I opted to conduct my rhetorical analysis and evaluation on the Emergency Preparedness poster from the Ad Council. The print ad or poster in question shows a town that a tornado has ripped through, with markers showing where members of a hypothetical family are located. The message of this particular ad piece is quite simple, in the event of a serious emergency; know where your family is. This in itself speaks to a need in all of us to be connected to our loved ones, especially in a time of crisis. It would be my assessment that this particular claim is considered fact, given that it genuinely is very important to have a plan in the event of such emergencies to ensure that you know the location and status of your loved ones. While this
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Since the ad is encouraging people to go to the website to create an emergency preparedness plan, I would assume that ready.gov and the organizations behind it are also responsible in some way. The Logos, or the message behind this ad is quite simply to take the time to make a plan so that your family knows what to do in the event of an emergency. The message is also that you can go to that particular website for help in that regard. The audience, Pathos, is everyone who might find themselves in an emergency situation, which is essentially everyone. I would consider this to be a highly effective ad. It has an emotional impact -- whether you’ve been through a tornado or not, the destruction speaks to you, the separation of the family speaks to you, and it makes you want to be sure that your family knows what to do in a similar situation. While I’ve never faced the destruction of a tornado personally, I did live in the San Francisco area during the 1989 earthquake. Fortunately, my family was all safe that day, but if circumstances had been slightly different, my mom would have been on the highway structure that collapsed during the quake. Seeing this ad makes me wonder what would have happened if she had been heading to Treasure Island to pick up my dad from work. It makes me realize that we didn’t have any plan in place if something like that happened, and my younger sister and I wouldn’t have known what to do if our mother didn’t come home that day. This ad is definitely effective, and it makes me want to establish such a plan for my family
Since the ad is encouraging people to go to the website to create an emergency preparedness plan, I would assume that ready.gov and the organizations behind it are also responsible in some way. The Logos, or the message behind this ad is quite simply to take the time to make a plan so that your family knows what to do in the event of an emergency. The message is also that you can go to that particular website for help in that regard. The audience, Pathos, is everyone who might find themselves in an emergency situation, which is essentially everyone. I would consider this to be a highly effective ad. It has an emotional impact -- whether you’ve been through a tornado or not, the destruction speaks to you, the separation of the family speaks to you, and it makes you want to be sure that your family knows what to do in a similar situation. While I’ve never faced the destruction of a tornado personally, I did live in the San Francisco area during the 1989 earthquake. Fortunately, my family was all safe that day, but if circumstances had been slightly different, my mom would have been on the highway structure that collapsed during the quake. Seeing this ad makes me wonder what would have happened if she had been heading to Treasure Island to pick up my dad from work. It makes me realize that we didn’t have any plan in place if something like that happened, and my younger sister and I wouldn’t have known what to do if our mother didn’t come home that day. This ad is definitely effective, and it makes me want to establish such a plan for my family