective.
Though this article is short and bluntly written, the content delivered reveals a certain degree of tactical creativity. There are no examples of colorful language or vivid imagery to be found, but it is in what Geggel has chosen to include and not include that allows her to effectively impact her audience and achieve her desired goals in this text.

TOW #21 - IRB Part 1

Nietzsche's Daybreak is a strange work. It does not read like a series of treatises or like an allegorical parable that one might expect from books written by philosophers. Instead this text is nearly entirely filled with stanzas ranging from a sentence to a paragraph, loosely grouped by subject and often titled with a phrase like, "On Popular Medicine", or "On Doubt as a Sin". These fortune-cookie-esque phrases are most likely meant to encourage questioning and attract youth to Nietzsche's ideas (but not without skepticism). The interpretation of a younger audience is presented in the preface, and is accomplished by challenging widely more than deeply held beliefs and through an easily digestible arrangement.

Like many of the philosophers before him, Nietzsche seems to realize that deep philosophical ideals are easier to transfer to other minds in short bursts. It is difficult to sit down and plow through a few chapters of Diogenes or Machiavelli. Therefore, Nietzsche presents his ideas in short bite-sized chunks. Repeatable and slightly ambiguous phrases like, "He who is punished is never he who performed the deed. He is always the scapegoat" are just begging to be mulled over in one's head. This is an effective manner to prevent readers from being scared off.

The other rhetorical strategy Nietzsche uses in this text is perhaps a bit more tactical. Nietzsche is a bit of a contrarian. This is to be expected as it comes hand-in-hand with deeply skeptical philosophies. However, while Nietzsche does attack deep seated beliefs about morality and the role of gods in modern society, the majority of his attacks are small, half-hearted attacks on widely, but not deeply held beliefs which make his work seem edgier but maintains inoffensiveness. For instance, one stanza reads, "The great wars of the present age are the result of the study of history." While most people believe in the old adage about studying history to learn from previous mistakes, a quote like this is unlikely to seriously ruffle any feathers (with the exceptions of history teachers and war buffs). This strategy is also effective. While it may not actually present new information or practical ideas, it does further Nietzsche's cause of total re-examination of modern society in the reader.

While Nietzsche has so far been unusual and at times superficial (transgressing into down right ignorance when discussing women), I believe I am beginning to grow used to the writing format and his tactics remain effective. The next quarter of the book is titled, 'Beyond Good and Evil', a text which I own and have previously read years ago. I wonder how time and context will effect the impact of this new section.