Week 9 Day Two: Obesity Poster Analysis

Visual Rhetoric was the theme for today's lesson. Surprisingly enough, not one person could define what that word meant despite a whole presentation on it for the homework.

A simple definition of visual rhetoric is the following:

It is the way the images work on their own and collaborate with written text to create an argument designed to move a specific audience.

The Palmetto Writers analyzed obesity posters using some guiding questions.

Here is what Eric and Kylie came up with.

1. What is the general ambience of the advertisement? What mood does it create? How does it do this?
- The general ambience is at a barbeque. The mood it creates is enjoyable. The beer and hamburger show the mood of enjoyable.

2. What is the design of the advertisement? Does it use axial balance or some other form? How are the basic components or elements arranged?
- The design of the advertisement is that eating unhealthy things and drinking beer will make you fat. The advertisement does not use axial balance it uses dynamic balance, the visual elements are not arranged in a balanced manner. If you put a vertical line down the middle of the advertisement on the left you see half of the beer cup and half of the hamburger. On the right you see the other half of the beer and the hamburger and the gentleman’s beer belly.

3. What is the use of space in the advertisement? Is there a lot of 'white space" or is it full of graphic and written elements?
- The only white space in the advertisement is the gentleman’s white shirt. Other than that the advertisement is full of the rest of the graphic and written element

4. If there are figures (men, women, children, animals) what are they like? What can be said about their facial expressions, poses, hairstyle, age, sex, hair color, ethnicity, education, occupation, relationships (of one to the other)?
- Looking at the advertisement you can tell that the person posing for the picture is a gentleman by his strong veiny hands. You can also see that the advertisers might be trying to make his shirt look like whip cream. The bottom of the shirt looks like it is swirling to the top like whip cream inside of the can.

5. What does the background tell us? Where is the advertisement taking place and what significance does this background have?
- The advertisement is taking place outside at a barbeque, the significance of the background is the greenish colors in the background that can symbolize trees or grass.

6. What is the item being advertised and what role does it play in American culture and society?
- The items being advertised are beer and hamburgers the roles they play in American culture and society are that beer and hamburgers are a big part of American culture. Almost every out door party you go to serves them.

7. What about aesthetic decisions? If the advertisement is a photograph, what kind of a shot is it? What significance do long shots, medium shots, close-up shots have? What about the lighting, use of color, angle of the shot?
- It is a close up shot. The lighting is bright enough to see what is happening in the advertisement.

8. What sociological, political, economic or cultural attitudes are indirectly reflected in the advertisement? An advertisement may be about a pair of blue jeans but it might, indirectly, reflect such matters as sexism, alienation, stereotyped thinking, conformism, generational conflict, loneliness, elitism, and so on.

The only thing that didn't work on this assignment was that some of the pictures were too small and the text couldn't be read. In future, I will put the pictures on a PowerPoint and number them and assign the photos.

I liked the fact that I provided an example of the analysis. Everyone did a good job on this assignment and seemed engaged. The timing was perfect and we even had time for a couple of the pairs to do their show and tell. This lesson is definitely a keeper!