Persuasive Analysis #3 - "Where Education and War Coexist"

"Where Education and War Coexist” is a print advertisement found within Rolling Stone magazine. It depicts a black man with his back on the camera, wearing a ragged white bandana and t-shirt. He is holding a rifle behind his head and above his shoulders while also wearing a backpack bearing the clearly legible words, “Stay in school.” The background is out of focus and indistinguishable, although it vaguely resembles a ramshackle building, similar to the ones found in Africa. The man has noticeably defined muscles, but at the same time he appears young, maybe in his early twenties. In the bottom right-hand corner of the ad is the location of the title, positioned at a diagonal slant.

In this visceral advertisement, certain fallacies in reasoning are used to persuade the audience to stay in school. A harrowing and effective bifurcation is presented to the reader when one reads the statement “stay in school” on the black man’s bag. It asserts that a dangerous and unpredictable future awaits anyone who drops out of school, as if as soon as they leave the haven of education they are swept up by the claws of violent self-destructive behavior. The advertisement seems to imply that if one does decide to remain in school, then he or she has a much better chance of leading a successful life. This heavy-handed argument doesn’t represent the other side of the story, like the rags-to-riches tales of people who escape their past and create a happy life through self-determination. Ethos through ethos is also clearly employed; one could classify it as a thinly-veiled form of race-baiting disguised as social concern. Despite the wide variety of ethnicities that have fallen through the cracks of society, a black man is represented in this ad, as if he is the epitome of all that is ruthless and corruptible. This plays on the audience’s emotions, such as their preexisting apprehensions toward gun-toting blacks and their ultra-violent behavior (i.e. South Central, Los Angeles). Thus, this advertisement is very flawed in having been designed as an ultimatum to either save the dispossessed black race, or witness uncontrollable atrocities.

Source: http://www.wackyarchives.com/offbeat/best-rolling-stone-ads.html