You have now read 3 essays that could fulfill our research assignment. The Bordo piece uses primary texts to build a case for how media and advertising images and rhetoric coalesce to create an idealized, unrealistic relationship with food. The Shea article "New Grub Street" uses current journalism texts to report on and speculate about the recent trend of seeing food as an ethical matter, then goes on to suggest how his colleagues might address and render the rhetoric of such texts to benefit their audiences.
I think the Victory Gardens essay shows us how we don't have to have a political or occupational agenda to frame and perform a rhetorical inquiry.
Thinking about your own research project, what kind of texts could you explore and analyze in your quest to figure out how an idea or meaning obtains in our culture? Will the purpose of your own paper be political, academic/discovery, occupational? Discuss your ideas and possible texts for the research project.
In my Food Science class, we did a project of comparing packaging to food costs. For my research project I would like to explore the different techniques used in advertising when trying to convince a consumer to buy these products. I can research different advertising techniques used to convince their audience that even though they are getting a lot less of a product somehow that can be justified with quickness and accessibility of the product. For example,their are adds for these 100 calorie packs which are outrageously expensive and a consumer gets a lot less than in the normal pack. With this new healthy kick bandwagon everyone is jumping on the producers of these 100 calorie packs are able to convince their buyers that they are getting a good deal because of the low calories. When in reality, if a consumer just controlled their portion sizes they could buy the normal product for cheaper and get more for their money. I also compared these small peanut butter cups to a normal jar of peanut butter and the cups were about 2 dollars more and the consumer is buying about 25% less of the product. However, because of the accessibility of the product moms are buying them for the quickness in their busy lives. I think it will be a very interesting topic and it will be amusing to see the tactics used by companies to promote these more expensive products.
ReplyDeleteI'm thinking about looking at the grocery deli cost compared to the cost of meat in a butcher shop and determining which gets more sales. This could go into that the sales in the grocery store are only greater because of convince or is the quality better. My essay will be academic/discovery because i think it will be more interesting if it is written this way. Some of the text I am thinking of will be price list and possibly a magazine article or newspaper clip if the articles are available.
ReplyDeleteI'm thinking about looking at the impact of industrialized agriculture on third world food producing nations. The focus of my paper will be the coffee crop and the global impacts of major coffee producers in the US such as Starbucks and Folgers as well as exploring the fair trade movement as a possible solution to the problems. There are numerous texts available on the subject and I plan to dive into several different arguments developed from opposing viewpoints in order to glean a more perfect answer to the current problem.
ReplyDeleteI think for my research paper I want to focus on the rising popularity of organic foods. So much in the media today is focused on how celebrities are eating organic and how orgnaic is the best choice for you. I can remember not long ago when people who ate organic were weird health nuts, but now it seems like if you dont eat organic your out of the loop. I want to look at the marketing schemes that started the organic food following. Was it fad diets, celebrity mimmicking, or actually thinking organic was the best choice for people. I mean really if something thats basically like a snickers bar had an organic label slapped on it I bet twenty dollars that people would buy it over a regualr snickers. I just think its funny how even if something probably isnt organic but the label says it is people buy that stuff up like hot cakes. I know with the recent rules set up for organic standards that not just anything can say organic anymore, but still it seems that alot of products are still trying to lean on their "organic" backings. I think looking at some of the really popular organic products and seeing how they are advertised and comparing that to an acutal organic diet sort of handbook or early guidelines would be interesting. Comparing the two and seeing how much they actually have in common is going to be I think impossible. However maybe I'm wrong and it might be true that everything with the organic stamp is actually organic, but I highly doubt that.
ReplyDeleteFor my research paper I want to look at status symbols within food. I want to include things like Starbucks, sushi fusion restaurants and the organic craze. The concept that trends drive sales always applies in the fashion realm, but can it also apply to food? So much now younger people, hip people are shopping at Whole Foods and someone is proud to have their Starbucks cup on their desk or in the right hand as they walk on campus. Starbucks is so similar to a clothing brand in that it can be considered extremely over priced, follows trends and offers an atmosphere. Starbucks carried Product (RED) items, along with places like The Gap, which it still puzzles me how t-shirts can translate to a drink? Starbucks has also attained a facet similar to clothing, they hardly advertise, the cool factor or the trend factor plays a part in their sales and traffic rather than pushing funds towards advertisement on television or radio they have a multitude of other things within their locations. Whole Foods, Fresh Market and other similar locations also apply to clothing, organic based grocery stores seem to pop up at every new shopping center. So do foods rely on trends to keep sales up, or just follow them. Will in-organic foods be “back in” in a certain amount of time?
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteFor my research paper I think I want to focus on “Got Milk?” ads. For as long as they have been around, I would say it has been one of the most successful ad campaigns. This is surprising to me because when you actually look at them they are kind of stupid, however, I do think it would be interesting to take a closer look at how they started and how they have progressed through the years if at all. I am not completely sure of the angle I want to take with this though. I did a little research and thought it was interesting that the California Milk Processor Board threatened a lawsuit against PETA for their anti-dairy campaign…”Got pus?” This goes to show how other campaigns have been inspired by "Got Milk?"
ReplyDeletefor my research project im thinking about writing on genetically modified foods. plants and animals are being modified in order to give them traits that might be resistant to diseases and insects or they are altered to contain certain genes that produce human resistances to germs and harmful diseases. the paper will be an academic paper. genetically modified foods play an important role in our everyday lives. some of the fruits and vegetables we eat, like strawberries or corn, grow faster and larger than they ever have and animals are no exception to the modifications. there are many controversies over the subject also that involve ethics and safety. there are plenty of sources for texts on the subject that offer arguments for and against the subject that i will be discussing.
ReplyDeleteI haven't exactly decided what i path i would like to take for this project. I am leaning towards something about local eating and why people do it. I'd like to examine these people from those who will buy whatever from wherever, to those extreme individuals who wont eat something that wasn't made outside of a ten mile radius, or even in their own back yard.
ReplyDeleteWhat a better way to find out this type of information and how local eating means in our culture than to do some research on my own. I'd really like to do some of my own, first-hand research. Perhaps a survery or two. I would also consider doing some fieldwork, such as taking a trip to a local farmers market and analyzing the people there. i could even do a few short interviews. then, i'd do the same with a big name grocery store, like Kroger.
I'd also want to compare my findings with those of other such as the "New Grub Street" text.
For my research paper I want to explore the different advertising approaches that fast food restaurants take. I want to go into how different companies strategies have change throughout the year and what they are trying to portray to get a leg up on their competition. I believe the purpose of the paper will be that of an academic/discovery. The current and past television commercials as well as slogans are great ways for me to determine what direction the company is trying to go in.
ReplyDeleteI am thinking about researching fast food chains and their link to ethnic foods. Was taco bell started in Mexico, or pizza hut in Italy? It will be interesting to see how there ads and food have changed over time to fit changing economic and social impacts. Perhaps there have been certain things that have spawned this craze for cultural foods on the go, and I think it could be an interesting topic to research.
ReplyDeleteI would like to research the effect Food Network has had on food culture today. I will focus on the differences in programming from past to present, the reasons a much younger crowd is becoming interested in food, and the way food television has come from a chef instructing an audience how cook a particular item to, programs not necessarily about cooking at all, just food related. I would also like to explore what it is about Food Network that has allowed the network to create so many celebrity chefs whom have become widely known, and how Food Network has determined their own agenda concerning advertisement both on their website and the television.
ReplyDeleteI will research the Food Network on TV, the Food Network website, old cook books, and magazine articles reporting on the Food Network, or about food. The focus of my paper will be academic.
For my research paper I want to expore how mothers are often the targets of advertisements. As our culture has changed, it would be interesting to examine if the role of women has also changed. Women are often stereotyped to be the chefs inside the home, but women don't necessarily have time to cook anymore. By looking at advertisments that target women, particulary mothers, I would like to examine what is expected from mother's today. We often see commercials of women cooking mens, but hardly ever meals. Although men have began cooking for the children is it still a stereotype that women are the cooks? Also by looking at these advertisements I would like to see just what it is that women are suppose to cook since they don't have time to fix the elobarate meals they once had time for.
ReplyDeleteMy research paper mainly focuses on product labels and TV advertisements. I am exploring the shift in American values regarding food and the healthy trends that seem to be sweeping the nation. This is a discovery/academic piece seeing as though I will be uncovering the shift from eating because we like the food, to eating because what is on the packaging and what the commercial says about the food.
ReplyDelete