Tow #23 "No Seconds"

The picture depicted above is the last meal of Ted Bundy, a serial murderer who was charged for brutally killing more than 36 young women and sentenced to death by the electric chair. The picture is a part of a series by Henry Hargreaves called "No Seconds". From the food down to the cutlery and tablecloth, Hargreaves recreates the last meal requests of 9 of America's most notorious death-row inmates. By using the medium of photography and the juxtaposition of the pictures, Hargreaves portrays the serial killers in a different light and humanizes them through the common denominator of food.

Hargreaves states that the main goal of his "No Seconds" series was for the audience to think of the death row inmates as people for a moment instead of being anonymous. The effect of using photography as his medium instead of painting or sketching is important to the purpose of his work. In addition each of the pieces of food and silverware in the photograph are arranged exactly like they were for the inmates the day before their execution. The use of a camera makes the food very real and tangible to the audience. Anyone could be sitting in front of the same meal. By choosing to photograph the food, Hargreaves forms a connection between the viewer and the inmate. In a way, instead of judging the prisoners' crimes, he humanizes the inmates by giving the viewer a subtle glimpse of their personalities and character through their food choices. 

In addition to the medium used in his series, the juxtaposition of the food is also crucial for Hargreaves' impact on the audience. In all of the photographs, the food on the plates look very organized and are arranged in an appealing manner that contrasts with the background. Also, Hargreaves arranges the photos in a way so that the audience appears to be directly looking down at the food, as if it is sitting right in front of them ready to be served. By giving the viewers the inmates' perspective, for moment, Hargreaves forces us to step into their shoes. 

Tow 22 "Get real, lower drinking age to 19"

Underage drinking in America has skyrocketed recently and continues to be a growing problem. It is evident that something must be done but what could the solution be? In this article, William D. Conhan argues that the answer to this problem is to lower the national drinking age from 21 to 19. Although Conhan does provide numerous stats about college drinking, his hasty generalizations and faulty reasoning leave some gaping holes in his argument.

Conhan introduces his article with an allusion to an event that occurred eight years ago at Duke University where three male students were convicted of rape, sexual assault and kidnapping at a party that was filled with alcohol. Conhan concludes that the poor decision made by these three individuals was a result of the underage drinking and therefore national law should be changed to prevent instances like this from happening again. Although alcohol may have impaired their judgement, in this situation how can it be proven that alcohol was the sole cause of their actions and the students weren't just sick individuals to start with? In addition, the author seems to portray this isolated occurrence as something that happens to most people when drinking underage. This one example is not enough to convince the audience. Perhaps it would have been more effective to include stats on how underage drinking incidences like this have resulted in crimes instead of on the percentage of college students that drink underage.

Furthermore, Conhan's claim to his argument is that lowering the drinking age will make underage drinking less enticing and students will stop "lusting after the forbidden fruit of alcohol". However, the author does not follow up with any evidence or statistics and leaves the audience doubting. This is the main hole in the author's argument, especially because he can not validate any of his other minor arguments before defending his main argument.

Tow #21 "Factory meat, cruel and bad for us"

Today many people in America are advocating against factory produced meats and moving towards organic foods. In this article, Jane Velez-Mitchell, who has won three Genesis awards for reporting on animal issues argues that most of the world's most damaging problems are caused by the mistreatment of factory animals. Velez-Mitchell uses listing and stats from credible sources to persuade her audience to stop consuming these unhealthy animal products.

The article's organization makes the author's arguments easily visible to readers. By bolding and ordering her points in a list-like format, readers don't have to look for the arguments within her article and can quickly skim it to get the main idea. Velez-Mitchell declares that factory meat is responsible for the obesity crisis, the health care crisis, the country's deficit, natural disasters and hunger. By using a list, Velez-Mitchell is able to provide multiple examples because she only talks about each one briefly in a short, concise blurb. 

In addition to her superb organization, Velez-Mitchell packs each of her arguments with effective stats from credible sources. For example, she cites a study from The Journal of Economics that "the yearly costs of obesity are estimated to be as high as $190 billion a year" to emphasize the ridiculous costs that we put up with for eating obesity inducing factory meat. She also adds credibility to her argument by citing that "some of the smartest people in America from Bill Clinton to Bill Gates" are also protesting against our food system and searching for meat alternatives.

Through her use of statistics from credible sources and effective organization of the article, Velez-Mitchell convinces her audience of the detrimental side effects of factory meat and persuades them to stop buying these meats and target meat alternatives or a vegetable based diet instead.

Tow #20 General Foods' Post Toasties Ad

Breakfast serves as one of the most important meals of the day for families in America. Ready-to-eat cereal specifically ranks as one of the most popular choices for a nutritious breakfast. In this advertisement, General Foods avidly promotes their breakfast product Post-Toasties cereal as a superior cereal to other competing brands that everyone can enjoy. Through the use of symbolism and comparisons, General Foods effectively persuades consumers to buy Post-Toasties.

General Foods specifically aims to advertise Post-Toasties as a cereal that everyone in the family can enjoy, not just children to encourage adults even more to buy their product. Through symbolism, the picture in the middle represents the typical family of two parents and two children happily eating Post-Toasties cereal together in their backyard. The father holds up a spoonful of Post-Toasties cereal as the mother rings a triangles to call their children to come eat a Post-Toasties breakfast. Each of the family members has a speech bubble above their heads raving about the cereal such as “There’s a striking DIFFERENCE in corn flakes!” or “Post Toasties tops ‘em all...so fresh.... so crisp... so gland!”. One of the children exclaims that because the Post-Tens package offers 7 different types of Post-Toasties cereal, “everyone in the family can each have their particular favorite as often as they please” The image uses the bandwagon appeal by symbolizing what the “normal” American family eats for breakfast and implies that the consumer should be like the family in the picture and buy Post-Toasties cereal for their family.

To further distinguish their brand of cereal from any other brand, General Foods emphasizes that there’s actually “a real difference” in their cornflakes compared to other companies. The ad states that according to nation-wide tests, more and more people prefer their Post-Toasties corn flakes to any other corn flakes. What makes their product different, the company reiterates is their “post-toasting”, a process that easily separates them from the rest of the competing cereals. At the bottom of the ad, they even coin the phrase “Don’t say “Corn Flakes”- Say POST TOASTIES- the BETTER Corn Flakes!”

General Goods effectively advertises their Post Toasties cereal by using the bandwagon appeal to convince american families that all families eat their cereal and compares their cereal to other competing brands.