Literary Devices Used In The Onion
Humans all need something to laugh about in order to make life worth living. One area of humor is in the overstatement of advertisement of products sold on the market. It is the challenge of marketing experts to produce a creative image for a product. Sometimes the focus of the image of the product has more priority than the performance of the product. An article in, “The Onion,” the author satirizes how products are marketed to consumers through means of a variety of literary strategies such as words and phrases, dialogue, and scientific vocabulary.
First, the literary strategy of using words and phrases throughout the article to mock the long tradition of how marketing companies advertise their products. The product in this article is shoe inserts. For instance, the article refers to a new “cutting-edge form of pseudoscience known as Terranometry,” It mocks the marketing techniques using the term pseudoscience, which refers to the practice of presenting something as scientific when it is not. Then it continues with an …show more content…
exaggerated and humorous definition of the newborn science of Terranometry stating it as “a study of the Earth’s frequency and the alignment of the foot to its vibrational rate”. It ridiculously claims if the foot is out of alignment with the Earth’s frequency the entire body will suffer. Another example of a term is reflexology. It is described as a semi-plausible medical technique. Again, using the term semi-plausible is the author’s method to humor the reader saying that it is somewhat reasonable medical technique. In reality this medical technique does not exist. Then the phrase the “$19.95 insoles are proving popular with customer,” is mocking the common price for any new product on the market. Thus, the author gives these exploited examples of how words and phrases are used as a means to demonstrate the frustrating and ridiculous methods of advertising companies to sell their product.
Next, the author implements the use of mocking dialogue to create a satiric mood of the Magna Soles shoe inserts. An example is the claim from the website that only Magna Soles utilizes, “healing power of crystals...a process similar to which medicine makes people better.” This makes the reader see the humor of how advertising creates claims without educated information to back it up. Then the author continues with the feedback from satisfied customers about the product. One of the customers suffered from serious and chronic back pain. The customer states, “Why should I pay thousands of dollars to have my spine realigned when I can pay $20 for insoles clearly endorsed by an intelligent-looking man in a white labcoat?" This technique shows how customers can be vulnerable to clever product advertising and often taken advantage of too. Subsequently, the author utilizes these dialogue examples to mock the methods of advertisement for reliable sources.
Finally, the author skillfully demonstrates how marketing companies try to boggle the reader’s mind with scientific vocabulary about the inserts.
There are several examples of scientific terms throughout the article. An example is the description of how the Magna Soles is different from other insoles “ Magna Soles harness the power of magnetism to properly align the biomagnetic field around your foot.” Then there is the “patented Magna-Grid design which features more than 200 isometrically aligned Contour Points.” However, if that doesn’t convince a person to purchase these inserts than the author continues with more “reliable” scientific information such as, “the Magna Soles convert the wearer’s own energy to match the Earth’s natural vibrational rate of 32.805 kilofrankels.” Thus, the author makes the reader aware of how marketing companies sometimes tactfully employ scientific vocabulary about a product to sound professional and
credible.
In conclusion, “The Onion,” demonstrates the modern method of marketing products and it satirizes the means of the advertisement through the use of words and phrases, dialogue, and scientific vocabulary. In today’s world the marketing field uses any means it can to promote and sell its product. However, the public can be blindly unaware of these cleverly planned exploitations of products from the marketing companies.
First, the literary strategy of using words and phrases throughout the article to mock the long tradition of how marketing companies advertise their products. The product in this article is shoe inserts. For instance, the article refers to a new “cutting-edge form of pseudoscience known as Terranometry,” It mocks the marketing techniques using the term pseudoscience, which refers to the practice of presenting something as scientific when it is not. Then it continues with an …show more content…
exaggerated and humorous definition of the newborn science of Terranometry stating it as “a study of the Earth’s frequency and the alignment of the foot to its vibrational rate”. It ridiculously claims if the foot is out of alignment with the Earth’s frequency the entire body will suffer. Another example of a term is reflexology. It is described as a semi-plausible medical technique. Again, using the term semi-plausible is the author’s method to humor the reader saying that it is somewhat reasonable medical technique. In reality this medical technique does not exist. Then the phrase the “$19.95 insoles are proving popular with customer,” is mocking the common price for any new product on the market. Thus, the author gives these exploited examples of how words and phrases are used as a means to demonstrate the frustrating and ridiculous methods of advertising companies to sell their product.
Next, the author implements the use of mocking dialogue to create a satiric mood of the Magna Soles shoe inserts. An example is the claim from the website that only Magna Soles utilizes, “healing power of crystals...a process similar to which medicine makes people better.” This makes the reader see the humor of how advertising creates claims without educated information to back it up. Then the author continues with the feedback from satisfied customers about the product. One of the customers suffered from serious and chronic back pain. The customer states, “Why should I pay thousands of dollars to have my spine realigned when I can pay $20 for insoles clearly endorsed by an intelligent-looking man in a white labcoat?" This technique shows how customers can be vulnerable to clever product advertising and often taken advantage of too. Subsequently, the author utilizes these dialogue examples to mock the methods of advertisement for reliable sources.
Finally, the author skillfully demonstrates how marketing companies try to boggle the reader’s mind with scientific vocabulary about the inserts.
There are several examples of scientific terms throughout the article. An example is the description of how the Magna Soles is different from other insoles “ Magna Soles harness the power of magnetism to properly align the biomagnetic field around your foot.” Then there is the “patented Magna-Grid design which features more than 200 isometrically aligned Contour Points.” However, if that doesn’t convince a person to purchase these inserts than the author continues with more “reliable” scientific information such as, “the Magna Soles convert the wearer’s own energy to match the Earth’s natural vibrational rate of 32.805 kilofrankels.” Thus, the author makes the reader aware of how marketing companies sometimes tactfully employ scientific vocabulary about a product to sound professional and
credible.
In conclusion, “The Onion,” demonstrates the modern method of marketing products and it satirizes the means of the advertisement through the use of words and phrases, dialogue, and scientific vocabulary. In today’s world the marketing field uses any means it can to promote and sell its product. However, the public can be blindly unaware of these cleverly planned exploitations of products from the marketing companies.