Why Change?

To be completely honest, talking about visual rhetoric in class had not really had an effect on the way I look at advertisements. Advertisements, although I’m aware of them, have not had a very big effect on the way I view a product. I have never been one to spend time flipping through a magazine. I even turn off the volume and do something else while commercials are playing on T.V. Instead I count on the experiences I have had, as well as those of my family, to make my decisions on what to buy.
Even though I usually ignore advertisements all together, I am more aware of the rhetorical strategies being thrown at me on a day-to-day basis. Every now and again while carpooling on the freeway to school, I catch myself thinking “That was pathos” or something else to that effect as I look at a billboard. Understanding how advertisers try to persuade me has helped to think more critically about the products they are trying to sell.
I don’t think I will ever waste my time listen to advertisements on T.V. or in magazines, but knowing about visual rhetoric has and will continue to help me analysis what advertisers, and anyone else, are trying to make me believe through visuals. Which we help me decide for myself what it is I really believe about a product.