We’ve all noticed the barrage of rhetoric coming from the mouths of analysts, decrying what Christmas has morphed into. Look at your personal experience, and it doesn’t have to be related to Christianity. Do you actually think about the true meaning of Christmas? I can bet you that Steve Jobs and Michael Dell pay a lot more attention to their sales than the true meaning of the holidays.
I started out by portraying a mall bedecked with the trappings of the holidays. Anyone who has shopped in a mall knows this scene is all too familiar. It is meant to represent the clash of Christmas and corporations. The religious holiday meant to honor a God and bring people together has morphed into an opportunity to get profits in the black. This was the main argument that I focused on in my visual essay. My specific arrangement of the visual stimuli, the music selection, and the choice of pictures all address the aspects of argument in order to ensure that my argument and appeals met my occasion.
I chose the title Christmas, the Commercial was chosen in order to compare the holiday to the sales pitches used by companies worldwide. The words evoke feelings of disgust, as our minds don’t associate these two words as partners. The accompanying pictures also aid in carrying this message. My first three pictures show little girls surrounded by what I believed to be the fuel for this pecuniary passion; presents. Not only did this match with the song, but they appealed to the audiences pathos, as they represent classic portrayals of Christmas that they can recognize and relate to. They show happy images that are subtly supplemented by gifts.
The next set of images show the commercial aspect of Christmas. Starting with the ridiculous “holiday” of Black Friday, these images portray the consumerism that permeates the season. The images of hungry consumers and vast crowds appeals to our logos as it shows actual events, un-staged, that confirm this notion of hungry and numerous customers. The transition of a page turn allows the viewers to understand that on the flipside of these purchases is an intent to fuel business coffers. The picture of the NY Times article is meant to directly establish ethos and logos. It shows a credible source that explains the focus of holiday sales and it quickly gives fact to support this claim. Next I solidified this connection between consumerism and corporations by showing a Wall Street celebration of Christmas and the banner of Corporate America, signs of the possible malicious intent to benefit from our giving mood.
Lastly, I ended the argument by solidifying the ideal meaning of Christmas; togetherness and tradition. The last two pictures present idealistic images of what the holiday should be like, with happy families sharing memories. This also establishes pathos as it triggers feelings of warmth and comfort in the audience. It makes them treasure the actual family time versus the harsh images of running customers and big business.
I chose Shake Up Christmas by Train as the background music as it was cheesy, made for Coca-Cola, and talked about happiness. It represents another attempt by a company to shove their products down our throats, in this case soda. It also aids my argument by connecting to happiness. The song argues that happiness can come from a tangible item, Coke. At the end of the “ad” you can see that happiness actually should come from an intrinsic feeling around Christmas.
Throughout this argument, I made sure to choose pictures that my small audience would understand and follow so they could glean the purpose of my essay. They depict images that we are familiar with but they cast some of them in a negative light in order to further my purpose, which is explaining the hidden intents behind Christmas. So, in crafting my argument I establish the fact that there is a consumerism present behind the holiday and portray this issue in a negative light. In the end I propose that the viewer reevaluate their actions and try to ignore this growing horror.
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