SWA # 6 - Introduction

             Advertisement is a huge part of marketing for any kind of business. It has become an art that is taught in every university. Ads designers can change the way people think about something or make them change a product that they have been using for years to another, even if it is not as good, just by a creative commercial. With the technology we have today, there are competitions between companies to create the best ad even if that would cost them so much money because companies know that ads are valuable. In this paper, I will be analyzing two meaningful cars’ ads from two different countries. The first as is about a pick-up truck from the famous American brand “Ford.” The ad was published in an American car magazine called “Car & Driver” in September 2011. The second ad is about the economic TOYOTA hybrid cars. The ad is taken from a Jordanian sports newspaper called “Alrai” and was published in January 2012. The two ads are both about cars, but they are directed for different audience and based on different ideas and perspectives. The Ford’s ad is culturally based and designed for those who are looking for powerful cars. On the other side, TOYOTA’s ad is economical based and directed to those who want a car that could save them some money.      

SWA # 5 - publication sources

• What is the journal or newspaper that featured the ad? 

The first ad was published in an American magazine called "Car & Drive"

The other ad was published in a Jordanian s newspaper called "Alrai" 

• What are the typical topics covered? 

The magazine is mostly about cars and what is hot in the cars world.

The newspaper is a general newspaper but the ad was in the sport section.

• What are the demographics of its prospective audience? 

Since the magazine is all about cars, the audience are the cars lovers and those who are interested for a reason or another in cars.

The newspaper is for all segments of society because it has all kinds of news in different section. The ad was, as I mentioned before,  in the sport section, so the audience are the younger generation whose members might still have not gotten the chance to own a car yet. 

• What other products/services are usually advertised there? 

Mostly cars in the magazine

In the newspaper, things that most people car about such as consumer products, new technologies, cars...etc 

• Based on the answers to the questions above, what does the publisher assume about the values of its readers? 

In the Ford's ad, the company assumes that the readers have a little background about cars and so they made their ad very meaningful and focused on one idea.

in TOYOTA's ad, the publisher obviously assumes that most readers are aware of the raise in gas prices and so the publisher use this point to sell its product. 

SWA # 4 - The ads

The first ad

This ad is taken from an American cars magazine. The ad is commercial for Ford f-350 pick-up truck. The target of this ad is everyone who is looking for a heavy duty truck and those who like having powerful cars. The ad is put this way to show the fact that this truck can stand all kinds of bad weather. No matter if it is raining and there is lots of mud on the way or if there is strong winds, the truck can drive well. The pick-up is dragging a long motorhome behind it to show the truck's power. There are different kinds of animals following the truck which gives the viewers the idea that even the animals are impressed by this power.

I chose this ad because it is made creatively and has different ideas.     


=======================================================================

The second ad 

after I translated the text.

This picture is taken from a Jordanian newspaper and it is a car advertisement. The newspaper where I found the ad is a sport newspaper, so this as is mostly for the young generation and sports lovers. The ad has a picture of a guy who is trying to commit a suicide using a gas pumper. Next to the guy there is a sentence "Can't afford gas prices" which kind of give us the idea that the man wants to kill him self because gas prices are too high for him. Then at the bottom there is another sentence that is meant to be the solution for guy and everyone who is in the same situation; "solve it and buy a TOYOTA hybrid" which tells anyone who is worried about gas prices, especially in Jordan where not everybody can afford to pay this kind of prices for gas, that they do not to worry anymore because they can buy a TOYOTA hybrid and forget about the gas. There are a couple of pictures for two hybrid cars and at the end there is the dealership's contact information and the website for more details.

Again, I chose this ad because it delivers the idea of hybrid cars in a funny and creative way.

SWA # 3

Ibrahim Elsayed Rasheed      

English 102-111

January 22, 2012

SWA#3

In his article “What Will the Future Generations Condemn Us For,” Kwame Appiah discusses some issues that he thinks future generations would not like about us. At first, he does remind and show us some of the activities that were acceptable in the past couple of generations and became very unacceptable in this generation. He does that by saying and mentioning some examples such as slavery being accepted by the majority of the society, women’s not being allowed to vote, and husbands’ having an excessive power over their families.  Then, he does lay down some signs that determine whether a practice is going to be a black point on this generation or not, and he does use pathos and logos arguments. He says that people, who thought slavery was acceptable and not oppressive because their parents and grandparents had slaves, had a lack in the logical part of their argument. He also says that people who eat the sugar this grown by the slaves should have a little emotion and think about those who grew that sugar.

One of the things that Appiah thinks we are doing and the next generations will blame us for it is “Our Prison System.” He does use some statistics to support his argument (ethos). He says that one quarter of the world’s prisoners is in America. In the local side, he says that one of every one hundred adults in the US is in one of its prisons. Then, he does turn our attention to the emotional part using both pathos and ethos. Appiah says that around 100,000 prisons have been sexually abused and they might get HIV because of that.

The picture I chose to discuss is figure 1.7 in page 9. The artist does reject and disagree with the idea of paying fees for bags at the airports in a funny way. Through his painting, the artist says we should put on all of our clothes to avoid paying so much money to have it transported especially if the entire family members are going to travel together. He also says that we should not take so many clothes and only take what could fit in a carry-on bag to avoid the baggage fees.     

"Get smarter" responce

Ibrahim Elsayed Rasheed      

English 102-111

January 21, 2012

SWA#2

Get Smarter. Don’t Let Technology Make You Stupid

          The authors of both articles "Is Google Making Us Stupid" and "Get Smarter" seem to have a little in common and so much disagreements. Carr and Cascio agree on the fact that this generation relies significantly  on technology in general and on the internet in particular. They both believe that the internet has become an indispensable part of almost everyone's daily life, just as Cascio states “we swim in an ocean of data”.   

In his article “Gat Smarter,” Carr asks his readers to be smart and not to let the internet make them lazy or limit their abilities. The internet users have to avoid sinking in the modern technology and have to be able to take the benefit from it and not to give technology an influential role in every decision we make. He also thinks that the internet is the reason why most of its users have difficulties memorizing things and the reason why they can’t think without asking Google.

On the other hand, through his article “Get Smarter” Cascio sees the future completely depended on the technology in its different means and everyone who does not think so will be “falling behind.” We already have a high unemployment rate, so if more industries will be extinct due to the developing technology, just like the travel-agent industry,  this technology won’t be much helpful to a society that has a large percentage of its members sitting at home watching modern technologies taking job opportunities away from them.  We should not be so rely on technology to such a degree that we can't decide what to eat or even "what to study" without asking Google. Yes, we need to make Google and other technologies "the beginning of a solution" not a stupidity maker. 

My English 101 Experience

Ibrahim Elsayed Rasheed      

English 102-111

January 13, 2012

SWA#1

My English 101 Experience

            Last year was the year when I started learning how to write academic essays from the zero and it was the year when I got an A in my English 101 class. As an international student who is coming from a country where people have never heard of something called academic writing, I had to go to an English school named (EPI) to learn the basics of essay-writing before being ready to enroll to a university. After finishing my course in writing, I enrolled to Midlands Technical College, a small college here in Columbia, SC, and took some classes there in the fall semester. One of the classes I took was English101 which was one of my best classes in my first semester in the academic world. In that class, we had three big essays to write which I will discuss in details throughout this essay.

            The first paper I had to write in ENGL101 was about culture and society. In the essay I wrote, I discuss how technology affects our children in both good and bad ways. I report some statistics to support some of my points and I quote some of what experts say about this issue. The first draft of this paper was the worst I turned in in my Engl101 class because it was basically a big mess especially in the in-text citation. My instructor marked something in every line and asked me to revise the paper. However, in the second draft, I turned things around and it was one of the best papers I have ever written and I got an A for the paper.  

            For my second big assignment, I had to write about a current event. At that time, there was a presidential debate on the CNN , so I decided to write about the election. I talk in my essay about each one of the eight candidates briefly and about what they have in common and what they disagree about. I also talked about the importance of this election not the Americans, but to other countries that could be either directly or indirectly effected by the election. I got a B+ on that essay which was satisfying for me because I wrote the paper in only two days.    

            My last paper was about economy and had to be written in APA format which means I will have to create my own survey and questionnaire and conduct them. In the paper, I discuss the issue of homelessness and who the responsible for people becoming homeless is. This paper is the best I have written because I got to know lots of know information and I actually went to the street and surveyed real people for the first time which was exciting and enjoyable, I even made new friendships with two of the participants. The instructor gave us three weeks to work this research which made it easier for me to write a good paper and to keep adding and revising before the due date. For me, APA style was much easier than MLA style because in APA there is not much need to worry about the structure, all my focus was on the content itself. I had an A from my instructor for writing that paper.

            In sum, my English 101 class was a good experience for me in all ways. I got to learn more about academic writing and had a good grade in the overall. The class was a very useful preparation for English102 which is about to get serious. I can’t wait until I apply what I have learned in my English classes in my actual study field.