The artifact I chose to analyze is called Pink Ribbon International, a public charity that seeks to “create worldwide awareness for breast cancer.” More specifically, though, I focused on the organization’s website, www.pinkribbon,org, which is a fairly complex assortment of information, statistics, articles, and other relevant content. Pink Ribbon International is an interesting group because they have attempted to find somewhat of a “happy medium” in the breast cancer marketplace. While they have essentially created a vast pink empire surrounding the cause, they also make an effort to serve as a watchdog organization for companies who exploit the disease for their own financial benefit. Both of these sides can be seen on Pink Ribbon International’s website, which is ultimately why I selected it for my rhetorical analysis.
Although my analysis features a wide array of rhetorical terms and devices, the central idea I seek to explore throughout the essay is how Pink Ribbon International constructs breast cancer on their website. By utilizing concepts such as kairos and terministic screen, along with metaphors like “diagnosis as health” and “medicine as war,” I attempt to illustrate how Pink Ribbon International frames breast cancer as a disease that women should be active in fighting on a personal level. In addition, the organization persuades women to become knowledgable about the disease and take significant measures to further the cause of breast cancer awareness (through donations and other interactive means). As I said previously, all of this can be seen through the vast amount of content on the organization’s website. This analysis is important, then, primarily because of the popularity of what has become known as “pink culture” and the breast cancer marketplace. There are hundreds of organizations in existence to spread awareness about the disease, but it is up to us, as consumers, to determine which organizations are persuasive in a positive manner versus which are merely exploiting the cause for their own benefit. As I determined in my analysis, through its website, Pink Ribbon International is able to establish itself as a credible and highly persuasive organization for its target audience.
Discussion questions:
1. How would Pink Ribbon International’s website have been viewed by society in the 1970s? Use the concepts of kairos and terministic screen to explain how this view contrasts that of today. (Yes, I know that websites did not yet exist.)
Assuming you know nothing about Pink Ribbon International, what sort of content could the organization include on its website in order to illustrate the metaphor, “medicine as war?”
2. As a dominant member of the breast cancer awareness movement, how does Pink Ribbon International utilize the metaphor, “medicine as war,” to persuade women to take action against the disease?
If viewed by society in the 1970s, I do not think the campaign would not have used pink as one of the colors represented. I also do not think it would show a woman who appears to be topless crossing her arms. Campaigns have become much more colorful and distracting from the real issue than they were in the 70s. I think the campaign would've had women standing together who have breast cancer and had some sort of caption. The "medicine as war" metaphor would've been used differently than it is being used in this particular campaign.
ReplyDeletePink Ribbon uses the metaphor, "medicine as war" because the war against breast cancer is continuously being fought by many women. The war is the fight against breast cancer. The medicine being used by the campaign is the coming together of people who have breast cancer and people who want to donate to help the cause.