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Tyler Reinhold
De Piero, Writing 2
March 16, 2015
Getting Genres
Genres, genres, genres! They are all around us and we don’t even know it. From research
journals to album covers and even advertisements, everything is a part of its own genre. Even if a
group of works are from completely different sources, it can still be very possible for them to be
of the same genre. Genre is an important area of writing to read, write, and study about because
genre awareness helps us to become better readers and writers. I will be using G-Shock watch
advertisements from the websites Craigslist, Ebay, and Amazon to prove that studying genre and
analyzing it’s rhetorical features and conventions can help people to understand the make-up of
every genre and incorporate those elements into their writing, and better understand them in their
reading.
The main surface-level features that categorize all three sources into the advertisement
genre are pictures, descriptions, and prices for the product. Those are some of the very first
things that are visible on each ad and are the most important features to a successful ad. By first
viewing the picture and the description one should already know this is an advertisement, but the
price makes it even more evident. Similar techniques like a professional tone and style are used
in the ad layout and the description for the watches. The same conventions like pictures,
descriptions, contact information, and price are all similarly used in the layout technique. Also,
each advertisement is attempting to make there watch sound like the best watch you can buy,
although they are all the same.
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Advertisements are some of the most easily accessible and public forms of genre.
Someone is always attempting to sell something to us, whether we know it or not. In the case of
websites like Craigslist, Ebay, and Amazon it is very clear that selling is there number one goal.
Advertisements all contain very similar conventions. The main selling point for each item would
be the picture. Buyers want to see exactly what they are going to purchase, so pictures of the
product are conventionally present. The audience for the genre of advertisement is usually a
specific group of people. Many times advertisements will attempt to target specific groups or
anyone who has a good interest in the product or what benefits it will bring them. For our GShock watch advertisements on Craigslist, Ebay, and Amazon the audience is anyone who
happened to stumble across the ad for the watch. The style and tone for most advertisements
differ. Some are aimed to entice certain people, while others give broad statements or exciting
slogans. For instance, McDonald’s uses the catchy slogan “I’m Loving It” or their catchy jingle
to catch hungry people’s attention (Mcdonald’s). Geico uses a cute talking gecko to create a
brand and appeal to an audience looking for laughs (The Geico). In our examples, the style and
tone are both very informative. Each advertisement gives specifics about the product with
minimal fluff. There is a heavy emphasis on information of the product and its price being its
main selling points.
First off is our Craigslist advertisement for the very fancy and functional G-Shock watch.
This advertisement contains very little writing and information about the product, but relies
heavily on the products picture. The ad simply describes a scratch on the watch and gives it a
rating of 9 on a scale of 10 for its quality. Also included is the seller’s phone number to contact
them for further information. For this ad the audience would be watch buyers in the Santa
Barbara and Los Angeles area. Since Craigslist operates off of a “pick it up yourself” selling
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method, the buyer would have to live in close proximity to the seller. Clearly, the main purpose
of this advertisement is to grab someone’s attention and entice them to contact the seller and
purchase this watch. The main context for this ad is that it is on Craigslist. One must know the
context of Craigslist and how buyers must physically pick up their purchases from sellers.
Additionally some of the Craigslist context is that the seller usually must be contacted to receive
a better description of the item. By Craigslist context I mean the whole buying and selling
process. People put their items that they want to sell up on the website and people in the seller’s
area contact the seller and meet them to purchase and pick-up the item. The style and tone of this
ad is very informal and somewhat lazy. Only two pictures of the watch are displayed and hardly
any information regarding the watches functions or specifics are presented. The lack of work put
into the ad gives it a lazy tone and really creates a style that shows a major lack of effort,
synonymous with modern “hipster” fashion. The conventions that make this an advertisement are
very apparent. The picture shows the product, there is a way to contact the seller to purchase the
item, and most importantly there is a price. Those conventions are what make this ad an ad, a
pretty sad and minimalistic ad, but it still is grouped in the genre (Craigslist).
Next is another G-Shock watch advertisement, but from Ebay, one of the riskiest places
to buy expensive products. The audience for this ad differs somewhat from the Craigslist ad.
Ebay ships from all over the world right to your door, unlike the “pick it up yourself” method of
Craigslist. This broadens the audience from people in the sellers are to people around the world.
Anyone looking to purchase a G-Shock watch can find this advertisement on Ebay and purchase
it. The purpose of this Ad is to hook a potential buyer into buying this exact watch. The seller
provides plenty of information for the buyer to consider purchasing this product. Just from this
advertisement someone can gather the information they need to make a decision about
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purchasing the watch. The context of this advertisement is that it is from Ebay, not a normally
trustworthy source. Yes, Ebay has customer rating systems, but it is easy to be conned still.
Sellers can ship you knockoffs or not ship anything at all. Many products on Ebay are actually
fake so one must be aware of the risk of buying a product off this site (Ebay).
Continuing with the Ebay advertisement, it’s style and tone are professional and rely
heavily on the features and specifications of the watch. The seller’s professional tone can be read
in their description of the item. They are very confident in this product and how it functions. The
style of the advertisement is very clean and simple. There is an attachment of extra information
about the company and more about the watch. This makes the buyer feel that they are purchasing
from a reliable source. The pictures provided are neat and of great quality making it easier for the
buyer to see the product. This source follows some of the typical conventions for an
advertisement. The first convention is the picture displaying the product. Some of the other main
conventions are a description of the item, a way to purchase it, and also a price. Although this
advertisement is off of Ebay, sometimes a sketchy source, it still matches all the conventions that
put it in the ad genre (Ebay).
Last is an advertisement for the same G-Shock watch, but this time it is for sale on
Amazon. Out of all three sources, Amazon is a very reputable and trustworthy source for
purchasing items. Amazon has a great reputation for customer service and creates solid
advertisements. The audience for this ad is similar to that of Ebay; basically it is anyone looking
to buy a G-Shock watch. The purpose is of course to sell this watch to a possible buyer and
convince them that this is the watch they want and need. The context for this advertisement is
that it comes from Amazon, a very well-known source for its great service and fast shipping. One
would have to somewhat know how to navigate through the website and possible sign up for
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Amazon Prime. The style and tone of this advertisement is by far the most professional of all
three ads. It gives a detailed description of the watch, its color, its ability to handle water depth,
and its durability, and also information about Casio, the watch’s manufacturer. The tone is
overall very professional and gets to the point. The style is simple and easy to read, with short
and concise descriptions of the watch’s features. Some of the conventions this advertisement
holds are very similar to the past two sources, only this source adds more to that. It contains
pictures of the watch like the past ads, but it contains several more, including an on-wrist picture.
Additionally there is a fancy video of a 360 degree view of the watch. There of course is a
description of the watch, details about it specifications, and also a price for the product. This
advertisement ultimately serves as a more professional and trustworthy ad for the product, while
highlighting all the conventions which categorize it in the advertisement genre (Amazon).
By studying genre and learning it, people can become more aware of their surroundings.
By being able to recognize different genres and their conventions one gains a better
understanding of what they are reading or even writing. Such as Laura Bolin Carroll suggests in
Backpacks vs. Briefcases; Steps toward Rhetorical Analysis by stating, “Understanding rhetorical
messages in essential to help us to become informed consumers, but it also helps evaluate the
ethics of messages, how they affect us personally, and how they affect society. (Carroll 46)” If
one gains a solid understanding of genre, they can more easily interpret meaning of pieces and
place their own meaning in their written works. When the genre of a piece is recognized the
purpose and its meaning usually become more obvious. One can tailor their words and fit certain
conventions to make the genre of their piece and its meaning more clear. Genre is important for
everyone, both the reader and the writer. It helps us all to understand what exactly we are
experiencing in front of us. Like Kerry Dirk states in Navigating Genres, “Possibly without even
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thinking about it, you were recognizing the rhetorical situation of your action and choosing to act
in a manner that would result in the outcome you desired.(Dirk 253)” We all participate in
creating genres, but we don’t even know it. That dumb ten page paper that you wrote for your
Kanye West and Kim Kardashian appreciation course, has a genre! Understanding genres can
even help give ideas on how to begin that ridiculous Kanye and Kim paper, like Janet Boyd
explains in Murder! (Rhetorically Speaking), “Every piece of writing needs a starting point and a
perspective, it is true, and the demands of the genre…shaped the very first words of your
response. (Boyd 90)” When beginning to write a specific genre, one can fall back on the
conventions of that particular genre to help them start to write. By just following basic
conventions, suddenly writing begins to become so much easier. By studying them, we can
realize what we are writing and gain a better understanding of how to write and read certain
works rather than just creating garbage or not gaining a complete understanding of a great book
(Carroll 2, Dirk 5, Boyd 4).
To sum it up, genres are great. The three ads that I presented demonstrate the different
conventions and rhetorical features of the advertisement genre. When genre is understood,
reading and writing gains a whole other level of meaning. It is easier to define the meaning when
reading a piece and easier to put meaning into a piece that one is writing. By learning about
genre and the conventions and rhetorical features which create each genre category, everyone
benefits due to their clearer understanding of concepts and their ability to read and write better
by getting the concept of genres.
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Works Cited
Amazon. Amazon.com: : Watches. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Jan. 2015.
<http://www.amazon.com/Casio-DW-9052V-1CR-G-Shock-DigitalDisplay/dp/B00MTHO1F2/ref=sr_1_cc_1?s=aps&ie=UTF8&qid=1421827921&sr=11-catcorr&keywords=g-shock+DW9052V-1>.
Boyd, Janet. "Murder! (Rhetorically Speaking)." (n.d.): n. pag.
Carroll, Laura B. "Backpacks vs. Briefcases: Steps toward Rhetorical Analysis." (n.d.): n. pag.
Craigslist. Craigslist. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Jan. 2015.
<http://losangeles.craigslist.org/lac/bar/4842747992.html>.
Dirk, Kerry. "Navigating Genres." (n.d.): n. pag. Print.
Ebay. EBay. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Jan. 2015. <http://www.ebay.com/itm/Casio-G-Shock-DW9052-1V-Mens-Watch-Brand-New/291170969619?pt=Wristwatches&hash=item43cb246813>.
"The Geico Gecko Commercial Funny." YouTube. YouTube, n.d. Web. 15 Mar. 2015.
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=68z60P1nt1c>.
"McDonald's: Super Bowl XLIX Pay With Lovin'" YouTube. YouTube, n.d. Web. 12 Mar. 2015.
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iq2Sm2XGv_s>.
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