Speech Proposal

For my speech, I will be analyzing advertisements used by the University of Iowa. I chose the University because I have lived both in and near Iowa City for my entire life and the University has been as much a part of my life as any local brand or company could be. Living around the University has meant exposure from an early age to University advertising and I am interested in how the University builds advertisements to effectively reach the potential student audience.

For my analysis, I have chosen print and video advertisements for the University. Many of these advertisements focus on the diversity and forward thinking attitude associated with the University of Iowa campus. For comparison, I will analyze advertisements from Iowa State and the University of Northern Iowa to help highlight differences and find common ground between their advertisement strategies.

The University of Iowa uses primarily logos and pathos in order to attract and retain students in the various programs of study offered at Iowa. I have found that primarily logos and pathos are used through the analysis of the print and video ads that I have found. Many of the advertisements focus on Iowa being a good step forward for a student's career and any that do not focus on the purpose of Iowa as the next step in education focus on the concept of the Hawkeye Community. The advertisement of Iowa as a productive step forwards in education is a specific example of the use of logos or logic. For example, a quote from a picture on the U of I admission site states,"Iowa will change you, you will change the world". This quote is meant to demonstrate that Iowa is an essential part of getting students from where they are now to where they want to be. The quote that I chose above can also be used as an example of an appeal to Pathos because it appeals to the hopes and aspirations of incoming students as a part of attracting them to Iowa.

Throughout my speech, I plan to display relevant advertisements and explain how they break down into different aspects of the rhetorical triangle. Whether I am comparing two advertisements or just showing and analyzing one, I plan to have content relevant to my presentation on the projector at all times. I will likely not play entire video advertisements but rather show pictures of video advertisements that are relevant to my presentation which will help condense information.