Visuals that are used in persuasive pieces and arguments can be very effective in examining and proving the thesis of the piece. A person can gain an in depth understanding for a piece by reading it, but being able to visualize it can go a long way in helping to prove the thesis. The opposite can also be true, if an improper visual is used it can really mislead the reader and make ones entire argument senseless. So, in order to make or acquire a good visual one must set criteria as to what a good visual is, pertaining to the argument or persuasive piece. A good visual argument will explicitly address the criteria and in turn strengthen the argument. I studied two visuals using criteria that I thought a good visual should have and will now address them.
I first studied a YouTube video that was arguing that there is sexism against women in advertisements. Going into the video I set some criteria as to what a video that argued this should have in it. First the video should explicitly visualize that women are portrayed in a sexist manner in advertisements. This video effectively did that by presenting a slide show of print ads that all depicted women that were in provocative positions, scantily clad, or had a phallus shaped object in or around their mouths. The other criteria I used was did the video explicitly tell me what it wanted to do about sexism against women in advertising. This video did not do that. It was unsuccessful at relaying the message of what it wanted to do about sexism in advertising, it did not visualize anything about ending it or at least cleaning it up a little bit. So the video was effective in relaying what the argument was, but not successful in presenting to me what needs to be done about the problem at hand. Videos are not the only means of visualizing ones argument; pictures can be used as well.
I found and manipulated a print advertisement. I took a picture of a female wearing nothing but a string-thong bikini, being used to sell alcohol. I did nothing more than draw a red bikini top and bottom on her. Using the same criteria that I used for the video I studied the visual that I had manipulated. First, the non manipulated picture explicitly presented the fact that women are portrayed in a sexist manner in advertising. Second, looking at the manipulated version of the picture it explicitly showed me what needed to be done about the problem. Overall this visual was effective. It both showed the problem and the solution.
I first studied a YouTube video that was arguing that there is sexism against women in advertisements. Going into the video I set some criteria as to what a video that argued this should have in it. First the video should explicitly visualize that women are portrayed in a sexist manner in advertisements. This video effectively did that by presenting a slide show of print ads that all depicted women that were in provocative positions, scantily clad, or had a phallus shaped object in or around their mouths. The other criteria I used was did the video explicitly tell me what it wanted to do about sexism against women in advertising. This video did not do that. It was unsuccessful at relaying the message of what it wanted to do about sexism in advertising, it did not visualize anything about ending it or at least cleaning it up a little bit. So the video was effective in relaying what the argument was, but not successful in presenting to me what needs to be done about the problem at hand. Videos are not the only means of visualizing ones argument; pictures can be used as well.
I found and manipulated a print advertisement. I took a picture of a female wearing nothing but a string-thong bikini, being used to sell alcohol. I did nothing more than draw a red bikini top and bottom on her. Using the same criteria that I used for the video I studied the visual that I had manipulated. First, the non manipulated picture explicitly presented the fact that women are portrayed in a sexist manner in advertising. Second, looking at the manipulated version of the picture it explicitly showed me what needed to be done about the problem. Overall this visual was effective. It both showed the problem and the solution.
I critiqued these visual arguments to gain a better understanding of the use of visual arguments. I wanted to see if using evaluations of criteria could actually lead to a better visual argument. It can. A good visual argument must meet certain criteria, which is different for every argument. If the argument meets the criteria that the person who is making the argument has put forth, the visual can tell the tale and sell the argument. YouTube video= http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W_3Kl0dXCcw&feature=related
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