The Onion: Article Analysis

Do you have sore feet and feel like there is nothing that can stop or prevent your foot pain? MagnaSoles are new shoe inserts for people just like you who have sore feet! Did you fall for these tactics? Companies use these marketing tactics everyday to convince people just like you to buy their product. In The Onion’s press release, the author demonstrates the use of the rhetorical triangle, bold diction and syntax, and vivid imagery to explain how Americans fall for marketing tactics companies use.

Would you prefer to experience a total foot-rejuvenation system that even surpasses alternative to expensive methods to heal your foot? Developed by Dr. Arthur Bluni, the pseudoscientist who refined the product for Massillon-based Integrated Products, created MagnaSoles, a unique shoe insert that “takes advantage of the semi-plausible medical technique known as reflexology… Enabling your soles to heal your entire body as you walk.” This article is a mock press release from The Onion, a publication devoted to humor and satire, which introduces rhetorical strategies such as logical appeal, pseudoscientific diction, and repetition to satirize how products are displayed to consumers. This article productively utilize these elements to parody nearly

This is what MagnaSoles does when it spits out, " MagnaSoles convert the wearers energy to match the Earth's natural vibration rate of 32.805 kilofrankels." This quote makes the reader feel that they are connecting with the Earth when in all reality the insoles are just making peoples feet hurt less. Also, the statement, "enabling your soles to hear your entire body as you walk." This is a definite overstatement. The mental image received when reading that the insoles heal your entire body make a consumer imagine the insoles as being magical or having some type of special healing technology. Which is not the case. However, the hyperboles used grab the readers attention and get the reader more focused in on the following

The Onion’s satirical article uses several satirical elements in order to sell their brand new, revolutionary product: Magnasoles shoe inserts. Using Magnasoles as an example, The Onion imitates the way to which major companies attract and convince gullible customers to purchase their products. By using a sarcastic tone throughout, it opens the reader to the tactics that companies will use in order to gain customers. The passage also can be seen as appealing to authority by using “doctors” who have recommended the product and fake scientific jargon. Together, these devices combined with the authors use of fictional ethos and logos fool consumers into falling play into marketing ploys.

New Balance comes at its audience in this new ad on YouTube.com with intent of drawing in multiple groups of patrons to their gear with the simple message “Beta”. Beta is defined on the webpage of the commercial as, “Beta is a state of being. A choice to never stop. Driven by the relentless desire to improve. Beta means constantly innovating. Evolving. And Pushing. Beta means improving upon yesterday. And always being better tomorrow”(). The advertisement that sells the product of New Balance is effective because of its rhetorical appeals: logos, ethos, pathos, and its logical fallacies: bandwagon and weasel words.

The author produced a parody of shoe sole insert companies who want to sell their product. Products are marketed to consumers by elaborating

For instance, when describing the shoe Dr. Arthur Bluni claims, “it harnesses the power of magnetism to properly align the biomagnetic field around your foot”(7-9). This statement is ironic because it is clearly false. The author hyperbolizes the shoe’s characteristics, incorrectly making them seem high-tech

Companies have many ways that they persuade their consumers to buy their products. They use concrete facts to appeal to and persuade their buyers into buying their products. How they present their information is vital to grab buyer's attention. In this essay, the writers are mocking advertisements in a humorous way through a fake product called MagnaSoles that they are selling to people with sore feet. They use many rhetorical devices to achieve this goal.

In this fake advertisement about MagnaSoles, The Onion pokes fun at the techniques marketers use to sell their products. The author successfully satirizes how products are marketed to consumers through using the rhetorical devices of pretentious diction, hyperbole, and faulty logic.

In the commercial, it talks about “With every pair you purchase, TOMS will give a pair of new shoes to a child in need.” I think every pairs of shoe they gave out to with the help of the organization they were able to distribute to the children that live in different part of the world. The founder of TOM’s shoe, Blake Mycoskie, travels to Argentina, he helps out children by gave them a pair of individual shoes like myself as a viewer was in touch by the fact that there’s people out there actually care about the conditions they live in running low with food and water. Ho uses a different approach to reach out to the viewer who gave him love and support. He wants the customers to get involved and be part of the TOMs program. The kids seem happy;

In the article “Magnasoles,” marketers trick consumers into buying their products through the use of big words and satire. Readers will assume that these big words mean that this is a quality product. But these words are actually made up to trick us into buying this unnecessary item. When carefully examining all of the information the Magnasoles do not help soothe foot pain in anyway and marketers use fake science to help support their case. Many consumers will not read this article in depth enough and waist their money.

361 One Degree beyond is a shoe company that is advertizing their Shield 2 line of shoes. The audience this is targeting is most likely people who run because of the slogan “Fast and Soft”. This Add is from a magazine. It has the company logo on the top right corner 361 one degree beyond. In the middle is a sheetah, a half sheep half cheetah. Under that is the slogan “Fast and Soft a Strange and Beautiful Combination”. Under the slogan are some bright colored shoes that stand out a lot from the mostly gray background. Then under that is some words that state “Run beyond your expectations with the 361-Shield 2. l this company is persuading us by getting our attention on something weird and something you won't forget.

A recent Survey conducted by Harvard University found that The Onion is America’s “most reliable news site”. The report claims that 23,256 out of the 23,255 respondents said that they believe The Onion publishes the most reliable information, followed by Fox News. That’s almost 50% of students surveyed who believe “The Onion” is most reliable! Some of the people surveyed gave The Onion a five-star rating.

In a journal by Mark A. Callister and Lesa A. Stern, they say that in recent years, “depicting people, products, and objects in ways that far exceed their capability is a common strategy used to gain attention, inject humor, and emphasize product attributes.” The commercial producers are trying to use this technique to show that even though the pods are only a fraction of the size of normal detergent, it gets the job done even better than the alternative. The commercial is metaphorically comparing Simone’s small stature to the modest size of each pod. Exaggerating Simone’s physical skills, in turn creates the thought in each viewer’s mind that this good will similarly outperform its capabilities on their clothes. Mark and Lesa’s study suggests that these kind of hyperbolic commercials are more powerful than ones that do not use this persuasion

“Only magna-soles utilize the healing power of crystals to re-stimulate dead foot cells with vibrational biofeedback,” as well as, “... harnesses the power of magnetism to properly align the biomagnetic field around your foot, “ (line 30, line 7). In these areas, it is very obviously attempting to invoke how commercial will insert scientific buzzwords so they can falsely establish an ethos to give their product more credibility. In those kinds of advertisements, they do this, or at least can get away with this technique as a result of the average person not grasping the terms wholey, and would have the effect of making them sound smart, rather than actually being smart. Other strategies put into effect is the use of sarcasm and contrast. Such as “... using no fewer than 5 forms of pseudoscience” and, “...proving popular among consumers, who are hailing them as a