S'more Precis
Marlys Cintron
Media Manipulation
In the Mad Men commercial of “Toasted”, a man claims that “advertisement is based on one thing; happiness”. The author of this commercial illuminates this idea by introducing a problem (“the manipulation of mass media” said that their tobacco company leads to fatal diseases), by explaining how this downfall presents a greater opportunity for advertising (“we have six identical companies making six identical products…we can say whatever we want”), and by presenting a possible solution to the problem (“…reassurance…that whatever you’re doing, it’s okay”). In using a cigarette business going through an advertisement problem, the author exposes, what seems like, the “secrets” of advertising and how media can manipulate just about anyone. This commercial focuses on the general public, those who are the buyers and sellers; how media can make someone buy just about anything, they focus on the “happiness” of the buyer even if their happiness means something as harmful as smoking cigarettes or something as exciting as buying a new car.
A Modest Proposal
In Jonathan Swift’s “A Modest Proposal”, Swift satirizes society’s view on the poor in Ireland and that there needs to be a solution, saying that “it is a melancholy object to those who walk through this great town or travel in the country” to see the poor roaming around the country. He demonstrates a solution by proposing that children of one year should “contribute to the feeding, and partly to the clothing, of many thousands” (paragraph 4), providing calculations (“…hundred and twenty thousand children of poor parents annually born” (paragraph 6)), and ministering solutions for all kinds of problems they may encounter (“…in great concern about that vast number of poor people who are aged, diseased, or maimed, and I have been desired to employ my thoughts what course may be taken…”(paragraph 19)). Swift uses a satirical, yet serious tone in order to catch the reader’s attention to the cruelty being pointed out throughout his proposal. He targets the society in that they should not look down on the poor and treat them as actual human beings rather than “roasted pigs”.