Can visuals make arguments? How do visuals make arguments? Give an example.

Not only can visuals make arguments, but they can make them in many different ways, most obviously through ads and political cartoons. The biggest way visuals make arguments is by appealing to the emotions of the viewer. However, written or spoken articles are sometimes able to explain things a lot better than visual arguments because visual arguments rely heavily on kairos. For example, in the Birdsell reading, there is a political cartoon and it says that anyone could understand it just by looking at it, but I couldn’t and soon enough I understood why. They said the cartoon was referring to Soviet communism, something I don’t know much about because it was before my time.  If I had been looking at it at the time the cartoon was published, I probably would have understood it right away. I feel like this is the biggest weakness of visual argument, that it relies on timing. The Blair article (which I didn’t like very much) mentioned the very famous United Colors of Benetton ad campaign having to do with racism. I think that it's such a good example of visual argument, and additionally during the time it was published it was groundbreaking.  When I look at it now I think that that IS the way the world thinks, but at the time it was published that was not the way things were and I think that although the ads were controversial, they did a good job of showing how ridiculous racism is, in a way that could only be done through visuals.

If you look at this ad, you see Jessica Simpson advertising beer.  It says "Be smart, drink smart."  This was kind of an interesting pick by the company because Jessica Simpson was considered not very smart after the show Newlyweds.  I don't think that's really the case, but I'm surprised they picked her for this particular campaign.  However, choosing a woman who's considered sexy such as Jessica Simpson markets to both men and women-this is a beer that a girl can feel ok drinking because Jessica drinks it too, and men might think that by drinking this beer they would attract a woman like Jessica.  The name of the beer also matches Jessica's clothing-Stampede sounds like something country, and she's wearing a cowboy hat and a blouse sitting in hay.  From the picture alone you can tell a lot about what kind of audience the company is trying to sell their product to.