Running Head: OBESITY

Obesity
Jimmy Quemado Jr
University of Texas El Paso
Dr. Pappoe
RWS 1302
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Obesity

"This city is going on a diet, and we're going to lose a million pounds." -Mick Cornett Obesity is a

first world problem, it has become too expensive to feed people natural food, so scientists have

engineered food to give us with no nutrition. The world is eating genetically modified none nutritious

foods. This issue is being addressed by the media around the world throughout different genres they

are both talking about obesity but in different ways. From a Ted Talk to a political cartoon, the

message is quite the same, America is obese and is dying of cardio vascular diseases. Mick Cornetts

Ted talk covered how an obese city worked together to lose a million pounds and be taken off the

country's most obese list. The political cartoon shows what Mayor Cornett was trying to change in

Oklahoma City, obese people living in a city that gave them no other choice.

Audience and Purpose

The first genera, Mick Cornett's How an Obese Town Lost a Million Pounds, Is an uplifting

speech presented by Ted Talk in January of 2014. The purpose of this speech is to inform it's audience

about obesity and how communities can come together to change a life threatening trend. The cartoons

purpose is to get the reader's attention it states a problem without facts or figures but the issue is still

present that inner cities are more at risk of obesity due to the fact that they live in a food desert.

Cornetts story was presented at a Ted Med Talk, his target audience would likely be medical

professionals and or medical students. Which shows that people are talking about this topic, and are likely

researching ways solve the issue. The second genera could be found in a newspaper, the target article

would be older people that are accustomed to getting their news and entertainment from the paper.

Both genres cover the same topic, but do so in extremely different time lines, the ted talk is 15

minutes whereas the cartoon you wouldnt look at for over a minute. Cornett's speech has to be longer so

that he can paint a picture in the audiences mind, he uses their emotion to deliver his story about how he

was able to get an obese town to lose weight. The Cartoon gets the attention of the viewer, gives them the

message it is constricted to a little box, something that you could look at for a minute. The Picture that I
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chose came from One Minute Media. The name of the website draws an early point, political cartoons are

meant to have strong messages that are delivered as quickly as possible.

Rhetorical Issues

Ethos is an appeal to ethics, and it uses a person such as a celebrity to convince the

audience by using their credibility. Pathos appeals to emotion, and is a way of conveying the

message to the viewer by using there emotions to keep them interested. Logos is an appeal to

logic, and is a way of influencing the reader by using logic. Both genre, use rhetoric to convey its

message to the audience.

Ethos

The first genre is presented by a former mayor and is indorsed by celebrities like Rachel

Ray and Ellen. Mayor Cornett proves to effectiveness of an ethos appeal by saying, "I appeared
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on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" one weekday morning to talk about the initiative, and on that

day, 150,000 visits were placed to our website." This effect gains the trust of the audience by

using people that they know to make them more interested in the topic. Mayor Cornett uses

platform as a community leader to persuade his people to change there life styles. When Mayor

Cornett mentions "I went to the zoo, and I stood in front of the elephants, and I said, "This city is

going on a diet, and we're going to lose a million pounds." He uses his surroundings to enhance

his point, and it works. He goes on to say "Well, that's when all hell broke loose." And gives a

slight chuckle. Doing this he appeals to the crowd by interacting them. Although he is mayor he

lowers his self to be one with his people and thats a trait of great leader and how his point

spread from little Oklahoma city, to around the country in a matter of hours. The second genera

only ethos appeal is that it would be found in the newspaper, and most people would consider the

paper to be a credible source.

Pathos

The Ted talk uses emotional appeal by bringing up stories from his town and how the

change came. In Mayor Cornett speech addressing the city of Oklahoma, he mentions "I got on

the scales. And I weighed 220 pounds. And then I went to this website sponsored by the federal

government, and I typed in my height, I typed in my weight, and I pushed Enter, and it came

back and said "obese." By using his own experience and admitting that he himself had a

problem, he was able to connect to his audience and ignite change with in his community. There

is also quiet music in the back ground that enhances his voice as he speaks in a very encouraging

and positive way. The cartoon however uses a different angle and is slightly comical. This allows

the viewer to view it quickly and get in all the information. Also, it helps the reader to remember

a serious idea by giving it a comical background. While the cartoon instills comedy, it is quite
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serious, it delivers points such as heart diseases and cancer, as "Heart Attack Mac and Cancer on

a stick" These logos are similar to fast food places that contribute to obesity. While using a

comical approach it insights the feelings of anger, because millions of people who live in inner

cities have nothing other to eat than processed commercial food due to live in a food desert.

Logos

The first genre uses logos throughout the speech Cornett's speech is very professional and

is delivered in a manner that is easy to pay attention too. His evidence came from life experience

and he is a reliable resource due to his time as mayor. In the cartoon the proof is in the picture.

We see it every day fast unhealthy food is easier and cheaper to find then healthy produce and

unprocessed meats in the inner cities. Both genre lacked statistical evidence, due to the mayors

speech being more of a motivational uplifting speech and the constrains of a cartoon the lack of

factual figures is understandable. While not having credible stats both genre get the message

across clearly and professionally.

Structure and Delivery

The structure of the Ted talk was great, he made the story enjoyable. He took background

information on how the city of Oklahoma was started and how it changed drastically in the time

since. He showed that times of quick and cheap development led to obesity. The cartoon was a

pretty cool drawing of big guys walking down the road with nothing but horribly unhealthy

places to eat. The picture also shows the group to be "in the hood". I thought that the picture

came out and told me it's message. The inner cities of America are living in a food desert only

consuming processed foods from fast food restaurants and corner stores. Political cartoons are

slowly fading with the times, as newspapers become less popular as technology develops. This
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causes the target audience of the cartoon to shrink, with digital media you dont need a cartoon to

be a filer, companies can use a space that size to show a video with the same message.

Conclusion

Lastly both genera's, use rhetoric, structure, and delivery to convey its message to the

audience. In both genera's different traits were used to give different points. In the speech back

ground information and personal reflection helped the Cornett to drive to emotion out of the

audience. In the cartoon the play of comedy got the viewers' attention then delivered the point.

Americas at risk of obesity and the first step of fighting it is communication.

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Work Cited

http://www.bendib.com/black/1-7-Obesity-City.jpg

Cornett, M. (2014, January). Transcript of "How an obese town lost a million pounds".
Retrieved June 22, 2017, from
https://www.ted.com/talks/mick_cornett_how_an_obese_town_lost_a_million_pounds/tr
anscript?language=en#t-954532
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