Friday, April 16, 2010

Navy Seals=Patriotism

We see an appeal to patriotism on a daily basis, from the marine corp advertisements on the television, to the old fashioned “I want you!” advertisements with Uncle Sam pointing down at the unsuspecting boy/girl. The most appealing advertisements to society in the present years have been the marine corp, army, and navy commercials and advertisements in magazines. An example of this ever so loving appeal to patriotism would be this:

Your watching television and it goes to commercial time. The screen becomes dark, with different shades of black and blue. You see the moon shining brightly and hear and see waves gently crashing into the shore of a beach. Everything seems so serene and calm as clouds slowly move across the moon. The screen becomes completely black for a couple seconds and the the sight of the ocean and the moon come back into view, only now there are footprints in the wet sand. The water comes up and washes the footprints away as if no one was even there and the website for the navy seals is displayed in the middle of the screen as the commercial comes to a close.

The underlying argument is that if you become a navy seal, you will become as stealthy and quiet as they men were in the commercial. This happens to be a very good argument (even though it wasn't said) because of the impact it has on the American heart. This advertisement especially appeals to younger boys and men in high school because they are still figuring out what they want to do and are always wanting to show their “tough side”.

2 comments:

  1. I really liked your example, it really looks like you put a lot of thought and effort into it.I think that the uncle sam advertisment is a perfect example of patriotism. Through out history there has always been major thing to recrute people into patritism, like war bonds, the constatnt reinder of the navy, the marines,the air force and the army.Living on america I believe we are extremley aware of patriotism around us.For exmple the fourth of july,veterans day and a few others.The usa is perfect for appeal to patriotism.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I loved your example about this section of the book. It was so vivid and really let me visualize the commercial. I believe that it really does appeal to younger boys who are still trying to figure out who they are and think the look of the guys on screen is who they might want to be. I know a lot of guys personally who sign up for the army or marines right out of high school. I would assume the look of the advertisements and brochures had something to do with their decision to enlist. Appeal to patriotism is definitely all around.

    ReplyDelete