Visual Rhetoric Thesis

Thesis:  This Nike advertisement successfully motivates people to purchase their product by connecting with the audience on a human level, showing a great level of passion and patriotism, and pure simplicity.


In preparation for the 2010 World Cup held in South Africa, a number of companies took the time to create many compelling visual advertisements.  With the major producers of soccer equipment leading the way.  It was very hard to turn on the tv and watch a sports channel that was not displaying something about the World Cup or a commercial advertising a product relating to the World Cup.  The two leading competitors in this market are Nike and Adidas.  Both companies put out strong and very convincing advertisements months before the World Cup even began.  Their goal was to gain the interest of soccer fans, young and old, who were looking for news updates on the World Cup, hoping that these viewers would be inspired to invest a little more in some nice equipment.  The image above displays Wayne Rooney.  Wayne was born and raised in England and is the epitome of an English footballer.  Wayne does not put up with anything and does not care what others think of him or his playing style.  He is tough, scrappy, quick, strong, and always seems to get the job done no matter what his task on the pitch.  Almost every English fan loves him for these exact reasons.  After all, who wouldn't root for such a strong hometown boy.  Although it appears he is drenched in blood in the picture, he is actually painted with the colors and symbol on the English flag with a large red cross in the middle and a pure white background.  To the average person passing by, this commercial may look quite strange and over the top.  Nike, however, knows their audience quite well and a true soccer fan would be ashamed if they did not understand the symbolism behind this advertisement right away.  I personally am a fan of Nike over Adidas and a huge fan of Wayne Rooney.  I grew up watching him play and fell in love with his style so much so that I would try to replicate it whenever I got on the field.  It is for these reasons that I chose this advertisement.  I love the simplicity of it and I love how it is not just your average athletic commercial.  There is a deeper meaning within the picture and it is filled with so much passion and patriotism.  Although I am a major fan of the United States soccer team and would  root for them in a match against England without any thought, I cannot say I would be upset if Wayne Rooney scored against us.      

Soccer has been a large part of my life thus far.  Since I was five years old, not a year has gone by that was not filled with soccer.  Weekends and weeknights were spent playing and training.  Looking at a picture like this makes me appreciative of all the hours my parents committed to me playing the sport.  I was on the verge of playing varsity soccer in college and received several offers from smaller schools that I turned down to come to Clemson.  When I came to Clemson, I considered walking on to the team multiple times but ended up settling for a spot on the Club travel team.  Looking back at this point, it would be easy to say that everything I put into soccer was a waste of lots of time and lots of money.  And after making the decision not to play at the division one level in college, I began to think it was a waste. But when I look at a picture like this I remember what I really got out of soccer.  I gained many friends, priceless experiences, a great work ethic, time management skills, a closer relationship with my parents, and so much more.  It was my life, and always will be a part of my life.  In the background of this picture is my good friend Joe Demout who grew up playing with me all the time.  Joe was one year older than me but we always seemed to end up playing together.  On my first tournament away without my parents when I was twelve years old, Joe was my roommate.  In many ways his story is similar to mine.  He started out playing varsity at Davidson University and eventually ended up at Clemson on the club team.  We are playing against College of Charleston in the picture which is very close to home for me.  I also had some old soccer friends on their team.  The whole game was one big reunion.  We all started out with big dreams to play pro or in college and we all ended up on the same field in the middle of Clemson.  But yet we were all still perfectly content with where our life had taken us and did not want anything more than what we had.  It brought me back to the idea that it's the destination that is important in life but the journey. 

Visual Rhetoric

Almost everything in the media today involves visual rhetoric.  Whether a major motion picture or a simple commercial, visual rhetoric is quite prevalent.  While watching the movie Remember the Titans, I noticed many examples of this persuasive visual pictures.  I realized that visual rhetoric is extremely vital in creating a movie in the first place.  If the perfect setting and atmosphere is not created through the set and through the way the actors perform, the movie will not be interesting.  Consider the movie Lord of the Rings.  If Frodo Baggins of the Shire was a giant confident strong man, then the movie would loose a great amount of credibility.  Similarly, if the enemy in Lord of the Rings were very small unintimidating friendly looking people, again, the movie would loose credibility and people will loose interest.  In the movie Remember the Titans, there is a scene in which the football team is taking on a very tough opponent.  The scene shows the opponents coach looking like a very mean and angry person.  By creating this image of the football coach, the audience is able to much more easily get attached to the "good guys" facing the coach through visual rhetoric.
Television commercials work in a very similar fashion with lots of examples of visual rhetoric.  These commercials are completely concerned with their audience.  Without taking control of the minds of viewers, the commercials would be useless.  While watching television earlier today, i watched a car comercial that showed the process of the car being made in a factory.  I noticed that the factory that the car was being made in was almost completely white.  Not only was the factory completely white but also completely symmetrical and spotless.  This creates a very good image of the car for the viewers because it makes the car seem like it has zero flaws because the factory it was created in has none.  Within the same commercial, there was a scene in which a very happy and good looking family was dancing while going on a road trip in the car.  This again creates a positive image of the vehicle because when people begin to invision themselves with that vehicle, that is the image that is implanted in their head.  They believe that is they purchase this car, their family with also be happy and good looking and sing a lot.    

First Week..

Towards the end of a long and greatly anticipated Christmas break, I began to think about school.  Many things crossed my mind.  From getting books on time to who I would meet this semester, the list of thoughts went on.  The focus gradually drew away from having a good time on Christmas break to what my first week of the second semester would be like.  A strange mix of emotions came with these thoughts.   I was nervous, I was excited, and I was happy.  The nerves and excitement were easily explainable--but the happiness, that was a different story.  It is not common for a person like me, who has struggled with school their whole life, to be happy about going back to hard work and little sleep.  Even at this point I cannot quite understand or fully describe this emotion relating to my return to school.  I arrived a few days  before classes formally began and rode up with a former good friend of mine.  The car ride up took only a record breaking three hours and was filled with story exchanges, good music, and trips down memory lane.  Upon arrival, I hauled my eight bags, five of which were my sisters, up the stairs and to my second floor room.  The scent when that I was confronted with when I entered my room was very neutral, yet very familiar.  It was like meeting an old friend whom you know very well but do not have much in common with anymore.  Within the next few days I was almost too busy to think.  I managed to shift my schedule around four different times to accommodate with my soccer schedule and also dropped out of more classes than I probably should have.  Overall, it has been a smooth first week.  All of my new years resolutions have been in effect, I feel good, and my friends and family feel good.