Medium Pepsi?

Wikimedia

"Medium Pepsi?"  I'm sure anyone that has had Panda Express in the HUB has been asked this question; whether you have realized it or not.  Two simple words the cashiers manage to slip in before each and every final payment.  You get your food, move down the line, and they ask..."Medium Pepsi?"  It's pretty amazing how such a subtle insertion of rhetoric can drastically affect the overall operation of a business.  They do not ask if you want a drink.  They simply ask those same words every single time.  By doing so, they essentially take away the invitation for the customer to go through the simple thought process of what size drink they want.

Granted that this is basically my opinion, I am almost positive that many people that want a drink just say yes to that question because they know that they do want a drink.  While I'm sure many of these people would be fine with a small drink, they get a medium because they are almost rushed into a decision.Conversely, Panda Express may actually lose money in the cases where the customer may have gotten a large drink, but just said yes to the medium.  Nevertheless, I think the money that they gain from the customers who may have gotten small drinks would be much larger than the money they lose from the customers who may have gotten large drinks.

Although, in the eyes of the Panda Express employees, this is just a business strategy, it is without a doubt an example of rhetoric in our daily lives.  They attempt to persuade every single customer every single day to get a medium sized drink.  And not just any drink; a Pepsi.  The reason I think that they say Pepsi rather just "Medium drink?" is because then people would be forced to decide which drink they want thereby taking away the feeling of being rushed to make a decision.  By saying a specific drink, they go one step further in already making the decision for you.  Pepsi is also the third most popular soda in the US behind Coke and Diet Coke respectively (MSNBC) , making the reason they say Pepsi quite obvious.  All in all, I just found it very interesting that rhetoric presents itself even in the places we might least expect it.  It would be fascinating to know if anyone else can think of an instance in which such subtle rhetoric can be very effective.

"Black Out Day" - Success or Failure?

IB Times

Yesterday, many popular websites participated in a blackout in order to spread awareness and gain opposition towards SOPA and PIPA.  These acts sought to censure the information and media that Americans can, at the moment, freely access on the web.  Their overall purpose is to stop piracy and copyright infringement.  I found the blackout to be a great representation of rhetoric in our society.  The most popular sites that I know of that took part in the "blackout" were Google, Wikipedia, and Reddit which are all highly trafficked sites.

If you had gone on Wikipedia yesterday, you would find a black screen with a message regarding Wikipedia's opposition to the bills as well as a box where you could enter your zip code in order to find your local representatives so you could contact them.  This was a very strong sense of rhetoric in that Wikipedia formed an extremely blatant and definitive argument against SOPA and PIPA through something as simple as shutting down for 24 hours.  I don't know about you, but Wikipedia is one of the few websites that I probably go on every day so their message got to me very quickly.

Wikipedia, along with the other participating websites, forced a majority of America to understand what SOPA and PIPA are going to inhibit if they are passed and by doing so, these websites were able to gain the support of many Americans.  Status after status on Facebook was about the blackout or a link to sign a petition against the two bills.  The blackout clearly had an impact on my Facebook friends, but did it have an impact on the Senators and Representatives that would ultimately vote on the legislation?  After all, their votes are what truly matter in the grand scheme of things.

When all was said and done, the blackout was as successful as it could have possibly been.  According to an article I read on Time's website (Time), the number of Senators in opposition of the bill increased from 5 to 35.  It's pretty remarkable how strong of an argument the "blackout" made and I personally hope that neither SOPA nor PIPA are passed.  Do you feel the same way?