Concerning rhetoric...

Orange, Clemson University’s primary color, is very very bright. It’s no wonder all the flyers and posters hung up around the dorm hall are speckled, striped, splashed or otherwise completely strewn with the color; it catches the eye and creates a sense of school spirit with whatever organization is advertising. I only found two types of ads without flashy orange designs blinding you as you tried to walk to the elevator to get to class.

The first was the flyers for intramurals. They made up for the lack of color with BIG BOLD CAPITAL LETTERS. That definitely grabs your attention. The ads a relatively simple, shouting a certain date and time to come and see what they have to offer. And even if the BIG BOLD CAPITAL LETTERS don’t get you, the sheer volume of placement will. It seems they thought it would be more effective to use the funds they could’ve allocated to buying color ink to buy REAMS of paper, because these things are hung up every three or four feet. 

The interesting thing about these flyers is the absolute lack of rhetoric. I guess they figured a black and white picture vaguely depicting what the sport might be was enough, and anyone interested enough to look at them and note the time, would probably come.

The second advertisement not covered in that fluorescent orange is primarily green and has its and way of standing out. “Become an Eco Rep!” it advocates, with a pair of hands (some pretty good looking ones at that) holding up the world- sans oceans. It’s trying to convey the message that the world is in our hands, and becoming a Clemson Eco Rep could be a good platform to jumpstart our world saving careers (or hobbies?) and be part of a fun community.  It’s the only true piece of rhetoric I can find up here.

One interesting thing I found was that the Christian organizations “teamed up” with each other. They look as if they share a common goal of spreading the Good News, so they plopped their posters right next to each other. They considered that anyone that was Christian or interested in Christianity would look at one of the posters, and see both. That way, if one churches time wasn’t good for the student, the other poster invited them just as freely.

I also saw some awesome commercials, but I’m sure I’ll get to talk more about different rhetoric later. I don’t want to put all my brand name eggs in one basket.