Explanations Behind The Use Of Chosen Modes Essay Samples

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Write-Up of Rhetorical Choices in Multimodal Project

Introduction
This multimodal project has advertised Yawkey Boys and Girls Club, an after-school club based in Boston, Massachusetts, using two modes: a Prezi presentation and brochure. This write-up provides further explanations on the rationale behind the use of said advertising modes, alongside discussions on the rhetorical appeals used: ethos, pathos, logos and kairos.

Prezi Presentation
Using a Prezi presentation to promote Yawkey Boys and Girls Club effectively reaches the very audience it aims to target: children and prospective employees. There is an understanding that children spend a lot of time on the Internet, presumably both for educational and entertainment purposes. At the same time, prospective employees use the Internet often to serve their professional development – may it be in terms of research or job-hunting. A Prezi presentation, made via cloud-based presentation software Prezi, enables children and prospective employees alike to access information conveniently through creatively-made presentation slides accessible in any device with Internet access. Children and prospective employees could thus learn more about the benefits of joining Yawkey Boys and Girls Club by going through presentation slides containing detailed yet concise information about it without the hassle and boredom typically associated with presentation slides made using desktop-based presentation software.

Brochure

Using a brochure enables Yawkey Boys and Girls Club to reach out to the target audience effectively – this time, in a print-friendly format. Children and prospective employees can read more about what Yawkey Boys and Girls Club has in store for them from a brochure than can be either printed on paper or opened in any device that can read PDFs. With that, children and prospective employees can always take out their printed brochure or open the PDF file for it each time they think of joining Yawkey Boys and Girls Club. Furthermore, children and prospective employees can also use the brochure to inform others about Yawkey Boys and Girls Club.

Rhetorical Appeals Used

Ethos
The use of ethos in advertising Yawkey Boys and Girls Club through both Prezi presentation and brochure modes is done through the presentation of membership facts and benefits centered on the literacy-privilege relationship. Both advertising modes described salient facts on after-school clubs in Boston such as Yawkey Boys and Girls Club, noting that overall membership within the city has reached to 16,000 youths. Moreover, both advertising modes have quoted an excerpt from a study conducted by the Charles Steward Mott Foundation on the significant gains of minority and economically disadvantaged children and prospective employees from membership in after-school clubs. Taking off from said study, both advertising modes explained that after-school clubs benefit children and prospective employees alike in increasing their literacy, exposing them to different social backgrounds and providing them with equal learning and employment opportunities – all under the premise of the mutual relationship between literacy and privilege. Thus, in convincing the target audience on the credibility of Yawkey Boys and Girls Club, both advertising modes focused on resolving the problem on literacy due to lack of privilege.

Logos

Both the Prezi presentation and brochure have best exemplified the use of logos in promoting Yawkey Boys and Girls Club through their emphasis on the importance of literary achievements in equalizing employment opportunities, given the difficulties induced by both membership in minorities and economic disadvantages. The logic of the literacy-privilege relationship is anchored on documented evidence on unequal employment opportunities arising among children and prospective employees belonging to minorities and are economically disadvantaged. In that sense, both advertising modes exploited the literacy-privilege relationship not only through the asserting the credibility of after-school clubs such as Yawkey Boys and Girls Club, but also through highlighting the logical causes of unequal employment opportunities: membership in minorities and economic disadvantages.

Pathos

The emotional aspect of both the Prezi presentation and brochure can be inferred from the first-person description of a narrator who presented himself as a volunteer working for the Yawkey Boys and Girls Club. The personal experience of the volunteer is presented as a way to convince the target audience to become members themselves. Obviously benefiting from membership, the volunteer shared that he “worked in small groups and helped individuals with homework, etc.,” as he acted in accordance to his goal to “encourage and guide” members of Yawkey Boys and Girls Club. Furthermore, the volunteer claimed that he “learned valuable leadership skills as well as insights in other people’s culture” – an assertion that is consistent with the aforementioned rhetorical functions of the advertising modes on establishing the credibility and logic of joining Yawkey Boys and Girls Club. The emotionally-charged views provided by the volunteer, which he capped by saying, “I believe each culture is unique and that it is important to learn about other’s cultures,” has thus enabled both advertising modes to convince the target audience that becoming a member of Yawkey Boys and Girls Club would be a worthwhile undertaking.

Kairos

Implicitly, both the Prezi presentation and brochure presented the timeliness of becoming a member of Yawkey Boys and Girls Club, not least because of the trend on low literacy arising from lack of privilege due to membership in minorities and economic disadvantages. To say the least, both advertising modes presented membership in Yawkey Boys and Girls Club as a timely opportunity for people of different socioeconomic backgrounds to gain equal learning and employment opportunities.

Conclusion

The use of both Prezi presentation and brochure as advertising modes, as well as the application of the four rhetorical appeals – ethos, logos, pathos and kairos, all worked for the benefit of the multimodal project advertising Yawkey Boys and Girls Club. Both advertising modes are deemed ideal for providing the target audience with contents about Yawkey Boys and Girls Club in an accessible, concise and creative manner. The four rhetorical appeals used simultaneously in promoting Yawkey Boys and Girls Club all suited in relaying the very issue justifying membership therein to the target audience, which is the negative effect of lack of privilege due to membership in minorities and economic opportunities on literacy. The use of facts and benefits and their logic, first-hand experience from a volunteer and implicitness of timeliness all worked to help convince the target audience on why membership in Yawkey Boys and Girls Club would prove ideal for children and prospective employees alike. To say the least, the multimodal project has helped present Yawkey Boys and Girls Club as an after-school club with a definite purpose and a plausible set of benefits backed with facts and a real-life testament. Nonetheless, further improvements to the multimodal project via feedback coming from the target audience may follow to further raise the profile of Yawkey Boys and Girls Club via advertising.