Tracie RichardsonCOMS100BSummer 2014Critical Analysis of MessagesEveryday consumers are exposed to the Medias ideology of what is considered beautiful. In magazines we see attractive, happy people, with air-brushed perfect, flawless, bodies posing to sell a particular item or idea. Who is the media to say what constitutes as beauty and an attractive person? Why are certain attributes associated with attractiveness, beauty, likability and social skills? We are force feed images and told what beauty is and have thus formed our own ideas and opinions. However, are those ideas and opinion really ours or were we constructed by media to think and feel a particular way without even realizing it? ...view middle of the document...
There is a box next to her with the words, "The Perfect Man" written on the front. In the box are legs of the manikin wearing black dress pants and shoes. On the floor next to the woman is a male head wearing glasses and showing white teeth. An arm of the manikin on the floor has a black tattoo and is holding a guitar. The torso of the manikin is hairless and has a six-pack. The woman is looking at a white piece of paper with a puzzled look on her face.An important rhetorical scholar Cicero, divided rhetoric into five major categories called "canons of rhetoric" (Stoner & Perkins, 2005). These categories describe the elements of rhetoric and give guide lines for patterns of discourse. One of those categories is style. "Style is developed through nonverbal devices as well as through language," (Stoner & Perkins, 2005, p.141). "The perfect man" advertisement uses nonverbal language to create a persuasive style using visual imagery and personification. "Visual imagery creates the tone or feelings of the message and personification gives abstract or inanimate object human qualities or abilities" (Stoner & Perkins, 2005, p. 143).The eyes of viewers are captivated when they see an image of a women sitting on the floor with manikin parts next to her and in a box. Viewers are forced to assume the mannequin parts are that of a man since the box has the words "the perfect man" written on the front in black and red ink. The advertisement illustrates the woman attempting to put together a self-explanatory mannequin with each body part being personified and representing a particular characteristic of the perfect man she is looking for. Since she is not wearing a wedding ring, we know she is a single young woman. Red symbolizes passionate love, seduction and romance (Tracy & Beall, 2014, pg.4), and the mannequin arm holding red roses is suggesting that he is romantic. The other hand of the mannequin is holding a guitar. According to a study published in Psychology of Music in July 2014, a woman is more likely to give her number to a guy holding a guitar case. It suggests that women associate musical talent with a genetic advantage and intellectual abilities, and that men who play guitar have sex appeal. "Music induces a positive effect, and this positive effect primes receptivity to a courtship request," says Nicolaas Gueguen, study author and researches at the University of South Brittany in France. In representing "the perfect man" the mannequin is also wearing glasses. An article published in Journal of Applied Psychology of June 1944, research has shown that we do perceive people who wear glasses as more intelligent, industrious, honest and more dependable when compared to those who do not wear glasses. The legs in the box are wearing black dress pants and dress shoes. International Journal of Hospitality Management reported in July 2010 that professional attire is the most important attributes in shaping favorable perceptions. Resea...
