Observations of Explicit and Implicit Messages

The terms from Chapter 5 that really hit-home for me were maxims and enthymemes, specifically the textual examples of "Think Apple" and the G.W. Bush rhetoric ofor 9/11. For me, I considered either a maxim or enthymeme examples of messages that articulate both explicit and implicit meanings. In other words, the deconstruction of major, minor, and conclusion to Apple’s “Think Apple” campaign carries with it both an explicit message to simply consider the possibility of Apple, but then also implicitly encourages us to buy it. This example made me consider further how advertising industry coins phrases—maxims—to encourage the public to desire their product. I think of Nike’s “Just do it” campaign (and isn’t it fun that they use the term “campaign”); the advertisers know that their intention is to overhaul our thought process and create a new slogan, a saying, that will stick in our minds connecting a shoe to the idea that without this shoe, you cannot “do,” but if you buy the shoe you will be able to “do it”—whatever it may be. And further, the phrase implies not only that you can do something, but that you should also be “doing"...and if you are not, you do not belong to this group of "doers," these Nike shoe wear-ers. It's fun to think of how language acts as a signifier of multiple meanings in one short, simple phrase.

I think Erin brought up a nice correlation with Animal Farm—a book which I have not read since the 9th grade, but nevertheless am fond of. Isn’t it interesting how a phrase like “Four legs bad; two legs good” can really shape our way of thinking, associating the number of legs one uses to either the attribute of something that is “good” or something that is “bad.” G.W.’s language for the 9/11 attack (and even now the use of “attack” is an interesting word choice), is particularly interesting to me because while the message is openly stated, there is a clear (yet implicit) intention; we should not only take the time to assess the events that have occurred, but we should also pass judgment on them and attribute the ideological presence of “good” and “evil.”