Classroom Exercise-Media Kit Analysis

Online Media Kit

Numerical Rhetoric

There is an interesting phenomenon about the human mind and the way it perceives advertisements. Everyone knows that $0.99 is much more appealing that $1.00, although we all also know how little a penny is worth these days, so what is the difference? Why do we become convinced to purchase, believing we're getting a deal, when logic tells us simultaneously that we are not? The answer, Rhetoric. 

Companies use logos to advertise appealing prices to the general public. If anyone has taken a psychology class you will understand how the brain perceives prices with a lower dollar amount as more appealing than a high dollar amount, and we almost completely do away with the remaining values in the number. It is similar to how we read words, as lnog as the frsit and lsat ltertes are in plcae, our mnid udnretsndas waht the wrod syas. We don't realize it, but we often overlook small details, such as the order letters are in, and more importantly, the value of what we purchase. 

Companies understand this phenomenon, and use it to trick the consumer into buying their product because they are a better deal that competitors. Is $0.99 really a better deal than $1.00? We know its not, but don't kid yourself, I'm certain everyone reading this has fallen prey to the $0.99 cent scam. Don't keep allowing your mind to throw out the numbers that come after the decimal, you'll be proving companies right by doing so. This issue becomes a battle of the logos, your logos vs. the business logos. You know $0.99 is the SAME THING as $1.00, you know that $7.20 is not $7.00, or that $9.80 is not $9.50. In the short run, this pricing manipulation we all do to convince ourselves to purchase something may seem ok, but in the long run, those cent values add up. 

So here's a suggestion, if you don't already have a piggybank, go out and buy one, or make one, and pay attention to the cent values, defeat the companies pricing! Put all the money you would have spent if you had allowed your logos to be overrun into your empty piggy bank. When you're ready, crack that thing open and find the true value of $0.01. 

Craigslist: The tone beneath the scam

I'm 99.9% sure that everyone reading this has either heard of, been on, advertised, or responded to an advertisement on Craiglist. As the majority of you have experienced Craiglist, I'm sure you all are aware that sometimes, bad people try to take advantage of you through Craiglist. I could have been one such victim. 

I posted an advertisement during the summer of 2009 in an attempt to find a roommate to live with me. I knew there were people who would be responding to my ad that were possibly going to try to steal from me, so I was very careful about who I met with. I used email communication as an initial screening test, if they sounded trustworthy I would agree to meet up with them for interviews. 

How to you discern trustworthyness in an email though? You have to search for tone in the written words. This was no easy feat, but after enough scam emails, there were common themes. 

First, all the scammers would portray themselves as normal, provide me with background information on themselves such as age, hobbies, how clean they are, and ironically none of them enjoyed having people over. By providing normal information about themselves, my attitude toward them was, "hey, this might be a potential roomie, they sound easy enough to live with." They developed trust by discussing normal, generic traits. 

Second: As soon as trust was developed, they would immediately begin discussing payment details, all of them were from another state or country and needed my house address to ship their car and belongings to me. They almost all insisted on paying for multiple months rent in advance to reserve the room. They would ask for my personal information so they would know who to write the check to, and then ask me to remove my advertisement because they plan on moving in ASAP. The tone went from a positive "TRUST ME!!!!" to another positive "I'LL TAKE CARE OF EVERYTHING!" To a fool, this would work, but underneath what they were saying I understood the email quite differently. By analyzing the play in tone that the person used I was able to determine what the email actually meant: "LOOK, I'M JUST LIKE YOU SO LET ME MOVE IN, OH AND WE DON'T NEED TO MEET LOOK HOW COMPATIBLE OUR PERSONALITIES ARE, SO JUST SEND ME ALL YOUR INFORMATION AND LET ME STEAL EVERYTHING FROM YOU WHILE YOU'RE UNAWARES!" 

Needless to say, I never met up with the person who's email I will leave at the bottom of this post for anyone who wants to read it. I listened to the tone of the email rather than the words the email said to determine this person was a scammer after my possessions. Also, the grammer in the email didn't help this person betray me.  

ACTUAL EMAIL:

Hello Kat I'll be so glad if you can reserve the room for me and i really appreciate the breakdown details of the house, more about me from Huntsville, AL, USA, a quiet,clean,honest,responsible and easy going person to live with, I'm 5"7',straight, 26 years of age. I dont drink nor smoke but i'm cool living with people that do. I love to go on date but seldomly party. I swim for fun and sometimes play long tennis... i live with my Uncle here in AL,my Dad and mom's dead since i was a kid ,roommie i want you to know that i have no friends in the area except you for now lol....I am currently working on a research pertaining to my course work on culture and tourism. I hope to end my current assignment by the end of this month here in Alabama and focus on my new assingment to your States.. According to your mail, i will have to make a payment of $500 and reserve the room for me before my arrival, and then i will make subsequent payment thereafter as i plan to stay for more than 6months. So i'll client to see you'll get the payment prior to my arriving date....To be honest with you i really like the kind of person you are from your little description and if you have the picture of the bedroom available, kindly forward it to my mailbox. I am really okay with the place... I am planning to arrive on the 1st of next month so i will love to know if i can make the payment ahead of my arrival via business check,money order or personnal Cheque,Bank acctount ...so you will get the payment by next week and i can go ahead making arrangement for sending the payment to you, also i will much apprecaite if you can mail your information like,your mailing address ,your full name,your contact number as to appear on the payment. I will like to ship in my car,luggage,laptop and other materials for my research ahead of my arrival... I will also like you to remove the advert from the site b'cos i am ready to have your place rented..... Hope to read from you soon.