Previous Findings
- Parental incarceration leads to significant impairment of children’s health, which may be related to poor access to medicine.
- There is a correlation between the frequency of delinquent behavior in children and the fact that their parents were incarcerated.
Data Collection Method/Methods: Underline the data collection method or methods used by the researchers
The researchers used data from a Minnesota student survey conducted every three years. Using logistic regression models, Hiolski et al. (41) compared different indicators among students whose parents were incarcerated with those students whose parents had no incarceration history. Among the variables included in the survey were students’ dietary habits (amount of fast food, fruits, and vegetables consumed), sleep patterns, and frequency of sports. An important consideration is that the data were de-identified in the survey.
Information about the Sample or Population
The survey that served as the basis for the study (Minnesota Student Survey) was administered to middle and high school students in Minnesota, USA. Specifically, pupils of both genders from the fifth, eighth, ninth, and eleventh grades participated. The sample accurately reflected the adolescent population in the state — 49.5% of females participated; the number of white students was 68.3% (Hiolski et al. 39). In total, more than one hundred thousand people, 1,68733 students, participated in the survey (Hiolski et al. 40). The questions were structured in a particular way to take into account the age characteristics of teenagers. For example, fifth-grade students were not asked if their parents had been incarcerated.
Participation in the survey is voluntary, so only student consent was required — those who agreed were selected as respondents. This study was not longitudinal, but the article does not specify exactly how long it lasted. The authors note that participation rates were high, especially among eighth and ninth graders (Hiolski et al. 40). In addition to non-Hispanic whites, the survey included African American, Asian, Native Hawaiian, and American Indian students, as well as those who are multiracial.
Findings from the Study
- Among those experiencing economic hardship, there are more students whose parents are incarcerated.
- Those students whose parents had a history of incarceration ate worse than their peers whose parents were not in prison.
- Incarcerated parents were found to be correlated with decreased sleep quality in their children.
- The association of higher rates of unhealthy behavior among children whose parents were incarcerated persisted even after controlling for factors such as race, age, and financial distress.
Work Cited
Hiolski, Kathryn et al. “Youth Self-Reported Health and Their Experience of Parental Incarceration.” Families, Systems & Health: The Journal of Collaborative Family Healthcare, vol. 37, no. 1, 2019, pp. 38-45.
An Analysis Of Last Year’s Lemons TV Ad
Introduction
It is no secret that the primary function of advertisement of any type is to promote a company’s products and services to the target audience. Since the advent of the advertising industry, advertisers have developed many diverse and practical approaches to convince one that they need what the business organization offers to them. Technological progress has also significantly contributed to its development; ads today are present in all major communication channels, including TV, online space, and radio. Nowadays, the industry has become so complex that the production of TV commercials requires advertisers to apply a variety of different techniques from various fields such as marketing, moviemaking, cinematography, and storytelling. Analyzing successful examples helps advertising students understand how to use those techniques to create efficient and memorable TV commercials. In this paper, an analysis of Last Year’s Lemons TV ad will be presented.
Description of TV Ad
A short description of Last Year’s Lemons will be provided at first. The TV commercial starts with a group of friends discussing the new Bud Light Seltzer Lemonade and that 2020 was a terrible year (Bud Light). Then the audience is shown various short scenes with people caught in the lemon rain (Bud Light). The video ends where it starts, at the outdoor party. Mark walks over to grab a can of beer, mentioning the famous saying about life and lemons, and one of his female friends stops him (Bud Light). Then the advertised product is shown, and a voice-over briefly describes it and says its slogan.
Target Audience
After watching Last Year’s Lemons, one can see who the target audience of the new Anheuser-Busch beer is. The video includes all major racial and ethnic groups living in the United States (US) (Bud Light). The company is promoting its new beer for both men and women. Moreover, viewers are shown people of different social and economic backgrounds during short scenes (Bud Light). There are people of various ages in the TV commercial, but most are young adults and middle-aged individuals. In just a one-minute TV ad, advertisers have masterfully encompassed all social segments allowed to drink alcohol under US law.
Central Theme and Rhetorical Method of Appeal in the Discussed TV Commercial
The Meaning of Lemons
Lemons are the centerpiece of the discussed TV commercial; the very title indicates it. They are present or mentioned by the characters in all scenes of the video (Bud Light). The main reason for such a narrative decision is the need to indicate the distinguishing feature of the product offered, which is lemon flavor. Lemons also serve as a metaphor for all the things that were ruined by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Traditional ways of working and recreation, air travel, the news, sports events, and even weddings have been affected by it (Bud Light). The advertisers show that the best way to deal with these disasters is to accept them and relax with a new lemon-flavored beer.
Rhetorical Method of Appeal Applied
Knowing advertising and marketing strategies and tactics is not enough to create a compelling and memorable TV commercial. An advertiser must also understand the basics and nuances of rhetoric. The use of rhetorical tactics such as ethos, logos, and pathos can significantly enhance the intended effect of an ad. The creators mostly used the latter in Last Year’s Lemons. It is necessary to note that pathos “means to persuade an audience by purposely evoking certain emotions to make them feel the way the author wants them to feel” (“Pathos, Logos, and Ethos”). Experts also note that “authors make deliberate word choices, use meaningful language, and use examples and stories that evoke emotion” (“Pathos, Logos, and Ethos”). Simply put, appealing to viewers’ emotions is the primary strategy for capturing the audience’s attention in Last Year’s Lemons. As the like / dislike ratio and the total number of views show, it was the right decision.
Advertisers have tried to create the most relatable image to catch the viewers’ eyes and convince them to try their new beer. They showed so many scenes because some of the people watching the TV commercial have probably experienced them (Bud Light). The created emotional connection enhances the overall persuasive effect, increasing the likelihood that the target audience will buy the advertised product. The appeal to ethos or logos is practically absent in the ad’s message, mainly because these rhetorical approaches do not conceptually fit the idea of this TV commercial.
Conclusion
This work is an analysis of Last Year’s Lemons TV ad. The paper provides a brief description of the discussed TV commercial and explains who the beer company is considering as its target audience. Analysis showed that they are US citizens between 21 and 60 years old. Lemons are the connecting link between the advertised product, the story in the ad, and the metanarrative message. The authors made them more than just an indicator of the new flavor of the beer. Emotional appeal is the primary rhetorical tactic used by advertisers.
Works Cited
“Bud Light Seltzer Lemonade – Super Bowl LV – Last Year’s Lemons.” YouTube, uploaded by Bud Light, 2021, Web.
“Pathos, Logos, and Ethos.” St. Louis Community College, Web.
Dangers Of Microplastics To Marine Ecosystems
A marine ecosystem refers to an aquatic environment with a high concentration of dissolved salts. At the same time, micro plastics are small pieces of ductile particles found in the environment due to pollution. As a result of contamination of environment, the marine ecosystem has been affected causing many side effects to the aquatic animals. Plastics that enter into the water remain there for so many years leading to fragmentation due to photochemical processes forming microplastics (Espinosa et al., 2016). Human beings are direct consumers of seafood highly affected by the effect leading to indirect transfer of the consequences to man (Saha et al., 2021). The same repercussion the decay has on marine animals is then passed on to humans.
Absorption of these tiny plastics by marine animals increases toxicity due to organic hydrophobic compounds’ breakdown. When taken by marine species, they become bioaccumulated. Due to mixture effects, they lead to problems in metabolism, growth, feeding patterns, and even reproduction, causing different toxicological risks for each species (Sunday et al., 2020). For example, polystyrenereduces chlorophyll concentration in algae. At the same time, Daphnia Magna impairs the reproductive cycle and affects the immune system of sharks.
Glass-reinforced plastics used in the manufacture of boats are non-corrosive and release fiberglass into the blue mussel. It enters the mantle cavity and the gills. Daphnia Magna forms clumps of smaller polymer materials in the appendages, leading to weight increase, making it sink due to the effect in the swimming pattern.
When people consume seafood such as fish exposed to microplastics ecosystems, the chemicals in the fish may contribute to weight gain and interfere with brain development in small children and the fetus. Other compounds of plastics may cause cancer and congenital disabilities. It also causes effects in the nervous system leading to both behavior and functional problems, which may later lead to death. To reduce aquatic pollution and its impact, people should keep the environment clean by disposing wisely of the plastics they use. Measures should be taken against those polluting the seas by releasing sewage and leakages of oil.
References
Espinosa-Romero, M. J., Chan, K. M., McDaniel’s, T., &Dalmer, D. M. (2016). Structuring decision-making for ecosystem-based management. Marine Policy, 35(5), 575-583.
Hogan, P., Otero, P., Murray, P., &Saha, S. K. (2021). Effect of biomass pre-treatment on supercritical CO2 extraction of lipids from marine diatom Amphora sp. and its biomass evaluation as bioethanol feedstock. Heliyon, 7(1), e05995.
Pinsky, M. L., Eikeset, A. M., McCauley, D. J., Payne, J. L., & Sunday, J. M. (2020). Greater vulnerability to warming of marine versus terrestrial ectotherms. Nature, 569(7754), 108-111.