Bath, Body, and Buffalo. Works, Wild, and Wings.

This week I went to two different places that each catered to a specific gender.  

Bath and Body Works

While this store never says specifically that it is "just for women", it definitely advertises to please women.  For instance, while I was there I saw a lot of things that are usually associated with the female gender.  Lots of pink, fruity scents, sunshine and happiness, "girly" font, and heart-shaped candle holders were just a few of the many female items I saw.  The most alarming thing I saw was a stand that said "Sparkling, girly, and full of fun!"  Next to it there was a sign that read "The head-to-toe best for him!"  All of these things scream female, even the male section.  It clearly states "for him".  This is implying that a female is buying a gift for her male companion, not that the male would be shopping there.  My cousin used to work at a Bath and Body Works and when asked about how the male gender was involved in the store she responded with "I think I only ever worked with two or three guys (only one of which worked mainly in the floor).  The other two worked more behind the scenes stocking and organizing the back room.  We really didn't get too many guys coming in to shop for themselves, even though we did have a men's section.  Most of the time they were coming in with their family members or significant others, or they were alone, but shopping for that family member or significant other."  All of these facts lead to one conclusion, Bath and Body Works is a store for females.  They do little to cater to men, but try very hard to please women.  

Buffalo Wild Wings

Again this store does not out right say that it's meant for one gender, yet, everything about them points to the male gender.  Beer, bold font, sports, and ironically women are all things that are associated with men an can be found everywhere in Bdubs.  They even have a cool nickname!  Although they mainly advertise their abundance of flat screen tvs for customers to watch sports on, they are attempting to appeal males rather than females.  The things shown on the tvs were primarily displaying men.  Not just male sports, but men in  commercials and commentating on the male sports.  This reminds me of "About Men" by Gretel Ehrlich because she describes the cowboys falsely being portrayed as "macho men".  Bdubs portrays men as sporty and overall "manly".  When I went there I saw only female workers.  They weren't wearing any scandalous uniforms like they do at Hooters, instead they were wearing sports jerseys.  I have to admit that Bdubs is slightly more gender neutral than Bath and Body Works in that the customers I saw there were a decent mix of both genders.  Which was very surprising considering the shear amount of male items designed to bring them into the store.  Everything about Buffalo Wild Wings was set up to cater to the male gender.  

I feel that each business is great and very successful.  It is obvious who their target customer is by the subtle and not so subtle choices they make.  Personally I don't mind that they try to please a specific gender.  However, I strongly believe that it should be acceptable and even normal for the opposite gender to shop at those type of stores.  Men shopping at Bath and Body works should not have to feel uncomfortable in any way, shape, or form.  And for that matter, women should not feel awkward displaying their love for football while at Buffalo Wild Wings.  In addition, some people could feel insulted that businesses are in a way stereotyping.  Not all girls like "girly font"  or sunshine and fruit.  Not all men enjoy watching sports or big bold letters.  Making each gender comfortable going to each type of store is the main priority.  

OH MY GOODNESS AN ATTENTION GETTER!!!!

Eating babies.  It's absolutely absurd but it gets your attention.  So why not just use an onomatopoeia?  For Jonathan Swift, that wasn't enough. 

”I have been assured by a very knowing American of my acquaintance in London, that a young healthy child well nursed is at a year old a most delicious, nourishing, and wholesome food, whether stewed, roasted, baked, or boiled ..."

This is certainly not a modest proposal.  Yet, the exaggeration certainly captivates the readers of this piece.  The description is revolting, but it makes the audience keep reading in wonder of what more is to come.  The satirical tone is somewhat hidden but is expressed in Swift's exaggeration.  Of course, there are better ways to get people's attention or interest in something.  Joan Didion took a completely different approach to a piece that is just as satirical.  How she captivated her audience was through an anecdote.  She talks about a priest rapidly marrying a bunch of people in Las Vegas.  

 “I got it down from five to three

minutes,” Mr. Brennan said later of his feat. “I could’ve married them en mass, but they’re people, not cattle. People expect more when they get married.”

Didion is just as effective in conveying her satirical tone and even some irony in the fact that the priest is actually marrying people "en masse" just like cattle.  Didion and Swift grab people's attention in very unique ways and are both successful in conveying their true meaning and purpose of the pieces.  There are countless of other ways to get an audience's attention from abandoned animals to insanely cool Hot Wheels.  Every commercial or add has an attention getter and so does every essay we write Monday mornings at an ungodly hour.  But which way is the most effective?  Sara Bareilles begging you to donate money to abused and abandoned dogs or the new "Criss Cross Crash" track?  Or how about the Advil commercial claiming it's the world's number one choice.  Or the Snuggie commercial stating it's the financially sound option, opposed to raising the heater.  Each business is extremely successful but what is the most effective attention getter?  

What do you respond most to?  Ethos, Pathos, Logos, or just plain absurdness?    Comment your answer below!

(Personally Swift's tactics got my attention very quickly but because his product/proposal was so awful it lost my attention as soon as it came.  So I would have to say that pathos would be the most effective on me.  The second an abandoned puppy comes on the tv I'm a goner!) 

Nacirema

Even though this wasn't my cold read, this piece really struck me.  It's amazing to see ourselves from a completely different perspective.  This is basically how we think of the Native Americans hundreds of years ago.  We harshly label the things they do as "savage" (not in a good way!) and "barbaric".  Yet, if they could see us now, the Native Americans from hundreds of years ago, and others may think that we are "barbaric" and "savage".  There is one part of the passage that stood out to me in particular.  "It was reported to me that the ritual consists of inserting a small bundle of hog hairs into the mouth, along with certain magical powders, and then moving the bundle in a highly formalized series of gestures"  (Miner).  At first glance, this was highly disturbing.  Who on earth would put hog hairs in their mouth with some random powder that nobody knows what it is?!  But on further analysis I realized that WE do. Hog hairs are really a toothbrush and the "magical powder"?  That's toothpaste.  It also disturbed me that the characters seemed to not know what they were consuming.  However, that's still describing us.  The author was simply mocking Americans for blindly taking medication and other things.  For example, toothpaste.  How many of us could really list a single ingredient in toothpaste?  I know I can't!  That leads to more questions, like what's in the drugs we consume for a cold or a cough?  We just blindly accept whatever the doctor gives us.  Maybe they have too much ethos!
   
   This piece strongly reminds me of a movie I saw, "Now You See Me".  It's about these new, contemporary, magicians that basically attempt to start a revolution of sorts.  But in the end (don't worry no spoilers!) there is a major plot twist that makes you rethink the ENTIRE movie.  It's one of those mind-bending moments that I love.  "Body Ritual Among the Nacirema" by Horace Miner is the exact same thing.  (Although, it doesn't have a specific part that identifies as the realization, that must be identified by the reader.)  Throughout the piece, the reader is being grossed out and probably thinking of some odd Native American ritual, but in reality it is describing the reader.  Personally, I had to reread the whole piece to fully understand the author's work.    The real turning point for me was when the title was identified as "American" backwards! Suddenly everything became clear, the toothbrush, the doctors, and most importantly, the extreme satire!

"Arm Wrestling With My Father" by Brad Manning

I thought that "Arm Wrestling With My Father" by Brad Manning was very interesting and stood out to me this week.  This piece is all about how there are many different ways to show love.  The father and son in this piece displayed their love for each other in a physical way rather than communicating verbally.  "What he had said to me in that last hug was that he loved me"  (Manning).  The outside world would probably perceive that hug as completely characteristic of a father and son.  However, their relationship rarely consists of sentimental hugs like this every time the depart.  Their relationship is certainly not defined by open communication or obvious physical displays of love.  This strongly reminds me of "Disability"  by Nancy Mairs.  "Disability"  is all about how people are not defined by how other people perceive them.  "Take it from me, physical disability looms pretty large in one's life.  But it doesn't devour one wholly.  I'm not, for instance, Ms. MS, a walking, talking embodiment of a chronic incurable degenerative disease"  (Mairs).  In this quote, Mairs is saying how she is indeed disabled, yet that is not who she is as a person.  Going back to the arm wrestling piece, the father and son are indeed less verbally communicative than other families. However, this does not mean that they do not love each other, or do not express their love.  It's more subtle and seen in the smaller things.  They don't say they love each other in so many words, but they display it through actions.  They define their own relationship, just like Mairs defined herself despite the force of perception.