This was an advertisement created for the Dutch Pink Ribbon Magazine in 2010 in order to publicize the release of the magazine. I chose this artifact because I became very interested in the use of rhetoric and societal influence in breast cancer awareness campaigns after watching Pink Ribbon Inc. in class. My sorority's philanthropy is breast cancer awareness and education so I've always thought of all the campaigns as 100% positive with no negative connotations. Looking at it from another perspective in class has been so eye-opening for me so I knew I wanted to pick an artifact dealing with breast cancer for this assignment just so I could look more into it. This particular artifact stood out because of the reading we did on prophylactic mastectomies and because of the use of the term "survive" and what it implies about those who die because
of breast cancer.
There are many things I found and analyzed within this artifact. I make many arguments throughout my analysis, but here are three of the key points I made:
- I discussed the traces of post-feminism throughout the ad. Mainly, I analyzed the return to stereotypical gender roles in post-feminism and how this apparent in the majority of breast cancer awareness campaigns. It's seen in this ad because the woman appears to be happy and carefree despite having undergone a major surgery and no longer having one of her breasts due to cancer. But because she's a woman, she's not supposed to be angry or upset.
- I talked about the use of metaphor dealing with war in this as ad and the breast cancer culture as a whole and how it inadvertently implies that those who died didn't "fight" hard enough and gave up or could have done more in order to "survive."
- The final big part of my analysis is on prophylactic mastectomies and how this artifact portrays it as the best option to being healthy. This part of my paper also discusses how this emphasizes control and how women who get mastectomies, whether to get rid of breast cancer or just to reduce risk, are doing more to be as healthy as possible and therefore have more control.
- How does this artifact use pathos to persuade its audience to go purchase the Dutch Pink Ribbon Magazine?
- Does this artifact portray any hegemonic ideologies? If yes, explain which ones. If no, why not?
I think this advertisement successfully uses pathos to persuade its audience into purchasing the magazine. Not only does it use the shocking image of a woman who has had a mastectomy, but it also uses the word "survivor" to provide a sense of hope to the audience. I think this ad's use of terministic screens is what makes it so persuasive. Their choice to use the word "survivor" eludes to the idea that cancer is a battle that needs to be fought and, ultimately, won. But what about those who have "fought" cancer and "lost"? Are they to be seen as weaker? And at the bottom of this ad it says, "Together we are stronger." This is also an example of how the ad uses terministic screens and the metaphor of war to be persuasive. The word "together" insinuates that women are stronger when they have support. And in the spirit of the war metaphor, armies are thought to be stronger with more support/men. This ad also completely disregards a woman's right to be upset or negatively affected by cancer. According to the ad, women should be happy they are alive, not sad because of the tragedy of cancer-- which also goes back to post feminist ideals.
ReplyDeleteThis ad uses hegemonic ideals because women with breast cancer are seen as "soldiers" in the "war" of cancer. If a breast cancer patient does not do everything in their power to win in the "fight" against this disease, then they are weak. It is a personal decision as to whether or not a woman chooses a prophylactic mastectomy or some other type of treatment. However, if the patient does not go the route of completely removing the affected area, they may be treated as if they did not "fight" hard enough and it's their fault that the disease did not go into remission.
ReplyDeleteThe magazine definitely uses pathos to persuade its audience to purchase the Dutch magazine. The picture of the woman on the front definitely gets someone's attention. The audience who is looking at the cover sees the word "survivor" and the picture of the woman with one breast. This would get anyone's attention and make someone want to open the magazine and read what it was about.
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