Ad #2 Speaking Outline

 Attention Getter: Picture yourself walking down the cereal aisle in your local supermarket, taking in the multitude of different choices, and feeling indecisive about which selection to make. That is when you might find yourself questioning; what makes a certain cereal the right choice for you? For instance, the health-conscious consumer might start flipping over the boxes to gaze upon the nutritional information, the child consumer might feel magnetized to bright coloring and fun recognizable characters, all while the sweet tooth consumer might be drawn to a satisfying Cookie Crisps or Cap’n Crunches Oops! All Berries. While thinking of the vast array of questions you might ask yourself when it comes to selecting a cereal, I am almost certain a question you will not ask yourself is “Is this cereal going to make me feel tough?” Kind of ironic, if you ask me, why that is the particular narrative Kellogg’s seems to be going for this time around. All the more reason to dig in a little deeper!  

Credibility & Preview: Now you may be sitting here thinking “now why would I listen to you?” I can confidently say through my countless hours of staring at this ad, the rhetorical analysis chart, and being a student in Vroman's rhetoric class, I am fairly confident that I have been equipped with all the necessary tools to analyze the schemes, tropes, visuals, and types within this ad.  

Thesis: Kellogg’s appeals to generational young boys with aspirations to follow in their father's footsteps; strong, tough, masculine, hardworking men.  

Body-Point 1: (Transition) One of the most eye-catching parts of this ad is its complex use of visuals. For example.... 

• Low contrast- At first glance, the image seems dull and almost, dare I say it, rather boring. The image uses a less vivid array of colors typically sticking with a bland/neutral color pallet. For instance, they take red, typically associated as a bright and vivid color, and wash it out, ultimately providing little contrast between it and the beige. I personally like to think that they portrayed this color scheme as a way to symbolize “toughness.” As well as giving this ad a sort of serious and manly undertone to it.  

• Eye Level- While examining the ad, we as the viewers are put at a direct eye level to the boy, almost imitating the feeling that we are sitting across from him at the breakfast table while he enjoys his cereal. However, the expression on his face is nothing short of welcoming. If anything, I know that if I was sitting across from him, I might even feel a little intimidated. Due to thw seriousness of the scowl on his face, I think it is fair to say that his small size would not fool me. Thus, once again, being a way to reiterate his extreme manly toughness.  

• Focalizers- While there are quite arguably many things to focus on in this ad, one that caught my eye in particular is the food on the table, and most importantly the bowl of delicious Kellogg’s cereal. The bowl on the table in front of the boy seems to be enlarged in an unnatural way that pulls the viewers' attention over to it. One may possibly argue that maybe that is a normal sized bowl, frankly I do not know who would, but nonetheless, I am not sure if anyone would argue that those are regular sized cornflakes inside of the bowl. Now I may not be an avid cornflakes enthusiast like some of you may be, but it does not take a genius to know that those are impeccably large.  

Body-Point 2: (Transition) Using visuals as an introduction, that brings us to type.  

• Script & Bold: The Kellogg’s logo being written in script does not exactly follow suit with the theme of the ad so far, it is far too dainty looking to make perfect sense. However, Kellogg’s did not want to fool us there, causing them to immediately add their slogan for this targeted ad right underneath in bold letters: “Morning. Let’s face it together.” Perfectly embodying that true nitty gritty feeling, they were going for don’t you think? As well as the attention grabber at the beginning: “With a long day’s ridin’ ahead, a man needs a good breakfast.” To me it has become evidently clear to not mess with him in the mornings, and that this little man means nothing but business.  

• All Caps- Although it may be in significantly smaller lettering than the rest of the ad, it is not hard to miss the “NUTRITIONAL FACTS OF KELLOGGS FROSTED SUGAR FLAKES” down below. Followed by the repeated capitalization of the word nutrition in “TYPICAL NUTRITION COMPOSITION.” While it is easy to note the contradictment of the words sugar and nutrition in the same sentence, they did not want it to fool you, hence the word nutrition popping up twice, a slight overseen paradoxal issue if you ask me.  

Body-Point 3: (Transition) Now to completely shift focus and dive way beneath the surface, we move into schemes and tropes.  

• Epizeuxis- The ad uses frequent repetition of the words “breakfast” and “nutrition” separately and in conjunction. While used separately, but also in conjunction, it is clear that the advertisement is trying to give us the impression that these two words have a correlation as well as a causation. Nutrition being something we all need to make up a healthy meal, well in this case cereal, and breakfast being something we learned that this little cowboy needs to start his tough day.  

• Enumeratio - Going hand in hand with what we just learned, the ad article poses its own argument while offering its own solutions. They claim the young cowboy is very uncertain about what he wants for breakfast while emphasizing about how important it is for a long day of riding, then suggest that Kellogg's is the perfect delicious and nutritious choice.   

• Erotema- At the very end of the ad article, they pose the rhetorical question “Did you ever wonder what would happen to breakfast if we didn’t have cereals?” The question was asked to simply dramaticise the importance of cereal, especially their cereal.  

Conclusion: Upon reflection, today I have touched on the schemes, tropes, type, and visuals all put together in this Kellogg’s ad, and their impact regarding the young boys with dreams to grow up big and strong like their hardworking fathers before them.  

Clincher: If you as a young child were destined to grow up with this generational expectancy knowing you had to become strong, tough, masculine, and hardworking, would you turn to Kellogg’s to help you get the job done?  

References:  

• Vrooman’s book, The Zombie Guide to Public Speaking  

• Vrooman’s Schemes & Tropes chart http://www.comm274.blogspot.com/