Rhetorical Analysis Project
For this project we were directed to reflect and break down the rhetorical situation within a poster or add. I chose to break down a picture from an article on reverse engineering advertisement. So, without any further ado.
Figure 1.
​
Rhetorical analysis is the breakdown and explanation of a piece of rhetoric, rhetoric being the art of persuasive speaking or writing, such as the use of figures of speech or other compositional techniques. More simply stated; rhetoric is the art of speaking or writing effectively. This is often done through the arts of identifying logic, within the piece, and having an emotional connection with what is presented. I have chosen this photo above (Figure 1.) to attempt to create an analysis of the concepts thrown forth from the photo itself as well the article that is associated with the image, breaking down the concepts and connections between the two. This photo particularly appeals to me as a writer because it is emotionally relatable to many long hours doing homework. And now without any further ado:
A man sits at a desk, dressed for work, before a computer. He leans into his hand as frustration seeps through tired eyes, phone in hand and ready to take a break. He is surrounded by empty cups of coffee, implying the many hours of work he has already out in. On Disruptive, a marketing company that works towards “Long lasting and sustainable growth” (Fig. 1, pg. About, Mission), this image is the front and center in an article on reverse engineering advertisement to promote conversion to product rather than click rate in adds. Some of Disruptive’ services include paid advertising, lifecycle marketing, creative services, and website optimization. Though it is not accredited by the Better Business Bureau, it has had very few complaints over the years operating out of their location in Utah. Though there is little text to quote off, a picture tells a thousand words. This picture clearly states the need to take a break after many long hours on the task at hand. The mess of coffee cups shouting the need of caffeine to resist exhaustion from the many hours of sitting at this computer. The body language of tired eyes staring out at high on the ceiling above the computer, and head furrowed and leaning deep into an open palm that carries the weight of frustration. His lips blowing out exacerbated, and hand just above phone as though he is awaiting any distraction from the task at hand.
This image is used as an opening to give you a feeling of how much work can go into marketing and advertising. It also speaks to the annoyance of clicking on an add because you liked the content but being directed to something completely unrelated to the advertisement. The article that hosts this photo speaks to how most companies view ‘click to site’ rates and ‘conversion of clients’ rates as separate tasks, one to do after the other. Whereas this article speaks to the power of making your advertisement and landing sites match to keep the costumer engaged with what interests them (with click leading to potential conversion immediately rather than as a secondary task). By making the content not only on your advertisement but also the page that you land on when you click the add match, the article boasts, that you will have better client engagement. By using this tactic of using what you have available on your site to create your advertisements, rather than the other way around, you are more likely to convert clients to your product and provide a lot less confusion to potential customers while they explore your content.
This piece and the article that accompanies it hopes to inspire people to use their company for marketing and advertising. You first relate with the hard work of the man in the image, then as you read further in the article you begin to consider the logic behind this claim of keeping the content consistent between advertisement and landing pages on websites. For example, someone needing help marketing their product could consider this as resource for them to promote their business. Disruptive is more or less a one stop shop on improving marketing and advertisement offering website assistance, advertisement promotions, and creative services to help with even the most in need company for marketing aid. A new potential costumer is able to navigate their website without to much difficulty from the organized nature of the page.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Bibliography
Figure 1.
Location found: Andrus, A, (Marketing). (January 2018). Reverse Engineering Your Ads: What are Customers Trying to Tell You? {Online Image}. Retrieved 1/31/22 from https://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images;_ylt=AwrC5pZpW_hhYSYAklH7w8QF?p=engineering+comercials&type=E211US0G0&fr=mcafee&fr2=p%3As%2Cv%3Av%2Cm%3Apivot#id=37&iurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.disruptivestatic.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2018%2F01%2Freverse-engineering-blog.jpg&action=click . Copyright 2018 by DISRUPTIVE.
Figure 1.
Article: Andrus, A, (Marketing). (January 2018). Reverse Engineering Your Ads: What are Customers Trying to Tell You? {Online Image}. Retrieved 1/31/22 from https://disruptiveadvertising.com/marketing/reverse-engineering-your-ads/ . Copyright 2018 by DISRUPTIVE
​
Reflection on Rhetorical Analysis:
I originally started the rhetorical analysis discussion board with a movie poster of Quinten Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction, and though it would have been very easy for me to use that in my draft for a rhetorical analysis I wanted to use something that was a bit more relatable to the rest of the content on my webpage. Though the photo I used is not necessarily multimodal, which may lead to me choosing a new image that works better for the purpose intended, I choose to include the article that accompanies the photo. I personally find that the image is not entirely relatable to the content of the article, I do find humor in the irony of the article speaking to uniformity between advertisement and the landing page of such advertisement. I had some difficulty in finding content that was relatable to the rest of my website for this project, and I do not feel entirely committed to the image I have chosen. Researching on the marketing company that owns the article was not difficult, though the article was not easy to find through their website either. I find the most difficult part of this process as of yet is finding something that is appropriate not only for my site but the assignment as well and followed closely by fact that I unintentionally chose an image that was not multimodal.