Magnaflow rhetorical analysis

Marketing companies are increasingly venturing into absurd methods to market products. In our consumer oriented society, the public’s gullibility is optimized by the marketing industry’s power. The Onion, a publication devoted to humor and satire, derides how products are marketed to consumers in order to illustrate the absurdity of marketing strategies. The Onion utilizes testimonials and clever diction to satirize the methods availed by marketers.

The Onion presents personal testimonials to mock how marketers employ false claims from allegedly real customers to sell their product. Helene Kuhn mentions she twisted her ankle but after seven short weeks with MagnaSoles, she “noticed a significant decrease in pain “and was cured. Also mocked is consumers’ willingness to believe advertiser’s testimonials. Geoff DeAngelis believes in MagnaSoles because they are “clearly endorsed by an intelligent-looking man in a white lab coat.”

Personal testimonies are misrepresentative for marketers will always present claims that make their product seem quintessential. The Onion exaggeratedly satirizes marketers’ overuse of testimonies by presenting clearly false claims. The article over exaggerates the normal marketing strategy of testimonials as a way to add satire. By deriding the platitudinous of testimonies, The Onion is trying to illustrate that marketers utilize false claims believing customers will be persuaded to purchase their product because it has been allegedly proven to work.

Through clever diction, The Onion satirizes marketers’ use of scientific sounding words to appear sophisticated and advanced. Mocking that of real advertisements, The Onion demonstrates its own scientific diction such as “biomagnetic field,” “reflexology,’” “terranometry,” and “comfortrons.” Although these words may appear impressive they have no meaning. Many advertisements beguile customers through clever diction that makes their product seem appealing. The Onion satirizes marketers’ false claims that are hidden behind their sophisticated words because advertisers utilize the fact that products are seemingly more appealing to consumers when they appear refined and versed.

The Onion’s humorous article on marketing strategies aims to aware consumers and to create wise humor about the often ambiguous advertising companies. Throughout the use of clever diction and personal testimonies, The Onion is effective in its satirical tone.