Redesign of Advertisement Essay Reflection

Alex Hatala
WRT 150

Mrs. Rinke

11/2/12

Reflection Essay

            When thinking about finding an advertisement and how I would design in, I felt out of my comfort zone when keeping in mind all of the guidelines that this paper had to have. Going into this assignment was challenging because it was something that I've never had to do before. It was a rather lengthy assignment with the use of rhetorical appeals that I wasn't confident in defining in my paper. I knew that this was going to be an essay that I absolutely could not wait until the last minute to do so I made sure to create an outline of everything that I had to include in it and got started right away. As I began to write a few main points of what I was going to include in my paper, I soon realized that this assignment wasn't as bad as I originally intended it to be.

Finding an advertisement was the easy part for me. I spent some time reading through magazines and paying close attention to all of the advertisements until I came across a David’s Bridal advertisement. I tried picking out the flaws that the advertisement had and soon realized exactly how I was going to redesign it and what angle I would take on it to get my main point across. I wasn't looking for any advertisement in particular but I knew I wanted to find a simple one and figure out what I wanted to do with it and write about it. I wanted to find an advertisement geared towards teenagers and older women. I knew that I would have a better chance to figure out what to write about and how I would redesign it to appeal to a different audience.

When it came time to think about how I wanted to redesign my advertisement, it was easy for me to picture it in my mind. I picked a somewhat general topic of talking about the body image of women in today’s society; the definition of skinny and what everyone considers “fat”. My topic of discussion was also something that I related to because I have my own opinions about how society looks at women and men alike and knew that this topic would a good one to write about. I thought about changing the general audience to appeal to men but since my advertisement was geared towards tall, young, skinny models, it occurred to me that it didn't give a good representation of the body size of all women in society. It made me think about how many young teenage girls view that advertisement in a negative light that makes them think badly about their body. It’s important to make an advertisement that equally appeals to a diverse audience which is what I decided to do in my essay.

As I began writing my essay, I faced quite a few challenges. I struggled with figuring out how I should start and end my essay and what I should incorporate in my body paragraphs. I was looking forward to the peer review of our essays in class so that I was able to find what I had missed while writing my rough draft and what information I still needed to include. There were a lot of things that needed to be talked about in this essay and I was mainly worried about not including them in it. I was also mainly worried about the length requirement because I felt like it was a stretch to even get to 5 pages. Organization was another big thing that I had trouble with because I felt like I had too much information that was scattered and not thought out very well. I overcame these challenges by making sure to read over the guidelines multiple times and write a paragraph that corresponded to each of the points. I took everything that my partner told me that I needed to include in my paper as well as helpful hints and applied it to my final draft which helped take some of the stress off of my shoulders.

What I liked most about this assignment was the fact that we got to pick an advertisement of our choosing instead of having one picked for us. I also felt like I learned a lot about the rhetorical appeals and how they are applied in advertisements. I am one to never pay actual attention to advertisements when flipping through a magazine. It was very interesting to find out that so much thought actually goes into an advertisement and that they aren't just slipped into magazines for no point at all. They capture ethos, logos, and pathos and we aren't even aware of them because we’re either just glancing at them or only focusing on the picture. I will use these likes to my advantage because I actually take the time to look at everything that is on an advertisement instead of reading right over it. It’s interesting to identify the general audience of that advertisement and how they make people want to buy their product.

The learning outcomes that I have walked away with were those of being able to define rhetorical appeals and knowing how to look for them and how to incorporate them in current and future essays as well. I only vaguely remember learning these rhetorical appeals a few years ago and having to use them in a paper helped commit them to memory more easily. Committing these appeals to memory is important for me because I know I’m going to need them in the future and continually writing papers with these appeals should help in strengthening that. I also feel that I've learned how to be a better judge of character when focusing on how advertisements appeal to a general audience even if I may not agree with how they capture a wide range of people in today’s society. I feel that I have a clear understanding now of how to look for ethos, logos, and pathos in anything and knowing these appeals are good for a lot of things in life.
                If I were to get a second chance at writing this essay, I would spend more time figuring out the rhetorical appeals in my advertisement. I felt like I went out on a limb to try to think of how these appeals would be put into my essay and it was hard to find ethos, logos, and pathos in the original advertisement as well as in the redesign. I know that my explanations as to how these appeals were in both advertisements weren't well thought out and I know that’s going to bring down my overall grade on this essay. I would also make sure to spend more time brainstorming everything that I would include in my paper as well as actually writing my paper in regards to the deadlines. Finding a different advertisement would have also benefited me since I didn't spend a lot of time looking through magazines and picking out an advertisement that I could use to write this essay.

A Letter to Myself

Dear 9-year old Alex, you struggled in math and you chose to make a terrible mistake that you’re going to regret for the rest of your life. You’re smart and competent and you know way more information than you give yourself credit for. In 4th grade you learned multiplication and the use of times tables. How hard it all seems now but wait until you’re dealing with math mixed in with the alphabet as you go higher in your education. The math gets more hard and confusing and you struggle to pass with even a D. Simple math like long-division, multiplication, everything that you will wish you could be doing when you get to high school and college.

Multiplication is your weak point and you need to study hard and focus. Don’t be scared to ask your parents or teacher for help. Every week you had a test on the multiplication terms that you had learned that week. Oddly enough, you were able to pull off good grades on all of them even though you didn't quite understand most of them. 6x12, 5x4, how much easier can math get? Then comes the final test with a mix of all of the multiplication problems possible from 1-12. I know you felt unprepared, scared, and felt like you weren't going to do well, but you need to work on just doing your best and if you fail, then you fail. If you pass, then you pass.

You made a terrible decision that day that will always been in the back of your mind to taunt you. You disappointed yourself, your parents, and your 4th grade teacher that you looked up to the most. You had made the horrible decision to cheat on that math test and you got caught. Seeing the hurt and disappointed expression on your 4th grade teacher’s face will haunt you for as long as you can remember. He knew that you made a terrible decision but chose not to do anything further than to call your parents and tell them what happened. You cried the rest of the day at school and on your way home. You knew that when you got home you had to deal with your parents. You were upset for weeks and didn't want to even go to school. Just don’t cheat. Simple as that, Alex. You’re better and stronger than that. Cheating is never an option and it is just not worth the pain and the guilt. Your parents will tease you about it well into the future because they won't believe that you could even be capable of something like that and every time, it will feel like you’re being stabbed in the gut.

Never focus on the negative aspects in life, Alex. Don’t worry about failing a test. All you have to do is go home and put in a few hours of studying by yourself or with your parents. Make sure that you know the key concepts of whatever you may be learning in class. Pay attention to your teacher, take notes, and ask questions. I know you’re shy and very quiet but you need to speak up if you don’t understand something. It is so crucial for your education and you need to get over your shyness for the time being and talk to your teacher even if it may be in private. You never turned in a late assignment so not doing your homework was the problem. I know your parents have told you that you need to get straight A’s and nothing less, but you can’t let that run your life. Yes, getting straight A’s is an amazing goal and achievement to have but you just never steep so low as to cheat. Failing is actually a key to success. You try, you fail, you try, and fail, and soon down the line you’ll see that failing actually pays off when you put forth all the effort that you have in order to succeed in life.

You may have thought that you could hide that tiny little calculator under your legs, but that was a very dumb thought and decision. Sure, you could have gotten away with it but what would that have taught you? You don’t learn anything by cheating. How would you feel when you got that test back and saw that you got a 100% but only by cheating? You’ll feel guilty and that you didn't deserve that grade. Cheating is not worth losing the respect of your 4th grade teacher or showing your parents that you’re not trustworthy. You don’t want that one mistake to linger over your head for the rest of your life just because you were afraid of failing. I hope you take my advice into consideration when the mere thought of cheating pops into your little head. You are even aware that you have bad luck and that you can’t get away with most of the things that other kids can. Take that test, try as hard as you can to recall what you've learned, and accept the final grade that you get. You’ll end up with a big old ZERO as your grade anyways if you cheat. Be the strong, smart girl that you are and never think to cheat. Ever.

                                                            Love the old and wise,

                                                                           Alex Hatala