Mint, Wow.

      Shamrock shakes are the highlight of March at McDonald’s. I barely eat McDonald’s, but once the Shamrock shakes come back on the market, it’s like a once a week must. The minty delight needs no rhetoric to persuade McDonald’s consumers to buy due to its undeniable deliciousness. But still, like every other company, McDonald’s creates commercials to convince its customers to purchase the milkshake.

From YouTube

     Like many other commercials, McDonald’s uses comedic edge to grab the attention of the viewers. The following commercial from the company uses a typical scenario between couples to relate to the audience. Women will always be suspicious of their men which makes this commercial humorous. The way the woman questions the man and uses common reactions to if the man would have really been cheating on her allows the viewer to think of the Shamrock shake as a guilty pleasure, something we all desire to have. Because the commercial still keeps the hilarious edge and the man eventually tells the woman he only went to buy them both a shake, the drink does not seem like a sin or something that must be hidden, making consumers not feel ashamed if they wish to buy a Shamrock shake.

     The background music throughout the commercial also adds to the comedic aspect by providing music that not only keeps the viewer’s attention, but illuminates the ridiculousness of the female’s suspicions. It is upbeat but not too much so that it seems like the commercial is an advertisement for baby toys, a child’s summer camp, or something along those lines.

     Even the words that appear at the end of the commercial saying “for a limited time” bring a point of rhetoric into the ad. The font of the text keeps the theme of “tango” intact. But also, but only showing the words briefly, McDonald’s manages to remind viewers that these shakes are not available always, silently persuading them quickly go purchase the shake. 

Save Me From the Illuminati

     Never have I come across a song (besides for the prelude to Michael Myers slashing fits) that I have genuinely been afraid of. Usually songs, because of the beat, bridge, chorus, and overall message simply make you tap your foot and sway your hips rather than become frightened to the point that you turn your radio off and hope to not have nightmares that night. Recently, not just one song makes me feel this way. Several songs, from various artists, give me that uneasy feeling in my gut and automatically make me shiver with fear. This uncontrollable fear stems from the theory of the illuminati.

Documentary on the Illuminati Society

     The illuminati are a secret society that is thought to be organized and run by the devil himself. The group preys on the public by making its members wealthy, famous, and influential people in order to persuade society to not only follow the devil and perform his acts, but place him before God. The illuminati mock God and his teachings through numerology and treacherous acts that destroy America’s hearts. They claim that they are a secret society but they place their beliefs and practices out in the public eye so that the people of America know of them and begin to mimic them.

     Almost every celebrity that I can think of is a member of the illuminati. Such as, Beyonce, Kanye West, Barrack Obama, Opera Winfrey, Justin Beiber, Lady Gaga, the Apple company, Paramount Pictures and many more. There are athletes, politicians, rappers, singers, actors. The list continues to grow. These people are rewarded with endless riches if they pledge to worship the devil and spread his word. It can often be confusing because these celebrities will openly thank “God” when receiving awards, but their God is the devil, which is misconstruing. The celebrities use hand signals, certain lyrics in their music, illustrations in their music videos, and backwards messaging in their songs to persuade the public to dismiss all previous belief in Jesus and God.

      In order to be a member of the organization, the interested individual must murder a person close to him or her to demonstrate their allegiance to the society. However, if the person is already a member of the illuminati and they wish to end their membership, the illuminati will do anything in its power to crush the reputation of the person, from fake criminal charges which would led them to jail, to horrific accusations, to even the murdering of the individual. Examples of this are DMX time in jail and the killing of Michael Jackson who both desire to remove themselves from the illuminati.

     As my roommate and I intently watched numerous YouTube videos about the illuminati, the fear in me grew and grew. Everything I had grown up listening to, watching on TV, and buying was all a plot to convince me to become an evil person. My subconscious has been involuntarily processing this sinful information without me being aware. All rhetoric in commercials, ads, and shows are so misleading. God help my subconscious. 

Who Died and Made You Symbol King?

     Symbols surround us. Almost everything we see, buy, read, and even taste are composed of some sort of symbol that is designed to make a person experience a specific emotion. But as the amount of symbols increase it is apparent to me that these symbols are all collective. Society agrees on the effects symbols will have on a person.

      For example, angel wings. From the appearance of them on the Victoria Secret perfume bottles to the swaying of wings on the rear view mirror of your grandmother’s Cadillac, angel wings have formed a stereotypical view. Society has given the connotations of heavenly, peaceful, innocent, and more to these angel wings. But why? Who designed these connotations? After all, in the Bible the Devil was a fallen angel, so couldn’t wings also be labeled as evil, malice, greed, or lust?

      Who had the authority in society to develop the, now, concrete connotations that all these symbols represent? Because even though each individual experiences symbols differently depending on their own personal experiences with the words and objects, in the end, there is still one basic and common meaning of the majority of symbols.

     It is not like there is a manual all toddlers are forced to memorize so that when symbols are presented to them they automatically evoke specific emotions.  But it seems that way doesn’t it? When we see green, we think nature, health, or jealousy. When we see red, we think energy, excitement, passion. But what worthy individual decided on these things? Because honestly, the only reason why I experience these emotions when I see these colors is because someone told me on Google search that I was supposed to feel this way. That when I see the colors of McDonalds, because yellow is overbearing in the icon, that I am mechanically designed to feel joyous.

      Symbolic meanings are just tricky.