E-portfolio

Introduction: 

My name is Marta Beczek. I am a student at The Pennsylvania State University double majoring in Spanish and International Politics and minoring in Media Studies (Class of 2015). I am 18 years old, originally from Poland, and looking to pursue a career in the non-profit sector.

My rhetoric has greatly improved throughout my first year at this university. I believe that it is of the utmost importance to have a strong voice in this world and to use words with meaning. Over the course of this year I have mastered the art of persuasion and become more than comfortable with public speaking. I am now fully capable of expressing my thoughts and ideas in ways which make others want to listen and agree. I want to end my introduction with one of my favorite quotes:"A prayer for the wild at heart, kept in cages." I believe that rhetoric and the correct use of words free us from cages and allow our wild hearts and minds to be heard and set free. Expression through rhetoric is what makes people unrestricted and that is why it is so valuable to me. 

Marta Beczek's E-portfolio

Rhetoric of Penn State

http://blog.timesunion.com/college/author/leannhlebica/

So as my first year is coming to an end here at PSU, I've started to look back at how much this place has become home to me and it makes me a little bit sad to be leaving for the summer.

I think that Penn State does a fantastic job of making a big school seem small. It seems that I have made so many friends here and anywhere I go, I always see someone I know. Ever since my first orientation, the idea that Penn State students, faculty, and alumni are a "big family" has been implanted into my brain. And now, from personal experience, I can say that this mantra lives up to its name. I feel like everyone here is so friendly and welcoming and we are all joined together by a common love for PSU.

Another thing that brings all of us together may be our motto "WE ARE... PENN STATE." I think this further supports the idea that we are all united and powerful together. I'd be intimidated if I were an outsider and heard this chanted around campus. Overall, I love love love the family atmosphere that this place provides because I think that it makes being here so comfortable and pleasant.

Another reason that we cannot deny why PSU is so popular and powerful is because of our football team and because of JoePa (RIP). Sports have definitely made this school become "something that everyone wants to be a part of" because who doesn't want a school with a well-known football team and the best student section?

In conclusion, I whole-heartedly enjoyed my first year here. From meeting so many new great friends, to experiencing an amazing social life, to learning from some of the greatest professors I've ever met. I love everything about this place and I cannot wait till next semester!

Dayglow!




http://onwardstate.com/2012/01/30/dayglow-coming-to-happy-valley/

 


http://blogs.riverfronttimes.com/rftmusic/2011/09/dayglow_paint_party_at_the_pag.php

 I attended the Dayglow party/concert yesterday and it was absolutely amazing! (For anyone who doesn't know what Dayglow is: it is a "paint party" concert with DJ's.) The house-style music was great and the paint being thrown everywhere made dancing to it so much more enjoyable. Thinking about it now, Dayglow has a lot of appeal to a younger audience and that is why it's becoming popular all over the world.

The theme of this year's Dayglow party is "Life in Color" which automatically insinuates that our lives need more fun and that Dayglow is the way to achieve a higher appreciation of life. No one wants to live a black and white life, we want to add color to it and that is why we are drawn to buy tickets for this event.

Another tactic used to persuade people is that its a messy event. In the ads, one can see that there’s paint splattered everywhere. Usually messy means fun, messy signifies that people can go all-out and party without restrictions. Looking at the second picture, this is exactly what is happening.

Overall, I think the concert was very well organized. Everyone was told to wear white so that the paint could show up on clothes. There was stage shows like girls strung from ropes doing tricks. There was confetti and balloons poured on the audience throughout the night from the ceiling. All of our senses were used. We could hear the techno music, see the performances on the stage, smell and feel the paint on our bodies, and touch friends through dancing. I think that the concert lived up to its motto "Life in Color" because this was probably one of the most exciting concerts I've been to ever.

I recommened anyone who did not go Wednesday or Thursday to attened Dayglow in the future :)

Rhetoric/ History of Rap

Last week in my Spanish class, we spent the day listening to Mexican rap...when the conversation took a turn into the history of rap in general. What I learned was that rap when it first started had a lot more meaning in its lyrics than it does today. It was a form of rebellion and protest against the government. For example, the CD above is from one of the original rap groups called N.W.A or Niggas with Attitude. Even their name is a form of rebellion aimed to show that they are treated differently in society than other races. One of their top songs was "Fuck the Police" where the lyrics described how police target innocent black males for crimes. These songs were aimed to have political and social meanings.

However, nowadays, rappers usually just sing about money, girls, cars, and jelewry. Although most of us would think that "rap is garbage" and has no meaning... my Spanish teacher proposed a different point of view. He said that a lot of these rappers grew up in the ghettos, horrible towns, high crime rates, failing schools, and so forth. Their chance of "making it" was next to none. And when they finally did "make it," they want to show off their well-earned status and how they beat the odds. So when we listen to songs about rappers having money and "sipping Grey Goose," its their way of showing the world that they broke their cycle of poverty and worked hard to become successful, unlike their friends who probably joined gangs or were forced to work minimum wage jobs.

Although rap is not entirely about politics anymore, it still has some sort of meaning. In a way, it is motivational and can motivate a person to want to work hard and make something of their lives.

Rhetoric of Lindsay Lohan

http://which-hairstyle-is-better.bellasugar.com/Lindsay-Lohan-Red-vs-Blonde-vs-Brunette-95321 

http://www.eonline.com/news/lindsay_lohan_tested_negative_alcohol/186437

The first picture was of Lindsay Lohan right after the premiere of Mean Girls, when the world fell in love with her. The second one is of her present day. So what happened? Why does everyone dislike her now?

I honestly do not believe that she is disliked for her lesbian affairs, alcohol problems, or cocaine addiction. I think is is entirely the media's fault for her "bad image." I think every person has tough phases in their lives but Lohan's were over-dramatized and the stories were not well balanced. Instead of giving her a sympathetic image, to show that she was battling some demons in her head and her life, the media used her screw-ups as gas to set her reputation on fire.

But it is not entirely the fault of the media. At first, Lohan was a "good, innocent red-haired girl" but then she changed her image. She became a typical rebellious blonde. Can hair color change a persons reputation? I think yes. No offense to anyone, but I think it is a lot harder to respect a blonde girl than a brunette haired girl. Society and movies instill these commonplaces in us but Lohan knew what she was doing when she went blonde.

Overall, Lohan's declining reputation was the effect the media and of her own image change.

Not Going Green

A while back I read an interesting article in the Collegian that claimed that society falls for buying overpriced "organic" clothing and food because it makes them feel better about themselves because they get an illusion that they are saving the world. In reality, most of these organic products are not much different than regular products in their chemical makeup and all of them are still produced in the same factories that cause pollution. What the article suggested is that instead of paying for a NEW pair of organic jeans...why not just wear an OLD pair of jeans and NOT make a new purchase? This is the only sure way of helping the environment.

Many products like Levi's organic jeans

http://www.gingerbreadrunning.com/2009/05/runners-wear-jeans-too-levis-501.html

have come up with organic clothes. The green label that reads "100% organic cotton" manipultes people to think that these jeans are made with better material and are safer for the enviroment. Since there has been a big "green" push recently, many people believe that it is the right thing to do to purchase these products. In reality, this is a trick companies use to make a profit. These jeans are probably more expensive than regular Levi's jeans and the only thing that the consumer is paying more for is the tag that says "100% cotton" because the materials used are generally the same.

Fact: there are no regulations/standards that companies must follow to ensure that their products are "organic." Essentially, most companies can lie and get away with it.

Going back to the article, instead of purchasing MORE organic clothing, why not just re-use old clothing? If someone really wants to change the world and the environment then they cannot fall into these marketing tricks. The best way to be green is to reuse and recycle what one already owns.

Rhetoric of Spring Break

Spring Break in New Orleans:


http://blog.carnivalneworleans.com/?p=2742

 Spring Break in Panama City:

These are not uncommon pictures to see of college student's Spring Breaks. In fact, these images and sterotypes are a commonplace. It is generally accepted that during Spring Break, college students take trip to warm and beachy parts of the world like Florida or Latin America and party for a whole week as a way to celebrate the near-end of the second semester and to welcome the warm weather.

However, although this sterotype is very common, how many college students actually do this? I know that I went home this break, most of my friends did as well and we all did not break out our bikinis and margarita glasses at the beach while we were there. It seems that very few students actually do celebrate Spring Break as the pictures above portray.

My theory is that travel companies and even certain states and countries want to make it appear that this is what everyone does and you should too. How many times have we seen  pictrues or commericals advertising a group of people enjoying themselves at the beach? Spring Break is a very big money-making time for companies and they want to advertise as much as they can and therefore we subconciously think that this is what everyone does during the week off of school.

Truth is most of us cannot afford these type of trips and many of us rather visit our families and friends back in our hometown rather than go to Mexico or Miami. So the lesson that can be pulled from the hyped of image of Spring Break is that not all stereotypes are true and that many commonplace ideas can be fabricated by the media and by companies.

Penn State Memes

Memes have been a hot topic of conversation recently. They are dramatizations of the truth for a comical effect. They are persuasive in a way that they use famous characters or quotes and twist them in a way to relate to a certain topic, like student life at Penn State.

For example,

This meme uses an image from the movie Mean Girls where the gym teacher says, "Do not have sex or you will get pregnant and die." The creator of this meme put his own spin on it and came up with a similar quote for the situations that could arise on State Patty's Day. The comparison to the movie makes it more persuasive because most young adults can recall the famous movie and then relate it to PSU, while laughing out loud.



This meme uses the famous quote from Dos Equis commericals: "I don't always drink beer, but when I do I drink Dos Equis" but instead alters it to make fun of how students fall on the tiles near the Forum building. In a way, this meme can make students feel better about their accidents because they can laugh about it and realize that others have tripped in the same area as well. Once again, the famous Dos Equis man and the comical effect of the quote causes the rhetoric of the meme to be successful.

My question is are these memes good for a schools reputation? They are meant to poke fun at unique characteristics of social and university life and maybe meant to laugh at the faults of the school and students. However, it can be possible that memes can have the power for outsiders to judge the school on its bad traits. Memes are usually made about the negative aspects of a school, not positive and in my opinion can cause future problems.

The First MacBook Air Ad

Since we just finished doing our ad presentations, I decided to analyze another commercial that I recently saw on Youtube this week. This is Apple's first ad for the MacBook Air. Here is how I interpreted it:

The first thing the audience sees is a flat brownish envelope (brown signifies security and reliability, the characteristics which MacBooks are known for). Secondly, as the hand takes the computer slowly out of the envelope, it creates suspense within the audience. Finally, the hand takes out a super thin laptop and that is the moment of surprise for the audience.

Eventually, the laptop gets turned around so the audience can view its whole unique design as if it were a trophy. All of this is shot on a white background. White signifies purity, innovation, and the idea of something being new, which the laptop is: the world’s (newest and) thinnest laptop. This logos that appears at the end of the test is simple and powerful. It makes it seem like the MacBook is the best product in the WORLD because it is the thinnest out of all other laptops.
Ultimately, the logo of the bitten apple appears at the end; this is establishing ethos because that symbol is widely known and almost everyone is aware of how good the Apple brand is.

Another aspect that the video used to persuade was music. It used "New Soul" by Yael Naim which has the lyrics “I’m a new soul, I came to a strange world…” once again pushing the point that is product is new and worth checking out.

I think this Apple commercial is highly effective because every little detail in the 90 second time-limit is planned out to appeal to the audience.

Color Psych - Restaurant Edition

So  in class we learned about color psychology and it fascinated me because it showed how a minor detail can have a HUGE effect on a company's well-being. Now every restaurant logo I look at, I cannot help brainstrom reasons in my head as to why the company picked those colors.

Here is an article that I found that further explains why restaurants refuse to use blue in their logos and most restaurants use red:

"While blue is one of the most popular colors it is one of the least appetizing. Blue food is rare in nature. Food researchers say that when humans searched for food, they learned to avoid toxic or spoiled objects, which were often blue, black, or purple. When food dyed blue is served to study subjects, they lose appetite.
Green, brown, and red are the most popular food colors. Red is often used in restaurant decorating schemes because it is an appetite stimulant."


Read more: Color Psychology — Infoplease.com http://www.infoplease.com/spot/colors1.html#ixzz1me5sPdBu

I want to direct this blog in a way that I want to analyze all my favorite restaurants' logos through color psychology and pathos.

http://www.panerabread.com/

#1 Panera is my favorite place for soups and salads (their broccoli cheddar is amazing)! What I love about Panera is that its food is healthy and natural. After researching the colors, I realized that the green in their logo is supposed to symbolize "nature" and promote their natural, good-for-you food. The dash of yellow in the center is supposed to be the attention-getter because people are naturally attracted to yellow. I've learned that yellow also increases concentration, which makes sense to put a dash of yellow in the center of a green logo so people can concentrate on the name and feel "good" about themselves for picking Panera.

http://www.starbucks.com/

#2  I am a coffee addict (3 or more cups a day!) and my favorite place to get a coffee from is Starbucks. Why do I trust this place so much? The green once again, is supposed to make it seem as if their coffee is all-natural and therefore increases my level of trust in the company because I feel better about buying good coffee. In addition, green can also be used for relaxation which makes sense for a coffee shop. I go to Starbucks to sit, relax, do some homework, and sip on a grande coffee - so their color matches with what a coffee shop is supposed to be. Lastly, the dash of black in the center is supposed to symbolize authority over any other coffee place and work up ethos in the audience to buy coffee from the best.

http://www.pinkberry.com/

#3 Pinkberry is a NY-NJ area frozen yogurt restaurant (the best one I tried so far!) and once again the green in this logo is supposed to symbolize that the product is natural, healthy, and that we should not feel guilty for eating in. However, what makes this logo attractive is the pink swirl to the right. Pink is supposed to be a nurturing color and this makes sense because usually when people, especially girls, are upset they want to stuff their face with ice cream products and therefore the pink is saying "come here, I'll make you feel better."

Nike - JUST DO IT



http://www.nike.com/

 I went to the gym for the first time today since winter break and I realized I need new running shoes. As I was thinking about it, I realized that the only brand that I would consider buying is Nike. And then I started thinking as to why I would not buy Adidas, Reebok, or Puma and I realized that I have become a victim of Nike's advertisements.

JUST DO IT. That's Nike's motto and it’s very powerful. In class we learned about ethos and I think Nike does a fantastic job of portraying ethos in its advertisements. The three words in the motto speak so much. JUST DO IT. No other option, just Nike. That's how I feel about their products. Nike’s motto and even its checkmark logo gives the company confidence and therefore makes them trustworthy and forceful to an audience. I think that by making it seem as if they are “the best” gives them the effect of expertise over all other sporting goods companies. Their motto is simple; no need to use more words than three strong ones; giving the audience sureness of the quality of their products. In addition, the check symbol to me portrays confidence as well. Check, done, finished, complete. It speaks “your research on any other product is done because you have just found Nike.”

Lastly, I believe that Nike appeals to all age groups. Their motto is universal to everyone and everyone can benefit from their products. Their message to JUST DO IT is aimed to motivate every single person to get outside and exercise (and buy their product).

Nike has a great influence over me and I believe they have one of the best advertising techniques over any other company because no other company is as confidant and forceful in the selling and promoting of their products.

So my question is, do you usually JUST DO IT (and buy Nike products) because they seem to be the best? Or how/why have you refused to follow Nike’s persuasive advertisements?

A Million Dollars Isn't Cool

*To Write Love on Her Arms is a non-profit movement dedicated to presenting hope and finding help for people struggling with depression, addiction, self-injury and suicide.  TWLOHA exists to encourage, inform, inspire and also to invest directly into treatment and recovery. * (http://www.twloha.com/vision/)

This video was made to persuade the public to vote for the charity "To Write Love on Her Arms" for the Giving Awards where 5 charities compete for 1 million dollars. The strategies used here to do such were fascinating to me and very, very unique.

First, they used a famous Hollywood star, Justin Timberlake, in their commercial which is a normal advertising technique. But instead of having him endorse their message, they portrayed him being ignorant to the charity and what it stood for. I suppose that this was aimed for the public to feel bad that they, too, are as guilty of being ignorant to these charities. If famous Justin Timberlake can be ignorant, so can the rest of society. In a way, they used a reverse technique to persuade; they admitted that many people do not help non-profit organizations and showed them how rude and immoral it is (through Timberlake) so they can now vote for TWLOHA in the future.

In addition, the comedy of the commercial helped make it memorable. Timberlake says "A million dollars isn't cool. You know what's cool? A billion dollars." His poking fun at the sum of money makes the people watching the commercial remember that a MILLION dollars is up for grabs for the charity and one can infer how useful it can be. Lastly, the commonplace quote at the end “can’t you just tweet about it?”  was asked to Timberlake as a possible technique to get the public to tweet about it. Since Timberlake was not cooperating with TWLOHA and the public saw how disheartening it was, they do not want to be like him and will post on their Twitters about this.

In conclusion, I loved how this commerical used a uncommon method to get their message across and I thought it was very effective.

I Believe in Coffee and Conversations

Death by Nuggets

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2092071/Stacey-Irvine-17-collapses-eating-McDonalds-chicken-nuggets-age-2.html

Stacy Irvine, age 17, has been eating McDonald's chicken nuggets everyday for the past fifteen years. Her diet does not vary except for  "...the occasional slice of toast for breakfast." She also has never eaten a piece of fruit or a vegetable. Her chicken nugget addiction has landed her in the hospital for extremely low vitamins and anemia. Irvine's only source of nutrition is McDonald's and its slowly starting to kill her. So my question is how can a fast food restaurant mass sell such an unhealthy and life-threatening product?

I believe that McDonald's' marketing tactics are superb. They are able to portray their dangerous food in a way that appeals to the majority of society. By pushing their "Happy Meals" and offering a toy with each meal, they are subconsciously training children to want to go to McDonalds because with every burger and chicken nugget they eat, they receive a "reward." In addition, McDonald's' "Dollar Menu" is very appealing to families and adults who are on a budget. Getting a whole meal for under $5 is hard to pass up, especially in these rough economic times. I once read an article where a person would spend 3 times more money buying vegetables and meat for a home cooked meal than going to McDonald's for dinner.

The convenience of McDonald's may also be a factor in its popularity. In America, there is a McDonald's on almost every major street. You can drive your car right to the side of the building and within minutes your food will be handed to you, without ever having to step out of the comfort of your car. In our high-paced society, this time-saver can be appealing to many people.

To sum up, maybe the "cheapness" and the "convenience" of fast food restaurants are what makes them addicting to us. The food is dangerous; being high in fat and sodium but, it seems that Americans are willing to sacrifice their health in order to save money and time.

Walmart Christmas

Up above is one of Walmart's Christmas commercials that aired in 2011. I remember sitting at home during Winter break and constantly laughing at this commercial. I think it is very effective in persuading people to shop at Walmart during the holidays because of its simplicity and its comical effect.

First of all, anyone can relate to this commercial; mothers, fathers, children, and the elderly because everyone has a list of gifts that they need to buy for their friends and family. Everyone is also stressed during the holidays and are usually running around from store to store and form mall to mall making purchases. Walmart offers a solution to save everyone from that stress: buy everything at their store. Anyone can do it.

When the female goes, "Hi can you read my list?," and the sales associate responds, "It's all crossed out," the audience then gets brainwashed into thinking that Walmart is the best place to get Christmas gifts from because the female makes it seem so easy and joyous.

Lastly, the ending where the lady responds to the sales associate "Because I got everything on it. Boom!" makes the audience laugh because the onomatopoeia is unexpected and not common for a customer to say. The comical effect of this commercial makes it memorable. I can personally say that I have went around to my friends saying "Boom" and quoting lines from this video.

Overall, the commercial is very well written and performed. It is short, only 15 seconds, and very simple, only three lines, but highly memorable.