Rhetorical Appeals With a Side of Fries

Purpose: Through comedy and recognizable references to fast food restaurants, students will see how hyperbole and drama are used for rhetorical purposes in press releases. They will be able to identify dramatized, high stakes rhetorical appeals in the examples. In turn, they will be able to gauge the intensity of rhetorical appeals needed for their own writing.

Description: Students will analyze fast food press releases in groups or as a class. This exercise works nicely with several Bedford essays dealing with the food industry and lifestyle habits.

Suggested Time: 20-30 min

Procedure: Share the following with the students. If they have computer access, they can pull these up on their devices:

https://www.tacobell.com/taco-bell-exposes-the-naked-chicken-chalupa

https://www.tacobell.com/rumors-confirmed-taco-bell-sets-release-date-for-nacho-fries

https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/mcdonalds-restaurants-of-the-greater-philadelphia-region-introduces-new-buttermilk-crispy-tenders-300526861.html

https://consumerist.com/2016/08/15/dominos-is-adding-salads-to-the-menu-nationwide/

https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/wendys-tacolicious-taco-salad-makes-its-long-awaited-comeback-300338877.html

Suggested Talking Points:

1. Ask the students to identify moments of ethos, pathos, and/or logos.

2. Ask the students to describe the tone of the text.

3. Ask the students to locate the most ridiculous properties of the press releases (Ex: Domino’s Pizza selling salads, taco shell made of chicken, etc.).

4. Ask the students how the press release could be improved (Ex: more description of food, more photos, fewer quotes, etc.).

5. Ask the students which release is most successful and why.

To adapt for ENC 2135, re-focus the questions around the genre of the press release and the conventions students see operating across these examples.

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