In the article “Making the world safe for stupidity”, Leonard Pitts Jr., columnist for The Miami Herald, claims that marketers believe we are “feeble-mindedness” because of the “idiot warnings” that are on most advertisements. Pitts supports his claim by outlining all advertisements that have “idiot warnings” on them. For example he uses “Like a bread-pudding container that says, “Product will be hot after heating.”” This is to show how marketers believe that we are naïve and don’t have common sense. Then, he changes his claim to “Corporate America is to blame because they have damaged the human species”. Pitts’ purpose is to point out that marketers believe we are idiots in order for readers to see why “idiot warnings” were created. He establishes a disappointing and sarcastic tone for his readers to disapprove and laugh with him.
Pitts opens up his article with the question “How stupid are you?” to introduce the topic and foreshadowing examples on how you might be stupid if you need “idiot warnings” to be advised if something is good to do or not. He asks his readers to post items that have “idiot warnings” as used in a chainsaw ad with the warning “Do not attempt to stop chain with your hands.” Marketers believe we are idiots because of how we mankind are now portrayed. Not only does he show us the ads that have “idiot warnings” on them he also compares us to “an average supermodel” to see how stupid we are. He does this because supermodels are stereotypically dumb or cant think for themselves. He admits that he was rude in the beginning but that’s only because he is annoyed on how we are considered being mindless and he doesn’t want to offend his readers.
Pitts changes his first claim to “Corporate America is to blame because they have damaged the human species”. This is because he admits that if Corporate America had never put “idiot warnings” then the dumb will be eliminated and the smart will dominate the world. All of this is based on the