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Here's to Your Health!

Page history last edited by David Hodges 14 years ago

Here's to Your Health!

by Joan Dunayer

p. 723

 

Support, Evidence and Authority 

     Author Joan Dunayer doesn't like the way brewers and distillers sell alcohol. In her essay "Here's to Your Health!" she disagrees with many of the claims advertisers make to American consumers about the benefits of alcohol. Advertisers lie, she says; they portray drinking as fun and healthy and an indication of success, when in fact drinking is depressing and harmful and leads to failure. She calls these lies "The Alcohol Myth."

     In some paragraphs, she presents the claims of the advertisers. In others, she offers her own rebuttal claims to refute what she considers myths. The question I want you to answer in each case is: "Is the claim persuasive?"

     In the chart, I've identified 12 Claims, one for each paragraph in the essay.

     Below each claim, I've left a space for you to assess whether the claim is persuasive. This is a question of evidence, reasoning, and authority. Regardless of your feelings on the topic, is the claim persuasive?

     PLEASE NOTE: the question is not "Do you agree with the author?" I don't care if you agree with the author or not and your agreement or disagreement is irrelevant. I only want to know if the claim is persuasive.

     I've posted one comment as an example.

 

Paragraph #1

 The author claims:  

Young people are pressured by their friends to drink.

 Is her claim persuasive? 

Trang Nguyen I've seen that all most the young people are always persuasive by their friends because they do not want their friend think them as a sissy man.This thing has a strong emotion in their mind, so it is hard for them to deny the invitation from their friends even thought they do not really know how much the level of alcohol they are. 
fatimazahra Really young people pressured by their friend to drink alcohol which they should accept the rules to drink no matter what; even the rules are against their moral and upbringing. If they refuse to drink alcohol they would seem like a sissy, so young people they don’t care about the consequences, however they only care about what their friend says,so the result i can see it everyday in T.V  
Irena Jusko The claim is persuasive because the story about Tod proves it well. This story shows that young people to fit in with group have to accept the rules.  One of them is to drink. 
Tabinda. Yes, her claim is persuasive. Young people are directly and indirectly presurred by their peers to drink. In this case Tod accepted the invitation to drink without resistance , so he could fit in with his team mates who were older than him. 
Elisabeth Yes her claim is persuasive. most of the teenagers are pressured by their friends to drink because they want their friend to see them as equal to them. even if they never drink before they will pretend the opposite, so they won't lose face.

Nidhi Barot

 

Yes, i do agree with authors claim. in today's young generation they alwyas wants to be cool in front of other people and if your friends think that by drinking and smoking they look cool. then they do follow their friends adn do what every their friends told them to do. and sometimes we just starting hangout with worng people and start doing all that wrong stuff which is not good for our self. young people alwyas wants to do what their friends do.so i do agree with her. 
Trupti Patel Yes i do agree. i think seeing friend doing that effect most. That's more common way to do something watching friends. sometime they think we should be in level like if i am not doing this what they going to think that make them to do. i think becoz of age that may happend, they just listen to thier friend most.  
salena Yes, her claim is persuasive. Young people are pressured by their friends to drink. This statement is 100% true because most of the case young people depend on their friends, and they try to follow them. Whatever young people's friends do they want to do the same thing.
Your Name  
Your Name  
 
Paragraph #2

The author claims:  

People are pressured by alcohol ads to drink.

Is her claim persuasive?

Trang Nguyen From the book, i have known that ads are very persuasive to the drinker. Most of the brewer is spent a lot of money for ads with the desire that their ads can appeal the customers. They use a numerous methods that are popped on the Tv, radio, broadcast, or prevalent channels, event in college newspaper. Their ads show that people cant watch baseball, football or can not make successful meeting without beer.
Maria This is like a closed circle where all  people play the same game. If my neighbor does this, I'll do this too. I don't think ads pressure people to drink, but instead we pressure ourselves to drink in order to be accepted by others. People should not be puppets. They should think by themselves because at the end you will be the unique responsable of your acts.
Tabinda. Yes because people are brained washed by these ads easily in their life and are constantly reminded and encouraged to drink by ads on radio, magazines , billboards and newspaper.
Elisabeth yes ads influence people behavior in society. people are likely imitators of what they see or hear on ads. when they see alcohol ads people are tempting to have a drink, so they can relate in some ways to the actor on the ads.  
salena Yes, her claim is persuasive.People are pressured by alchol to drink.Our media, news paper, and society encourage to drink alchol. advertising company uses super star, or person who is acceptable by young people. There fore people drink alchol  influence by them. 
Your Name  
Your Name  
 
Paragraph #3

The author claims:

A harmful myth about drinking is promoted by aggressive advertising of alcohol. Is her claim persuasive?

Tabinda. Yes , her claim is persuasive because alcohol is advertise as if it does not have any side effects. Also, daily life would be incomplete without it. 
Your Name
Yes, i am agree with authour because i think watching advertising or reading some good stuff they say about product sometime make them to drink alcohol.  
salena Yes, her claim is persuasive. Who want to sell alchol type product; they never  show, or explain alchol' bad side, or who or what age is able to take this alchol. Eventually sometime they show through the advertise without alchol a man can not get success.
Your Name  
Your Name  
 
Paragraph #4

The author mentions ads that claim: 

Liquor signals professional success.

Are those ads persuasive? 

David Hodges
I've seen those magazine ads and they are very persuasive. The whiskey in the glass is made to look like the perfect choice to toast a profitable deal. The elegant setting and the well-dressed models contribute to an image of success. The ad also implies that only successful people can afford to buy and drink the product.
Tabinda. Liquids ads use psychology and link drinking with professional success and personal development ; in addition, look down on people who dont engage in this behaviour. 
Neel Patel

The author describe the picture of a magazine that has two mans sitting in a restaurant with full facility including Scotch whisky bottle.  This picture seems fine but when the magazine caption read “the taste of success,” I thought something was wrong. Because not all who drinks Scotch whisky has a reached success. And those who drinks a lot, coincidently, they go far away from success.  At the end, I though in this economy, some even have to reach success first to hold a Scotch whisky bottle.

Trupti Patel I think sometime yes people take beer support to get ride of thier tensions and they use because they dont get tired easily. but if you think beer is way of sucess i think that's totally worng. i think who drinks to much they cant even lost thier thinking ability.  
salena Yes some ads are really persuasive because the advertiser use super model or a success man or woman. Thats why people think imotionally if I would drink alchol, then I could get a success.
Your Name  
 
Paragraph #5 The author claims: Drinking is more closely related to lack of success than to achievement. Is her claim persuasive? 
Tabinda. Yes, because alcohol slows down our thinking , clouds our senses, lower our ability to solve problems and causes all kinds of social, professional and personal life problems 
Irena Jusko Yes, it is.  An argument that "alcohol abuse remains most prevalent among the poor" is the strong one. 
Florence Yes i believe her claim was persuasive because she made it clear for people to know that the liquor company has being deceiving them by their claims that alcohol is a taste of success. She futher stated that both in school and in work force, alcoholics tend to perform poorly.After reading this, even if you are carried away by alcohol, you will come back to your senses.so she is persuading people to stop drinking alcohol because it is of no use. 
salena Yes, I do believe that drinking is more closely related to lack of success than to achievement because drinking reduce our energy level, our body strength, and our mental thinking power. Her claim is persuasive and argumentive. 
Your Name  
Your Name  
 
Paragraph #6

The author mentions ads that claim:

Drinking makes you more attractive to the opposite sex.

Are those ads persuasive? 

Tabinda. Yes, these ads are very persuasive to college age students/beach goers since they are single and feel that they can buy alcohol for female to start conversation or use particular brand of alcohol to attack female who also enjoy that brand of alcohol.   
Kamrun n Aleya
Yes,those ads are persuasive for the young people who believes that beer or alcohol can make or up grade their level of smartness even more higher than anything else. Beer become a style to them to attract opposite sex.
salena Yes this type ads are persuasive to the young people, who has no idea  about alchol's bad side. This type people only know how to follow the commercial ads without thinking anything.
Your Name  
 
Paragraph #7

The author claims: Beer doesn't make anyone sexier.

Is her claim persuasive? 

fatimazahra  

This ads is very persuasive as I read in the article beer doesn’t make anyone sexier, in the event that the alcohol damage the health of women and men on the level of hormones also alcohol cause many problems in human health, so in all cases alcohol it’s poison that kills people indirectly.

 
ELISABETH
really persuasive. beer makes people lose control of their senses. their physical appearance is defected. so there is no way where anyone could look sexier with beer.
julian molokwu Her claim is persuasive, beer doesn't make anyone sexier. Apart from causes infertility in women and impotence in men. it may also lead to spontaneous abortion in women. 
Trupti Patel I think beer does make anyone  
Kamrun Aleya
Yup..her claim is persuasive because beer doesn't make anyone sexier rather it increase the high chances to die earlier anyone by its harmful ingredients.
Your Name  
 
Paragraph #8 The author mentions ads that claim: Beer and athletics are a perfect combination. Are the ads persuasive? 
Florence Those ads are persuasive because they are making  pople to believe the illusion that beer and athletic are perfect combination while they are not. With this they are trying to persuade people to be more involved in alcohol.  
salena Yes those ads are persuasive because everybody knows athletes are energetic. Thats why advertiser use this atletes to do advertisement as if people think beer can increase our energy, however, it does not.
Your Name  
Your Name  
 
Paragraph #9 The author claims that: "Slow you down" is exactly what alcohol does. Is her claim persuasive? 
Maria I think this is persuasive. There is nothing wrong to drink alcohol, but all in excess is harmful. There should be a self-control about drinking, and avoid the alcohol as a rutin; otherwise, by the time it could slow you down.
Mary Ebogu Yes. The writer used facts like "alcohol dulls the brain, reduces muscle coordination causes liver failure which is a diseases known as cirrhosis". The writer used all this fact to bring the matter home that alcohol really slows people down.
Neel Patel

Here, whatever the authors says, I completely agree with her. Because all a beer or a whisky does to you is slows you down.  People don’t get this unique reaction from anything else but beer, therefore it becomes addiction. When you get addicted, you can’t help it even before driving or doing something important as a job interview. Slowing you down doesn't only make you slower in any of your physical activity but mentally you become slow as well.

 
salena I think author try to persuave people because this is reality. Alchol always make you slow, inactive, and inable. 
Your Name  
 
Paragraph #10 The author mentions ads that claim: Alcohol is the magic ingredient for social success. Are the ads persuasive? 
Tabinda Yes. I think these ads are designed to make alcohol a magic ingredient which eliminates loneliness and helps people become more social and friendly. 
Irena Jusko An ad  mentioned in paragraph #10 is persuasive.  It appeals to the emotions and makes an association between drinking alcohol and having friends.
salena Yes,those ads are persuasive because the advertise try to show to the people that who drink alchol, they are never feel alone, however, those ads information is not true because alchol can make you crazy and alone. 
Your Name  
Your Name  
 
Paragraph #11

The author claims: Relationships based on alcohol are unlikely to lead to social success and true friendship.

 Is her claim persuasive? 

Irena Jusko She is very persuasive when  shows that alcohol  may lead to public drunkenness, violence, loneliness, despair, and even suicide. 
julian molokwu  Absolutely because the author made it clear in paragraph #11 that alcohol ruins but not create relationship. For instance, anybody with the influence of alcohol can do anything including suicide and rape. 
Your Name  
Your Name  
 
Paragraph #12 The author claims: Those who have suffered from alcohol know that booze doesn't lead to success, sexiness, health or happiness. Is her claim persuasive? 
Tabinda Yes , alcohol only gives a false sense of sexiness, happiness or health because in reality people who become alcoholic end up liver disease and many more health problems. 
Elisabeth very persuasive. I've seen many alcoholics who lost their job because of their drinking problem, some of them have been abandonned by their wifes or families and lived a miserable life with health problems. 
Florence Yes because she made mention of people who have suffered from alcohol directly or indirectly. In other word she is persuading us not to get ourselves involved in alcohol because alcohol is not part of being successful, sexy, healthy and happy. 
Mary Ebogu Very very persuasive because most alcoholics never have peace of mind. The enjoyment they derive when taking alcohol will cause them long time suffering in all aspect even in healthwise.
Nidhi Barot  
julian molokwu Yes because alcohol toxocity always can make someone not to focus in whatever the person is doing, it can also lead to longterm effect such as oesteoporosis, brain disease, diabetes and so on.  
Your Name  
Your Name  

 

 

Comments (3)

rokya alao-fary said

at 8:45 pm on Mar 30, 2010

hi this is rokya i tried so many times to put my name and add a comment but i don't know how to proceed can you please help me David

Tan Hoang said

at 10:00 pm on Mar 30, 2010

i could not figured out how to edit the page. can anyone help me out?

Elisabeth BIO said

at 10:14 pm on Mar 30, 2010

hey Rokya and Tan, hope you guys still awake. to edit the chart, after login up clic on edit in the top of the assignement and then add your comment; hope you could make it before 12

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