Rhetorical Analysis Of Richard Seaver's Coca-Cola Ad

Coca-Cola having been an iconic, refreshing brand for more than a century, must have been accustomed to copyright infringement. In 1970, the Coca-Cola brand was faced with the theft of their slogan, “It’s the real thing” by the publishing company, Grove Press for their advertisement of the Diary of a Harlem Schoolteacher. The executive of the soda company, Ira Herbert, wrote a formal letter requesting for the Grove’s discontinue of their slogan as it threatened the brand’s originality. Richard Seaver, vice president of the Grove Press, wrote a letter in response to the request and unlike Herbert’s polite and serious manner, Seaver appeared to be far more arrogant. However, the difference between their appearances in the letters illustrates that Seaver is significantly more convincing. Seaver utilizes subtle satirical strategies such as irony, mockery and also includes logic to emphasize how absurd Herbert sounded in his letter and to achieve his point that phrases are not limited to only one entity. Initially, Seaver …show more content…
The letter from Seaver was primarily written to reject Coca-Cola’s proposal of discontinuing the use of the slogan but it also ended up ridiculing Herbert. Herbert, however, had some strong points too especially when he provided logical arguments. In his letter, he mentioned historical dates to establish a seniority over the slogan. This would make his argument solid because it is difficult to challenge the ownership of something when someone else has claimed it far longer. Seaver though, worked his way around Herbert’s points and avoided the dates completely. Why are rhetorical strategies important? Rhetorical devices can influence an author’s