The American Paradox Rhetorical Analysis

"Just do it!", "Impossible is nothing!" "Live or love" are the corresponding slogans of multibillion dollar companies Nike, Adidas, and Louis Vuitton. Each slogan conveys the modernistic doctrine of breaking traditional norms and daring to take charge of one's own "unique" life. Millions of people purchase their products as a result of the direct advertisement accentuating the possibility of being individualistic within an exponentially expanding human population. Yet, author Thomas Frank remains undeceived by the advertisement, unraveling the truth behind the pseudo-individuality; in "The American Paradox" Frank utilizes a postmodernism perspective to view through the façade. Contemporary marketing no longer seeks to publicize conservative

For instance, Nike often portrays an athlete enduring an arduous training regimen, leading them to contemplate quitting, and finally they decide to overcome the pain and become a superior athlete. In the case of Diesel, "A good many of its ads feature sexy female models in one state or another of undress." (Steinem 521). Each year the same concept is displayed with the only exception being that the actors, and or actress are wearing the latest line of

"Hundreds of retailers display advertisements of the same concept year after year, season after season of young actors that appear to be underage partaking in risky behavior, regardless of the fact that the acts portrayed if committed or recorded of a minor is highly critiqued and illegal in society. Possessing images of minors in compromising positions is prohibited in the U.S" (Steinem 522). However, thousands of companies are depicting this prohibited act with of photogenic, of age actors simply because it sells more products. Millions of outdoor malls are designed to be encourage consumer window-shopping, having customers peer from the outside, and fantasize about purchasing items. Why would a company not actively encourage customer to enter the store and purchase items? The simple answer is that they make more money doing nothing; "The opportunity to look is meant to seduce to buy, and it is through seduction that modern human being is turned into an artefact of the master producer: a consumer of endless seduction" (Spierings 902). In the end consumers to these companies are simply mindless drones that strive to be seduced with the fantasy of individuality, and uniqueness, when in the end they are just a part of the million be fed the lie of being one in a