bri's visual rhetoric

For my first rhetorical source I used a recently shown Super Bowl ad. The advertisement is related to my topic of choice (religion) because it shows a type of religious “miracle” in an alternate context. A man and his friends are watching their favorite football team, the 49ers, play on television when he drops salsa onto his shirt. The resulting stain is shaped like their quarterback Joe Montana. 49ers fans from all over flock to the man’s house to view the “miracle stain” in order to contribute to the superstition in support of the their football team. This commercial captures the ignorance some Christians exhibit when worshipping their God and other religious icons. They believe that a stain in the shape of Mother Mary is a miracle from God, but when the superstition is placed into the situation of an overly involved football fan, the “miracle” seems to lose its authenticity. My paper will focus on looking at life with a more logical viewpoint as opposed to blind faith, which many people from all over the world tend to have.  This advertisement breaks through the thick, mystical hold religion tends to have on people by showing how flawed and simple some “miracles” can really be. The fact that so many people believed a stain in the shape of a quarterback meant good luck for the associated football team seems silly, which in turn makes the known religious “miracle stains” seem silly as well. This commercial could affect the audience culturally because the United States is very heavily populated with religious people. Some might become offended or realize that maybe their way of thinking does not actually make much sense (if they held certain “stains” in high regard) and begin to question their beliefs. Although the commercial did not seem to intend to make such an impact on their viewers, I feel it is a good way to show people miracles and random “stains” are not the same thing.     

Tide Laundry. Miracle Stain-Tide Big Game Commercial. 2013. video. YouTubeWeb. 18 Feb 2013. <http://youtu.be/YoOfBVraMNw>.