Late Morning Ads

As I aimlessly go from channel to channel on my TV at 3 in the morning I repeatedly stumble past ads for different weight lifting systems.  The most overly toned people show how easy it is to use their equipment.  Of course every guy is shirtless flaunting their 12-packs and flexing muscles that I didn’t even know existed.  Every similar type of advertisement shows men or women that seem to be sculpted by the gods. 

The commercial is filled with a variety methods to convince a person that buying a bowflex is a life altering choice.  The voice viewers are met with is a deep and exciting voice that is so thrilled to discuss such an amazing product.  The music is energetic matching the excitement of the speaker which some what gets the adrenaline pumping.  The advertisement opens with “Over a million people understand its strength.”  Immediately they present their product as a well established item with a very large clientele which gives it massive credit.  To give it even more credit they say several magazines have rated it as top class.  By establishing their product as a well known and successful product people are going to be interested in buying the best product.  The plethora of defined people working out implants the idea of what people could potentially look like.  Realistically they will never look like those people but seeing those images gives viewers hope of possibly looking like that.  The advertisement claims that only 20 minutes day three times a week will get you the bod you desire.  With a majority of the American population being so lazy claiming that only one hour a week will get you muscular and toned would appeal to many.  They also make bowflex seem like the easiest and best product ever.  I mean it does apparently have a 100% satisfaction rating so who could argue with that?  Bowflex is simply giving viewers what they want to hear.  They are feeding them the information they need so they will buy the product.  They have a customer in me if I will look that jacked.

Bill O'Brien

The first blog entry of the year what an exciting moment this is.  The anticipation as I write this blog is almost comparable to the anticipation that surrounds every Penn State Football season for many.  The football program however, as we all know, has been dealt serious blows because of the child abuse cases involving Jerry Sandusky and the cover up by the University.  I could write about all the negatives that have came out of the issue but being the optimistic person I am I want to be positive and look towards the future.  As I scanned for a story to write about I came across an editorial already bashing the new football coach Bill O’Brien.  The editorial is littered with complaints about his character and how all the values that Penn State football stands for will suddenly vanish.  The writer’s whole piece is solely based on his appeal for ethos by constantly using rhetorical questions that guide the reader into believing O’Brien is the cousin of Satan.  The writer makes very half-hearted attempts to use facts in the editorial.  Honestly the only fact he uses is that Bill O’Brien will be the next football coach.  I am not saying that he is a savior but the writer could have used more or any logos to improve the editorial.  He makes so many assumptions by starting statements like “O’Brien had to be involved in that in-your-face-run-up-the-score call.”  Statements like that have no facts and in my opinion detract from his opinion because he is just throwing random ideas with no proof.  He also claims that the man replacing O’Brien, Josh McDaniels, (which the writer refers to as John McDaniels) helped the Patriots by giving them secrets about the Broncos, which he formerly coached.  I am a little puzzled as why that assertion has anything to do with Bill O’Brien let alone McDaniels not being part of the Broncos organization for two years.  Those are two different people and it reveals nothing about O’Brien and shows how the writer is making wild and rambling claims.  The writer tries so hard to lure the reader in with all the different emotions but so quickly pushes any reader away with fact less wild accusations.