In this publication about MagnaSoles shoe inserts, The Onion uses a satirical tone to show how willing people are to buy a well-advertised product even though it may be unsuccessful in its purpose.
With the use of “scientific-sounding literature” throughout the piece, The Onion creates a sense of credibility for the MagnaSoles product and a satirical aspect with the use of this “literature”. By using words such as “pseudoscience,” “vibrational biofeedback,” “Terranometry,” “pain-nuclei,” and “comfortrons,” the article is appearing to have a scientific background rather than satiric. To the average public consumer these words may seem appealing, however all of them are not scientific terms, they are actually forms of pseudoscience. But advertisements
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take advantage of that everyday people do not know that these terms are not real. By using fake, scientific sounding words the reader is made to think that the product is backed by credible research, thus improving the chance of the consumer buying the product. Another strategy that The Onion satirizes is product marketing uses interviews from experts to persuade consumers.
By using what seems to be a professional for their product, advertisements create a sense of backing for the product. In the following interview with California State University biotrician Dr. Wayne Frankel, the reader is told about how MagnaSoles help control the Terranometry of the foot. “Special resonator nodules implanted at key spots in MagnaSoles convert the wearer's own energy to match the Earth’s natural vibrational rate of 32.805 kilofrankels. The resultant harmonic energy field rearranges the foot’s naturally occurring atoms, converting the pain-nuclei into pleasing comfortrons.” Even though this interview seems to be filled with scientific reasons to buy this product, that’s what the marketers want you to think. The Onion uses a made up profession, university, and scientific information to attempt to create a fallacy of an expert believing in the product. Another example of how consumers will trust a product advocated by an expert is found in the following customer testimonial from chronic back-pain sufferer Geoff DeAngelis; “Why should I pay thousands of dollars to have my spine realigned with physical therapy when I can pay $20 for insoles clearly endorsed by an intelligent-looking man in a white lab coat.” This testimony proves that consumers would be willing to buy a product just because “an intelligent-looking man in a white lab coat” stereotype
advocated it. Thus, The Onion satirizes how gullible consumers are towards a product being encouraged by experts.
South Park is an animated TV series created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone, which first aired on Comedy Central in 1997. The show features four boys Eric Cartman, Stan Marsh, Kyle Broflovski, and Kenny McCormick. South Park has been seen as one of the most controversial shows due to its raunchy humor and obscene depiction of characters in the show. South Park deals with many current issues in the news surrounding anything from in politics to religion. In dealing with these issues South Park involves adult comedy that parodies current issues going on in the United States and around the world. South Park also uses many other rhetorical deceives, such as
In the mock press release create by “The Onion”, the new shoe insert Magnasoles are described as being set apart from all other shoe inserts by the pseudoscience that the sole imploys. The new soles are being marketed as having magical powers are curing peoples injuries and changing the ways that people are walking. The writers of the press release use falsified ethos and claims in order to show the public how gullible consumers are becoming.
“The Onion’s” mock press release on the MagnaSoles satirical article effectively attacks the rhetorical devices, ethos and logos, used by companies to demonstrate how far advertisers will go to convince people to buy their products. It does this by using manipulative, “scientific-sounding" terminology, comparisons, fabrication, and hyperboles.
The Onion’s mock press release markets a product called MagnaSoles. By formulating a mock advertisement a situation is created where The Onion can criticize modern day advertising. Furthermore, they can go as far as to highlight the lucrative statements that are made by advertisements that seduce consumers to believe in the “science” behind their product and make a purchase. The Onion uses a satirical and humorous tone compiled with made up scientific diction to highlight the manner in which consumers believe anything that is told to them and how powerful companies have become through their words whether true or false.
In “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Gilman, the author utilizes repetition to showcase the growing frustration of the main character towards her husband’s ineffective treatment. Gilman repetitively asks herself “But what is one to do?” Her repetitive questioning conveys to the reader that the treatment that her husband is giving her for her illness is obviously not working. In reality, her husband is unable to figure out what she has and he only puts her in isolation to hope she gets better. This puts an emphasis on the growing frustration the main character is feeling; she knowns that the treatment is not working and she knows her situation is only getting worse. She is frustrated at this, which is evident through her questioning.
“The Onion Field” directed by Harold Becker is a true story, set in the 1960’s, about two men named Greg Powell (James Woods) and Jimmy Smith (Franklyn Seales) who meet through a mutual friend. The two men become close and soon become business partners. They go around together robbing places such as stores to get money. On one excursion to gain some money, they are stopped by two Los Angeles Department police officers named Karl Hettinger (John Savage) and Ian Campbell (Ted Danson). When Campbell asks Powell to step out of the car, he grabs him and puts a gun to his back, pushing him around to the other side of the car. Powell forces the other officer, Hettinger, to hand over his gun to Smith. Without a choice he does so. Powell and Smith take the officers prisoner and drive them out to a middle of nowhere onion field in Bakersfield, California. Powell ends up shooting Campbell once in the mouth, but not before mentioning the Lindbergh Law. He later shoots him four more times while Smith shoots at Hettinger who has escaped. After Smith escapes with the car, Powell is arrested and blames the shooting on Smith. Over several years an investigation and trial goes on to find out the true events of that night. Both men are sentenced to the gas chamber and wait for their time in prison. In the meantime, Hettinger is suffering from severe post-traumatic stress disorder, as well as depression and keeps having nightmares about what occurred that night. He loses his jobs and begins stealing as a coping mechanism. After some time, Powell and Smith get a re-trial and are sentenced to life. After the trial, Hettinger is offered a job in Bakersfield, near the onion field. He and his family move out there. Eventually he learns to deal with the...
In the article The Onion the satire being made criticizes how easily it is for people to believe in an advertised product even though it may be false. The purpose of the writers use of diction, exaggeration, and sarcasm is to make it clear as to how manipulative people have become believing in any products shown in ridiculous advertisement. In this specific article it targets the way an advertisement uses exaggerated stories such as Helene’s or Geoff DeAngelis in order to try to create a connection to an everyday person. Moreover the way they make themselves more credible by their use of a credible source such as the doctors. In total the way an advertisement builds itself to make themselves seem credible to sell their product.
Satire is a literary genre based on criticism of people or society, ridicule and mockery are mixed with humour throughout a work of satire. It usually attacks human frailty, people, ideas and institutions. Through celebrities, advertisements and false integrity, products are made to be more believable and influential to consumers. In this present day, consumers are more likely to purchase a product if they see that a celebrity uses it, or it comes with something free or a very low price compared to similar products. The Onion, a publication devoted to humor and satire, satirizes how products are marketed to consumers, through exaggeration of functionality, scientific data, and medical explanations (diction-large words.)
The author uses supposedly technical words that prove how people can be easily tricked into believing what they hear from scientific experts is always true. The developer of the product, “Magna Soles”, uses words like “magnetism” and “biomagnetic field” to describe the product, and persuade the consumers that the product is effective; however the words aren’t being used accurately. In addition, MagnaSoles employed a new brand of “pseudoscience known as Terranometry” created by Dr. Wayne Frankel, the word “pseudoscience” simply means, practices mistakenly regarded as being based on scientific method. Which emphasizes how companies reach out to people’s ignorance and stupidity in order to persuade them into purchasing the product without any accurate evidence. Lastly, Dr. Wayne Frankel uses “scientific” words named after himself to make MagnaSoles seem accurate. By using words like “Kilofrankels” illustrates the irony, by creating a unit of measure simply named after the founder of Terranometry, which has nothing to do with MagnaSoles. This Market strategy is very affective because it allows the pro...
In her unforgettable memoir, Barbara Ehrenreich sets out to explore the lives of the working poor under the proposed welfare reforms in her hometown, Key West, Florida. Temporarily discarding her middle class status, she resides in a small cheap cabin located in a swampy background that is forty-five minutes from work, dines at fast food restaurants, and searches all over the city for a job. This heart-wrenching yet infuriating account of hers reveals the struggles that the low-income workers have to face just to survive. In the except from Nickel and Dimed, Ehrenreich uses many rhetorical strategies to illustrate the conditions of the low wage workers including personal anecdotes of humiliation at interviews, lists of restrictions due to limited
To the members of the support group Naïve People who are Addicted to Mass media and Believe Anything They Hear or Read Anonymous my purpose of being here today is to help you better understand how to analyze the mass media you come across. Mass media is the news, newspapers, magazines, the radio, and the television. The way I’m going to analyze it, is by rhetorical analysis. Rhetoric is how effective the writer is in persuading the reader by using speech and compositional techniques. In order for you to be able to become more apprehensive when reading information, I will be analyzing the ad for Vitaminwater featuring Kobe Bryant. Vitaminwater was introduced in 1996. It is a mineral water that is given out by Energy Brands. Like many sports drinks they use famous athletes to speak for them and promote them. Vitaminwater’s ad with Kobe Bryant is successful because it persuades people to buy their product because it’s, “The Most Valuable Power.”
In his 2011 article, 2 cheers for the maligned slacker dude, Nathan Robin of the Onion attempts to reveal the unseen potential that perhaps lies within America's bachelors. Robin addresses the seeming lack of masculinity that has arisen in previous decades, and the effects that this is having on the 20 something males of today. In the article, the author makes the point that men in their early twenties have always been creators and accomplishers, and that despite appearances, this is still true today. Robin adds that these males are occasionally blind to their own potential, and while many appear to be under achievers, they show initiative, and promise. The author uses Mark Zuckerberg as an example of this almost dormant brilliance,
The creator's utilization of style stresses the tone that real advertisements use to sell their products. Nonetheless, this creator spurns that tone by utilization of wry and misrepresented word decision. For instance, he ridicules the scientific words typically used by applying made up words. He creates terms like “pain nuclei,” “kilofrankels,” and “comfortrons.” By inserting this humorous word usage, the author is making an association to scientific vocabulary typically used in marketing. Consumers are frequently deluded by vocabulary that they are unfamiliar with, and this author is satirically demonstrating that. In particular, he uses the term “pseudoscience” which sounds, to a clueless ear, like a legitimate field of study. On the other hand, a sharp peruser will
Living in a world where many prefer to believe what is shown to them, rather than doing some of their own research, can lead to consequences. (Figure 1) Some people believe electronic cigarettes are a safer and healthier alternative to the actual cigarette because of how they are advertised. “Because they [e-cigs] deliver nicotine without burning tobacco, e-cigarettes are purported to be safer and less toxic than conventional cigarettes. Despite these claims, there’s still no real data on the effects of e-cigarettes (positive or negative), yet marketing materials still bill them as a healthy choice” (Worthington emphasis mine). Drug advertisements normally show the beneficial side of
Living in the age of attention economics and information overload, we expect instant and reliable gratification and this has lead to us becoming lazy, easily influenced and susceptible to multiple fallacies. It is because of two main fallacies, confirmation bias and appeal to authority, that we become a part of the pseudoscientific market. The best examples of this can be seen in the rapid increase in popularity surrounding Power Balance bands a few years ago and the great interest we have in astrology. 2009/2010 saw an Australian company release hologram bracelets that were meant to increase sporting ability, power a...