Rhetorical and Visual Analysis Essay

Bianca Valenzuela
28 – September – 2010
Rhetorical and Visual Analysis

The intended audience for this visual (Personal Finance Management Guide. (2008). Retrieved September 27, 2010 from Personal Finance Management Guide: http://personal-finance-management.blogspot.com/2007/12/ 10-easy-steps-to-stop-shopping.html.) is for all the people that like to shop but not just that they can also get what they want at cheap prices. This can easily be seen because it has the words DANGER BARGAINS AHEAD. It also has a picture of two females fighting for the same item. It can represent that the item is very cheap and it is also at a great demand that people are fighting for it. It is definitely intended for people that like the idea of shopping and are willing to do just about anything to get the items that they would like.
The location from this image is from an article (Personal Finance Management Guide. (2008). Retrieved September 27, 2010 from Personal Finance Management Guide: http://personal-finance-management.blogspot.com/2007/12/ 10-easy-steps-to-stop-shopping.html.) that talks about ways to stop shopping addiction. It is part of a personal finance management website. The author’s credibility is increased by the way that this visual is presented because it is trying to show the way that stores try to lure in the customers by making them believe that they will find great deals inside the store. Once the customer is already inside the prices won’t be so cheap but they will have things to make them want to buy the merchandise because it is part of their marketing technique.
The author does try to stimulate emotional responses from the audience because it is saying that they should reach for help because they are not the only people that suffer from addiction to shopping. It is also trying to connect with the reader because it is saying that if you follow up on your goals you can spend a little but only if you have been good about keeping a budget. The author is trying to be realistic and they know that people can’t just quit something overnight and that it takes time, patience, and practice.
The strategy is actually very appealing to the writer’s purpose because it is trying to get the person to understand that she know exactly what they are going through.
The author is very biased about the subject it is trying to get the readers to stop their compulsive attitude towards shopping because it isn’t a good thing for them. It affects the argument because it is saying that all types of shopping is bad but there might be a good type of shopping but the reader will not know if they read this article or see the picture. There are stores that give back a certain percentage to the community or an organization but the reader might think that shopping is a completely bad thing and it might discourage people to shop, even those who do not shop a lot to begin with.
Some of the weaknesses in the argument are that it is biased and it doesn’t let the other side of the story talk about the good things that come within shopping and that it is only looking at the negative aspects of it. Another weakness is that it is also telling you to spend money once you have saved up and accomplished goals of not shopping so much. In a way it is contradicting itself.
Some really good strengths that this argument has is that it tells the readers that they should evaluate their shopping habits more wisely by distinguishing a need from a want; it also talks about creating a budget and a shopping list and to stick with it.
The visual increases the effectiveness and credibility of the author because it helps out the whole piece tie together to fit almost perfectly.
The emotions this visual is trying to capture are actually various. Some people might look at it and say “Oh they might have great sales” in a happy tone and they might want to go inside to take a look at what is inside the store. In this case it is really up to the person to see if they like it or not. In other cases there might be some people that look at the picture and say “Their sales are probably not even that great,” in that instance they might just pass by the store and not even attempt to go inside to take a look. Other people on the other hand might look at this danger sign with the two females pulling an article and assume that there are few products and would not want to fight over a piece of merchandise because it would just create chaos. These people might also think that there is already chaos in there.
It uses a danger sign and that can be viewed as both positive and negative because it can be trying to catch peoples’ attention with a bright yellow sign and saying that they will find great bargains. On the other hand you don’t really want to show that there’s chaos inside a store because it will have a bad reputation and people will not want to go inside to shop.
This visual does support the argument because it is saying that while stores are trying to say that they have good or even great sales they might not always be true. There are various stores that show a lot of great discounts or rebates but what they do not want you to see is what is written in fine print. A lot of the times they are mail-ins that people forget about or only with certain purchases or excluding certain items.
The main focus is the text in this particular article. It’s talking about the ways to be more financially stable. It is also giving you important information about ways to lower you spending budget as well.
The text and the visual complement each other very well. The visual does add something that the text kind of doesn’t; it adds that shopping is something very stressful especially when it comes to sales or clearances.
The visual does deepen the understanding of the text because it shows just about how bad situations can get when trying to shop. The visual is located over the text. It helps that it is located over it because it shows people what it will be talking about. At first the visual can be a little misleading because you might think it will talk about the best places to get bargains but as you move on the title you will see it is talking about the opposite of that.
The text would be a little dull without the picture but it would be able to survive without the visual. The visual just gives it that extra sense into the text. It is like adding salsa to tacos, it is just used to spice it up a little bit.