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Betsy Miller
Dr. OHara
Rhetoric and Civic Life Section 24
16 October 2014
Lip Gloss vs. Science
If one crumples a piece of paper, he or she can make every effort to flatten and smooth it,
but the ghosts of creases and lines will serve as constant reminders of the way it had been
crushed. The assertion is often made that this is similar to the irreversible impact of negative
words upon a human being. In its advertisement, Inspire Her Mind, Verizon Wireless portrays
this effect, showing how a series of seemingly meaningless but actually discouraging and
discriminatory phrases influence the impressionable minds of young girls. The advertisement
shows a girl as she progresses from toddler to adolescent, often partaking in scientific
experiments but being verbally dissuaded by commonplace phrases from her parents. It
culminates with a scene where the girl, as a teenager, steps up to a poster advertising a science
fair, but disinterestedly pulls out her lip gloss and applies it in the reflection of the glass. With its
stylistic elements and rhetorical appeals, the advertisement effectively persuades its targeted
audience of parents to recognize the power of their words, stop discouraging their daughters
from embracing their intelligence, and start inspiring them to pursue careers in the STEM field.
The creator of the advertisement focuses upon targeting the adult figures in young girls
lives who play roles in their mental cultivation. Parents in particular have strong influence over
the future paths that their daughters take, and the advertisement makes the assertion that they are
to blame for the problem at hand because of the way they raise their girls. The commonplace
issue addressed by the ad is the idea that women do not belong in the STEM field, which is

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rooted in the commonplace perception that little girls should stay clean, wear dresses, play with
dolls, and, in essence, be pretty. This perception is perpetuated by parents who treat their
daughters according to societys stereotype, and the advertisement shows that this way of
parenting completely extinguishes the flame of curiosity inside of young daughters, even if it is
done so unintentionally. The voices of the mother and father are always loving, but the audience
can hear their predisposed expectations for their daughter when they make statements such as,
Whos my pretty girl? (Inspire Her Mind). By presenting a situation that highlights the
consequence of this common parental behavior, the ad caters toward its intended audience and
compels them to reevaluate their parenting style.
Intertwining imagery and diction, the creator uses a style that brings attention to the
commonplace expectations for young girls and how a parental attitude that upholds them can
create a very negative outcome. Visually, there is a quiet emphasis upon the girly qualities of the
child, with fleeting shots of her fingernail polish or jewelry. Her outfits consist of skirts and
dresses often pink and purple in color, and they are accentuated in juxtaposition to the scientific
and natural settings where she plays, explores, and creates. Each scene shows her at a different
age discovering a different topic of science, and a commonplace phrase that connects the
stereotype to it is spoken by the mother or father off camera. The phrases range from Dont get
your dress dirty! or Why dont you hand that to your brother?, and they are recognizable and
relatable to the audience, who have likely heard or said them before (Inspire Her Mind). The
selected diction is then followed by the very powerful scene where the girls lip gloss is of higher
priority than the science fair. It visually shows how those verbal phrases have the ability to
change a young girls dreams. With this style, the audience simultaneously sees and hears why
such stereotypical and detrimental attitudes must be eliminated.

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One of the strongest rhetorical elements in the piece, pathos, persuades the audience to
recognize the error in its attitude toward young girls by appealing to them in an emotionally
relatable way. The advertisement initially grabs its audience by using a female toddler in the first
shot. Babies and children appeal to a very wide range of audiences, their innocence automatically
earning them affection and sympathy. As the advertisement begins to show the development of
the little girl, it plays upon this sympathy and evokes it further as it forces the audience to watch
her inborn curiosity and excitement about life become stunted time and time again. In one scene,
the girl is shown observing a creature at the beach, but her father tells her, You dont want to
mess with that. Lets put him down (Inspire Her Mind). The audience sees the disappointment
on her face, feels her discouragement and reluctance to obey, and relates to it. Being forced to act
a certain way or suppress a passion is a universal experience that all humans encounter at some
point in life. That understanding and connection felt by the audience makes them more
susceptible to the argument in the advertisement and cognizant of the negativity of limiting
young girls from exploring science.
While pathos is a dominant force throughout the entirety of the advertisement, logos is
effectively utilized at the end to reemphasize the tangible impact of treating young girls as
incapable of or unsuitable for the sciences. It is easy to fall into the mindset that such simple,
passing comments have no effect, but the advertisement portrays that they add up. The creator
uses only two facts, but they supply a very strong logical element to the argument. He points out
that 66% of 4th grade girls say they like science and math, but only 18% of all college
engineering majors are female (Inspire Her Mind). This makes it very apparent to the
audience that at some point between grade school and university, girls are dissuaded from liking
the STEM subjects. It causes the audience to realize that the issue that Verizon Wireless is

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addressing is actually prevalent in todays society and that it needs attention to stop the statistics
from dropping so significantly.
The element of ethos is an additional force that legitimizes the argument of the
advertisement and effectively sways the audience to think differently about females and science.
The producer of the advertisement is Verizon Wireless, one of the four major cell phone
companies and wireless carriers in America. The fact that its products and services are so wellmade and dependable gives Verizon significant credibility, which makes them worthy to listen to
and respect. Audiences are drawn to pay attention and deeply consider the suggestions that
Verizon makes, more so than any lesser known company. Verizons reputation also draws its
audiences attention even more in this case because the advertisement is atypical for the
company. Usually, Verizon produces ads to sell its products, but it is now pursuing a campaign
called Powerful Answers with the purpose of finding life-changing ideas to help the world. By
doing so, it is ingratiating itself even further with its customers and increasing its credibility even
more. Even though the ad is not selling a product, it is selling an idea, and the fact that it is
Verizon making this statement convinces the audience that it is worthwhile to start promoting
STEM to their daughters.
Although the direct message is to inspire little girls to pursue math and science, the
underlying argument is that girls deserve to be given the same treatment as their male
counterparts. The ad makes the statement that it is in the parents hands to create a generation
where genders finally have equal opportunity. A generation where little girls are not expected to
wear dresses and jewelry and make-up by default, but where they are viewed equally as capable
of using a drill on a model of a rocket as their brothers. With the profoundness of this message
and its portrayal, the advertisement has an irreversible effect upon its audience that is similar to

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words on the mind of a child, or a crushing fist on a flimsy sheet of paper. The creases and lines
will remain, but in a way that benefits rather than retracts, altering the perception of the female
gender.

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Works Cited
Inspire Her Mind. Verizon Wireless, 2014. Web.