Appropriateness as defined in the Crowley and Hawhee’s article is the “means to say or do whatever is fitting in a given situation”. (Crowley, Hawhee pg 233) This is thought to have derived from the Greeks, and I think that is still important when writing today. A big part of selling products is advertisement, what better way to do that than commercials? Most people watch at least some TV every day, therefore, that is the biggest advertisement out there. I chose a commercial by American Express and the slogan is “Don’t take chances, take charge”, the slogan is one of the biggest reasons I chose this article because that could mean so many different things. It could mean don’t take chances with other companies, choose American Express, it could also mean, don’t take chances with paying with cash, choose charging instead. This commercial has everything that “style” could use to work to a company’s advantage. The music makes you feel sad, maybe even scared, and that’s just to start, before the words are even spoken. “Sometimes the little things in life feel like our biggest enemies, they can be damaged, they can be stolen, happily there’s the American Express charge card, if something you recently bought with the card breaks, they can be repaired, replaced or your account can be credited, you’ll even get membership reward points with each purchase, and peace of mind when you travel, can your card say that?”
In regards to the words of my commercial, I think that American Express is really driving home the fact of their new program of replacing or repairing your products for you. As the commercial goes along the music also starts to get more hopeful and exciting then in the beginning when the commercial is talking about how our every day things are our enemies. I think that style alone would make some people think they can’t live without this card, if they are big spenders. When the article talks about appropriateness it talks about “seizing the right moment to speak, the moment when listeners are ready to hear”, I think this commercial took a little lesson from the Greeks. The American Express commercial takes this style to a whole new level, at first they let you think about your purchases, with no voice interruption and then towards the end they try and make you feel better by offering you their card, the voice comes more often, the music gets higher, etc.
“Greek terms for a loose sentence can be translated “running” or “strung-on” or “continuous”. This is how I view the commercial I chose, it was like one big sentence, broken up into many different parts, all said at different times in the commercial. “He seems to have meant that the parts of a loose sentence are simply tacked on to one another”, this is exactly how I felt about my commercial when listening to it for the first time. (Crowley, Hawhee pg 23)
The unspoken part of my commercial, in my opinion, said a lot more than the actual words that were spoken. I believe it to be “grand style”, there were expensive purses, sunglasses, household appliances, etc shown. Should you trust your most expensive purchases with another charge card? Not according to this commercial! They have an air about them that their charge card is for people that have money, or who have expensive taste. These everyday objects were made to look sad during the first part of the commercial, in the second part of the commercial, there were brighter colors and objects made to look happy. I imagine someone not having an American Express charge card being “sad” about their purchases, but then they have one and get membership points with each purchase and their objects become happier. The music also added to the style of this commercial, it was a violin that sounded beautiful; it wasn’t rap music or pop music so I assume they are trying to reach a specific audience. I think this is where Irony comes into play, “Irony is an expression of something which is contrary to the intended meaning.” (Website, Glossary of Rhetorical Terms) Most of my purses are happy no matter how I pay for them, isn’t it a little ironic that the purses are only happy after they realize they are paid for with an American Express charge card? I think so.
In the beginning of the commercial I believe the speaker was trying to express “Aporia”, which is expression of doubt by which a speaker appears uncertain as to what he should think, say or do.” (Website, Glossary of Rhetorical Terms) This is also a part of our Crowley and Hawhee article, in the subject of “Sententia, which arouses emotion” In this specific commercial, I think the speaker was trying to sound like this in the beginning to sound like he was helpless and didn’t know what to do next. Then all of a sudden, life is changed when the American Express offers to replace broken items near the middle of the commercial, and finally at the end, all is better and fixed. Apparently the producers of this commercial are trying to arouse emotion in the audience and I’m sure that a lot of people may only be moved by certain parts like the music, or the speaking voice, but they were moved weren’t they? The producers of this commercial want you to think that without their card, you are not charging the right way? Or maybe it’s the fact that no one can afford to charge right now and they are trying to get customers? This is the first time I have heard of products being replaced if broken, so who knows!
The spoken language is what got me in this commercial, the speaker’s voice is so low and soothing that you feel like you are in a different place, with the music included. The spoken language is not as formal, it sounds like it could be a friend telling you this information to help you out. The language in this commercial is what could sway some people, if it was a tough voice or loud and obnoxious, it might not have made the same “appearance” about the company. I think that credit card companies need to really think before they send out advertisements now a days, they need to have a perfect commercial to get everyone’s attention in today’s financial state. Many people have been traumatized by credit card debt, so why American Express? Why even charge at all? Obviously commercials about this subject need to be made very carefully.
I also think that the trope, Hyperbole, is used in this commercial quite a bit. “Hyperbole is an elegant straining of the truth.” (Crowley and Hawhee pg 258) I think that in the beginning of the commercial is when this comes into play, the purses are sad; once again I will touch on this subject. This could be referred as an “elegant straining of the truth”, they are using expensive purses to display that the “little things in life can sometimes be your biggest enemies”. Around the middle of the commercial they say that they will replace or credit your account for broken items, but don’t miss the small fine print that says within 90 days. They aren’t going to announce that out loud, so they strain the truth so that their card sound even better to the customer they are trying to reach.
All in all, this project has made it so I will never watch commercials again without looking for little “clues” as to why it was made the way it was made. This project is one of the most interesting I have ever done and opened my eyes to the reason why certain “style“ is used in certain situations.
Works Cited
Crowley, Sharon, and Debra Hawhee. Ancient Rhetorics for Contemporary Students. Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1999. Print.
“Kentucky Classics.” University of Kentucky – Welcome to the University of Kentucky. Web. 01 Oct. 2010. <http://www.uky.edu/AS/Classics/rhetoric.html>.
