Rhetorical Analysis Of The Onion

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The Onion In modern society, consumers are flooded with advertisements as they move along in their daily lives; advertisements displayed on billboards and magazines, the internet and social media, and television and radio. Many companies utilize different rhetorical techniques to appeal to their audience by extending their product and its capabilities. When viewing advertisements you can see the exaggeration and hyperbolic quality some create. Some advertisements are so exaggerated that they become humorous in a sense. An article from The Onion, a satiric newspaper, displays the unintended humor that is captured within some advertisements. Advertisers create false realities and exaggerate the abilities of their products in order to attract …show more content…

The creation of these fictitious scientific words combined with the positive feedback of the product prompts the growing ignorance of the public; this illustrated ignorance is satirical and critical as the author enlightens the success of the product. The Onion is a humorous news program that satirizes popular issues; in this issue of The Onion, the news program criticizes the methods advertisers utilize in order to attract consumers. The advertisers of MagnaSoles employ ethical appeal in the advertisement; the use of ethos is illustrated by the use of scientific jargon and the use of job titles/certifications. The author of the satirical article depicts the belief that people will listen to a message more intensely if the person delivering that message displays a high level of schooling or intelligence. To illustrate the portrayed ignorance and tunnel vision of the public, “ ‘Why should I pay thousands of dollars to have my spine realigned with physical therapy when I can pay $20 for insoles clearly endorsed by an intelligent-looking man in a white lab coat?’ ” (65). The author of the piece