I. Opening Presentation: Karen
The rhetoric of cereal
(find a partner & take notes on back of homework)
PART I: Repetitions of Texture, Taste, and Shape as RHETORIC
1. What color is this cereal? How is it shaped? What does it taste like? 2. How are the taste, shape, and texture communicating with the intended audience? 3. Can you tell what cereal this is? How do you know? Guess... 4. One of these cereals has been around since 1964 and had to be changed immediately. It didn't have enough sugar to attract its intended audience so the company sugarcoated the cereal! Could this be YOUR cereal? Why or why not? If it is YOUR cereal, why do you think the company made this decision? 5. One cereal wasn't colorful enough and so more colors were added. Could this be YOUR cereal? Why or why not? If it is YOUR cereal, why do you think the company made this decision? 6. One cereal really appeals to babies. Could this be YOUR cereal? Why or why not? If it is YOUR cereal, why do you think the company made this decision? 7. One cereal added more candy-pieces to attract more customers. Could this be YOUR cereal? Why or why not? If it is YOUR cereal, why do you think the company made this decision? 8. One cereal is really healthy and tends to create MASS RESISTANCE from JJay students (who get mad at the professor for forcing them to eat it). Could this be YOUR cereal? Why or why not? If it is YOUR cereal, why do you think the company made this decision? PART II: Marketing Logos, Ethos, Pathos & Identification 9. Now we can look at marketing. Look at the box for your cereal. Building on what you said about the taste, texture, and shape, how does the box also work rhetorically? How is ethos established? How does the company use pathos? Where is logos? 10. How is identification working? Where do you see strategic repetition? What difference do these things make? 11. One of these cereals has an audience that is 50% adult and 50% children. They used their ICON (and old jingles) to capture their adult audience by recently targeting Carmen's age group and older with memories of their childhood's cereal-eating. Could this be YOUR cereal? Why or why not? If it is YOUR cereal, why do you think the company made this decision? 12. One of these cereals had a nation-wide contest circa 2000 where small children were allowed to come up with a name for the cereal's mascot. Today, the cereal's commercials try and draw in 30-35 years old (and their children) with rap/R&B artists and dancers. Could this be YOUR cereal? Why or why not? If it is YOUR cereal, why do you think the company made this decision? PART III: Kairos 13. Let's get back to discussing kairos! One of these cereals was pulled from the UK because sales were so horrible. They are NOT tryna hear it with this American cereal there! Could this be YOUR cereal? Why or why not? If it is YOUR cereal, why do you think the company made this decision? 12. What is the significance of context here? Time, place, and culture?
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PART IV: Write about It!
First: With your partner, write 1-2 paragraphs TOGETHER that offer a rhetorical analysis of your cereal. Choose one point of focus. Do not, for instance, simply list out examples of pathos, logos, ethos. You need to establish which of these persuasive appeals is MOST RELEVANT and then examine that ONE thing. Second: Come up with a title for your collaborative thoughts/discussion today, using standard academic format (i.e., "Coo Coo for Cocoa Puffs": The Rhetoric of Too Sweet Cereal… the first part is a catchy phrase, then comes a colon, then there is a phrase that captures the overall theme/idea) Last (if time): SHARE/READ ALOUD ALL TITLES Carmen's Sample
21st Century Bedrock: Post Cereal's Attempt to Make "Fruity Pebbles" Relevant Again
Dino, Barney, Fred, and Bam Bam are men who I got to know very well in my childhood. Of course, I am talking about the infamous cartoon, The Flintstones. Strangely enough, the cereal still exists and sells widely. Yet, without the ethos established by the overwhelming popularity of the cartoon from 1960 and well into the early 1980s, how has this cereal maintained its appeal? Identification! The Flintsones may no longer be a hit animated series, but the age-old childhood fascination with dinosaurs is alive and well and that is what Post is capitalizing on now. (give examples, etc in the next paragraph) |