Thai
Xiong
ENGL1A
– MWF
March12th, 2014
Extra
Pickles on that Heart Attack please?
The
issue of fast food and obesity has been around for – more than it should have.
Along the years, different groups have sent their own kinds of messages to
relay the truth about fast food. There different sources I have collected are
of three different genres of writing; however they all take up the controversy
of fast food. Those three genres are an academic journal, a comic strip, and a
very interesting video. Yet,
when it comes to effectiveness, each genre and medium will vary in
effectiveness depending on their own audience and format.
The international Journal of Obesity looks
like it should, informative and educational. Everything is very organized, complete
with links and sub-links. The authors, Steen Stender, Jorn Dyerberg, and Arne
Astrup, each accredited with their own background of health knowledge in
Clinical and Health nutrition studies, present their materials with a thesis
going against the widespread daily consumption of fast food. But it is not
simply saying not to eat fast food because it’s bad, but they have studies
shown to back it up. This kind of genre is created to for the general public,
data for anyone who wants to absorb and use it. However, its overall
demographic exposure is limited because this is a information that acts almost
for reference, thus only people actually looking for it will read it. The tone
of the journal stays consistently factual and its writing as well is very formal.
On the other hand, a comic provided by
daily-comix.com, is the exact opposite. It relies on humor to relay the same
message, and wants to grab attention.
The characters in the cartoon are drawn as stubby business men, complete with a
tie and quite fat choice of people and how they’re drawn, aims to grasp to the
working crowd, whom tend to eat out more because of the busy lifestyle.
However, the placing of the comic, on a daily comic viewing site, allows for a
broad audience, just the average consumer to view it. Color-wise most of background and clothing on
the people is plain baby blue. Then, in contrast one bright color is planted in
the middle of the comic. That highlights the bag, immediately drawing attention
to it; a fast food bag that closely resembles something strangely familiar, McDonalds.
The visuals are not the only source of humor, but the dialogue is hugely satirical.
The entire dialogue box reads as:
Heart
attack with extra cheese, heart attack with bacon
,
double bypass no pickles, --hey! Where’s my diabetes and large stroke? (Daily
Comix)
Each generic choice on the menu is mockingly replaced
with vulnerable health conditions combined with basic condiment options like
pickles and cheese. This joke is funny however, it does make the viewer
doublethink how it must be to be in his shoes, and it’s that thought that is
the reason why this comic was made—for us to think twice before we pay those
two dollars.
On a more serious note, the video
advertisement “Fast Food and Children,” targets our hearts, not our laugh
organs. In full frame motion, this short clip reveals a comparison of a mother
about to inject an
child with “junk” as the video names it, to feeding your child fast food. The
music is tense, and the child is silently drawing, in all his innocence. This
combination reaches out to the hearts of any and all who have siblings and
family. However most of all, it reaches the hearts of all parents and mothers
especially; ending with the line in black and white text “You wouldn’t inject
your children with junk, so why are you feeding it to them?
Effectiveness of a text depends largely
in part of what the genre and medium the text is actually in. For example, the
academic journal would be less effective than it already was, if it had an
emotional tone, trying to appeal to pathos would lessen their factual
credibility. The strong point of educational articles is that they are there
for reference, arguing a point with actual studies. Because the article is very
formal, and presents evidence we can see and confirm, one can feel more
inclined to believe and think about it more sophisticated. That being said, it is there for
reference, the message they are trying to convey is clogged by the fact that
its own genre limits what they can actually do. The article itself will not be
as effective on its own, but to be used as a reference in a bigger genre, say
like a letter or essay against fast food.
Now something like the comic will seem like
it will only create a good chuckle. But I think it’s quite effective because
once the reader thinks about it, they realize they’re laughing about something
that isn’t so funny after all. “Heart attack, double bypass, and diabetes, these
conditions are brought to surface, reminding viewers what can really happen to them.
Now that’s bound to generate some degree of over thinking. Relating to what the genre is
and what it is in relation to its topic also limits its effectiveness on its
message. While the comic is very effective, pictures worthy of a thousand
words, we can only hope that a huge mass of people will log onto dailycomix.com
and stumble upon that particular strip.
As for the video it will create a moment of
sadness and compassion. For the video, its goal is achieved, and very effective
it is in. Striking
emotions intensely and visually through video(changing images), here you would have
one thousand words for each frame. However it’s not effective without weakness. Being
effective through emotional visuals mean that the effect last only until their
emotional mindset disperses. Likely, the viewers will dodge fast food for a
couple times…unless they forget about it in the long run. The effectiveness of
this video is complex, very effective in changing the way people look at fast
food there and then, but long term efforts may or may not be underwhelmed. There simply aren’t any facts or studies shown
in the video that will your brain will retain as knowledge in the future. But
that goes both ways. The academic article, while it has an entirety of all the
facts, doesn’t lure us in temporarily to keep enough of an audience interested
to absorb these facts.
Between
the comic strip and the video, it’s a tough call, but the video is more
effective and mostly due to the fact that it has more potential. The video,
being an ad, already has a bigger audience than a comic strip. Television and
video on the internet is so widespread, and comic strips are limited only to
those who are looking for them specifically, a similar case with the academic
article. To make a huge impact on the wide demographic
of people who consume fast foods, means you have to reach a broader demographic. The academic article is
simply stored for reference somewhere online. In contrast, the video has more potential, as its genre is unlimited.
Facts and data can be included alongside the dramatic acting. While an academic
article on the other hand, is limited to factual unbiased information, it can’t
incorporate exaggerated acting.
These three texts have their own
distinctions, but in their own genre, they’re not always similar to each other.
The biggest reason that may be the case is audience. As I emphasized above an audience is different, the entirety of
the genre itself will be presented dissimilarly than its other counterparts (of
the same genre). In retrospect to a genre and how it says something, it’s
important to consider its layout (as discussed briefly above) and limitations.
The relationship between a genre and its message and method of relaying that
message is crucial to understand the best way to communicate something. A
webpage has almost endless limits of information and links and other technical
advantages. However, the way this is implemented matters in that in relation to
the way it’s trying to say something. Being on the web means that only those
with electronics at hand will have access to it. However, newspapers, or
videos, advertisements have the advantage of physically being there. The fact
that something is in your hands, and you are reading it, seeing it, alters how
a message can be stated.
When we eat junk food, fast food, we
become them, fat, oily, and high in calories. The same thing follows for what
we read. We are constantly shaped by the texts that we read and see daily. We
aren’t only what we eat; we’re also what we read and see. But what we read and see are the
ads on TV, ads on newspapers, ads on billboards, and ads online. If one
surrounds themselves with a certain genre, say, videos that talks about
fighting fast food corporations, more likely than not you will grow to be
against fast food. Yet at the same time, we are bombarded with advertising
campaigns that do just the opposite, promoting fast food.
Sources Cited
“Fast Food.” Daily Comix. Nd. Web. February 21, 2014.
<
http://www.daily-comix.com/fast-food-kind-like-that-comic-1171.html>
“Fast
Food and Children.” Youtube. April
23, 2011. Web. February 21, 2014
<
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0K3F_53Sn34>.
Steen
Stender, Jorn Dyerberg, and Arne Astrup. “Fast food: Unfriendly and Unhealthy.”
International Journal of Obesity.31.
(April 24 2007): 887 – 879. Web. February 21, 2014. < http://www.nature.com/ijo/journal/v31/n6/full/0803616a.html#aff1>.
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