Conversations Beyond the Classroom (Eng 100O): Ad Analysis

Welcome!

Welcome to our Eng 100 Blog “Conversations Beyond the Classroom”! The title of this blog refers to the community of active readers & collaborative learners we are creating by sharing our academic writing for Eng 100 with each other + a larger group of students, instructors, academics, and just about anybody who chooses to follow our blog! When you write and post your reader responses here (and, later, as you write your essays for the course), I encourage you to use this audience to conceptualize who you are writing for and, most important, how to communicate your ideas so that this group of academic readers and writers can easily follow your line of thinking. Think about it this way: What do you need to explain and articulate in order for the other bloggers to understand your response to the essays we’ve read in class? What does your audience need to know about those essays and the authors who wrote them? And how can you show your readers, in writing, which ideas you add to these “conversations” that take place in the texts we study?

As students of Eng 100, you will use this blog to begin conversations with other academic writers on campus (students and instructors alike). We become active readers of each other’s writing when we comment on posts here. And, best of all, we are using this space to share ideas! We encourage you to use this blog to further think through the topics and writing strategies you will be introduced to this quarter. As always, be sure to give credit to those people whose ideas you borrow for your own thinking and writing (you should do this in the blog by commenting on their post, but you will also be required to cite what you borrow from your peers/instructors if and when it winds up in your essays. More details on that later…).

Finally, keep in mind that writing to and for this audience is a good way to prepare for the panel of readers (faculty at WCC) who will be reading and assessing your writing portfolio at the end of the quarter. We hope that as a large group of active readers, we can better prepare each other for this experience. But, in the meantime, let’s have fun with it! I am really excited see how far we can take this together!

--Mary Hammerbeck, Instructor of Eng 100

Thursday, September 30, 2010

Ad Analysis

In the 2010 Dodge Ram commercial for the truck of the year they portray the truck as being the best you can buy. They do this by showing how the truck can withstand anything from harsh weather conditions to going that extra mile. This example represents strength and reliability. It also states in the commercial truck of the second, truck of the minute, and truck of the hour, which implicates dependability. A good example of the Dodge Ram representing being versatile and unstoppable is when it shows the truck filling the back up with dirt, dragging a tree out from the middle of the road, pulling heavy objects behind it, driving off road, and plowing snow out of its way to make a path. Those illustrations also portray the Dodge Ram as having strength and being hard working. When the commercial goes on to say the most rewarded and an American truck of the free and the brave, it suggests that it is the best there is and that any American should drive this particular truck.

While not all of the claims made in the commercial are necessarily true, I do believe that the truck is of good quality because it has won the truck of the year award. I am not convinced of the trucks ability to go the extra mile, nor do I believe that it has superior strength compared to other trucks. I am not convinced of it because I have not experienced the trucks reliability and strength first hand. However, the commercial has made me believe that the truck may be worth looking into and test driving. I believe this because so many great claims have been made and if all of these claims are in fact true, the truck would indeed be a reliable and superior vehicle.

Commercials are made to convince the consumer that their product is the best but, I don’t believe anything before I see it for myself. While this commercial may persuade some people into looking into buying a Dodge Ram, many people may not believe any of the claims made in the commercial. Some may be convinced that the truck is the one they should buy while others remain skeptical because they keep in mind that commercials are created for the sole purpose of persuading people to buy their product. The quality of the truck cannot be decided until one has experience driving it, but they can develop an opinion based on the information given or inferred in the commercial.

1 comment:

Stephanie HoltonSeptember 30, 2010 at 2:17 PM
What people class, areas of life and experiences are left out or silenced?

Like many truck commercials there are no girls/ women or punk kids. It's like they don't exsist in the truck world. Everyone is outdoorsy and has strength and power. If you usually just drive to work and back the truck is not going to sudenly make you outdoorsy and powerful. It almost seems like dodge is maintaining an image and would rather you not drive the truck if you are not one of these rugged men.

By Nick L. and Stephanie H.
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Practice Introductory Post, Please!

Please Post an Introduction (for practice) by Monday, Sept. 22nd so that we can all be prepared for the first blog post assignment coming up next Thursday.

Here's what to do:

Once you've accepted the invitation to become a contributor to this blog, you will notice a "new post" tab at the top of our blog. Click on that and enter your text. (I suggest you first type in a MW doc and then copy and paste to our blog to minimize the risk of losing your work.) Then, post!

For your first post, please:

Write a brief informal introduction of yourself. Say whatever you’d like about yourself to us—your audience & collaborative learners. Check out Mary’s introduction if you need some ideas about what to say about yourself.