Jacob Moszak

Professor Sheila Fielding

WRTC 103 -0040
February 12th 2016

Influence
Do companies market too aggressively to children, teens, and young adults? Both Jeff
Chester and Kathryn Montgomery agree that digital marketing pervasively intrudes upon youths
lives with food and beverage companies leading the way. Jeff Chester is the founder and
executive editor of the Center for Digital Democracy while Kathryn Montgomery is a professor
at the School of Communication at American University; both have extensive knowledge and
experience with media in our society and the impact on our youth. Their rhetoric was published
by Greenhaven Press in Detroit, four years ago in 2012. Both the rhetoric by Jeff Chester and
Kathryn Montgomery and the PSA by Jacob Moszak (Figure 1.) rely very heavily on pathos;
however the rhetoric includes many facts and has more logos appeals than the PSA. The PSA
creates an immediate emotional response; it catches your eye and makes you think and feel a
certain way, especially if you have a young son or daughter with a cell phone. With that being
said, both formats complement and enhance each other by increasing the depth and bringing to
light the poignancy that both pieces contain.
Advertising is no longer limited to television or the internet, instead has evolved onto a
plethora of different platforms. The new marketing ecosystem encompasses cell phones,
mobile music devices, instant messaging, videogames and virtual, three-dimensional worlds. The
unprecedented ability of digital technologies to track and profile individuals across the media
landscape, and engage in "micro" or "nano" targeting, raises the twin specters of manipulation
and invasion of privacy. When used to promote certain food products, the aggregation of these
new marketing tactics could worsen he childhood obesity epidemic, which is already
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contributing to the rising rates of heart and circulatory illnesses, depression and other mental
illnesses, and Type II diabetes; a disease that used to only strike adults (Chester and Montgomery
P.4). The article is broken into eleven different sub-categories that delve into the different ways
and methods that companies are now using to advertise, as well as including real life examples
with real companies. Including examples with well-known companies adds a kind of depth and
realism that the reader would not be able to achieve without.
This rhetoric was mainly an appeal to logos. Each category had a multitude of different
facts and supporting examples that truly brought to light the purpose and intent behind this paper.
Rather than include hypothetical situations and examples to support their argument, they actually
include real life strategies utilized by real companies. One category entitled Behavioral
Profiling shows how Database marketing has become a core strategy for companies targeting
teens, and a linchpin of many digital media campaigns for not only the internet, but also on cell
phones, video games, and other new platforms (Chester and Montgomery P.8). This strategy
allows companies to create detailed profiles of each of their customer, including demographic
data, purchasing behavior, responses to advertising messages and even the extent and nature of
social network sites. Coca-Cola uses a variety of techniques to track individuals online behavior.
For example, its "My Coke Rewards" program encourages consumers to use special codes from
Coca-Cola products to access a website, where they can earn such rewards as downloadable ring
tones and "amazing sports and entertainment experiences." (Chester and Montgomery P.10) This
brings into question the amount of control and influence we allow these companies to have; and
how it is affecting our youth.
In America and many other modern parts of the world, our lives revolve around
technology, and just as anything else this comes with both benefits and dangers. With our lives
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being centered on technology, and as its continues to be incorporated into every facet of our
daily life, the people who own this technology have a great deal of power that most people dont
realize (Chester and Montgomery P.35). From technology, companies can gather data on us
when we use their services, like Facebook for instance. Facebook in particular has performed
numerous studies on people and gathered a lot of data from their users, and while this sounds like
an invasion of privacy, it isnt, because services such as Facebook include minutia such as this in
their user agreements, so people willing allow themselves to be studied and recorded. And this is
the degree that advertising is evolving to; companies gather data on us so that they can target us
with advertisements that would interest us, based off of what data they have (Chester and
Montgomery P. 33). And this is only one example, with how much technology we use in modern
society our whole identity exists online somewhere in company databases. Data gathering has
become very important to companies so that advertisement can be targeted, and while this seems
like malpractice or an invasion of privacy, we allow it. From a legal standpoint most of the
advertising world is credible, but an issue like this is morally subjective, and how we treat this
subject in the coming future as technology continues forward and is continually integrated into
our lives will be subject to change.
This rhetoric was primarily an appeal to logos, however, the examples and scenarios
included are all there to invoke an emotional response. One category entitled Viral Video
shows how companies use these videos as a way to promote brands among youth. Some are
obvious; others go through great lengths to keep it disguised. Wendys placed several viral
videos on YouTube specifically designed to attract young consumers. In 2007 Dominos Pizza
revealed that it was behind a viral video that received millions of hits. Companies are creating
elaborate viral campaigns, sometimes using "hidden messages" to lure youth into a series of
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games and other activities across different media, generating buzz within the online youth
subculture, all under the public radar (Chester and Montgomery P.24, 25).

Figure 1. Influence

The image is effectively simple. It consists of a black and white image of a young girl on
a cell phone. Her face is blurred and yet the logo and brand of the cell phone is clearly seen
almost intentionally. In the bottom right corner of the image there is a logo belonging to a nonfor-profit organization specializing in PSAs. While the font is simple, it stands out and makes its
point clearly and effectively. The dual colors catch your eyes and lead them first from the top of
the image to the bottom. The blue, neutral color of the text on top stating a fact in regard to
marketing doesnt seem to invoke any feeling, until combined with the red text on the bottom.
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Immediately the red implies warning and caution. It asks simply, How much they being
influenced; they being the youth of today (Figure 1.).
The author of the PSA has very little credibility and authority over the topic the image
attempts to portray; however the PSA is tied to a non-for-profit organization giving it grounds for
credibility. The author is a freshman at James Madison University studying computer science,
giving him an in depth experience with technology and its influences on us. The tone created
from the image is perfect for the message that is trying to be conveyed. The colors, text, image
and vocabulary all add to the PSAs sophistication and integrity. The vocabulary, while not
extensive, or too advanced, cuts directly to the point. With a simple fact and question following,
allows for the message to be understood clearly and with poignancy. The PSA gets you to think
ethically on the justness of the amount of influence that companies have in our daily life; and
when combined with the rhetoric you question how much food and beverage companies
influence our youths ability to choose to eat healthy.
The intent and purpose of the PSA is to instill an emotional response; more than that it
instills a response that gets you to think upon yourself and the young people today. The little girl
in black and white with her face blurred allows for the viewer to choose who they see. She is
identity less and that is intentional. The clarity of the phone in her hand is also there to invoke an
emotional response. In her hands she holds an IPhone with the logo clearly visible (Figure 1.).
The girl appears to be significantly young and seeing a cell phone and more significantly, a smart
phone in her hand makes one question the dangers posed.
The PSA appeals to the logos appeal well; the most obvious aspect in the image being the
inclusion of a fact in blue. It reiterates what has been repeated over and over in the rhetoric.
Immediately after reading the text you wish she didnt have that phone. You begin to think of the

dangers that are on the internet and the influence that they have on you, let alone a small child.
Companies dont need to know the buying habits of small child, the likes, and the interests.
Children are also much easier to influence then adults; making them easy, vulnerable targets. If
you have kids of your own, and young ones at that, it might make you begin to think about the
amount of exposure your own have to these marketing tactics and how much you allow. Should
they be allowed to have phones at such a young age, browse the internet, or own a social media
account; is it healthy for them?
There is no denying the strong correlation between the rhetoric and PSA (Chester and
Montgomery) (Figure 1.). Both are in regard to the influence that corporations have over us
through different marketing tactics and platforms. However, the rhetoric is more specific to the
negative affect that food and beverage companies have on our youths ability to eat healthy and
the PSA is more general; even though the fact within is taken directly from the rhetoric. The
PSA, in conjunction with the rhetoric, makes what the written argument is about more real,
relatable and adds immense depth. While the written argument is the more convincing argument
by far, it would not be as poignant without the accompanying PSA. On the opposite side as well,
the PSA would not nearly be as effective without the information and details from the rhetoric.
Both the PSA and rhetoric complement each other in hand-in-hand synergy.

Works Cited
A Safe IPhone and a Happy Kid. Digital image. Yoursphere: For Parents. N.p., 13 Sept. 2010.
Web. 18 Feb. 2016.

Chester, Jeff, and Kathryn Montgomery. "Online Advertising Aggressively Targets Children and
Teens." How Does Advertising Impact Teen Behavior? Ed. Roman Espejo. Detroit:
Greenhaven Press, 2012. At Issue. Rpt. from "No Escape: Marketing to Kids in the
Digital Age." Multinational Monitor (2008). Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 21
Feb. 2016.

The best of non-profit advertising and marketing for social causes. Digital image. Osocio. N.p.,
n.d. Web. 18 Feb. 2016.