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Kayla McLeod
Professor Rhoda Lukens
UWRT 1101
18 March 2015
An analysis of both the genres blog post and commercial advertisement share many
similarities on the topic of Teen Depression. Blog post and commercial advertisement are
similar through the way that they are both conveyed to us through, social media, TV, and the
internet. The topics discussed through both genres, vary tremendously from stupidity to serious
social issues, but in this case teen depression is a serious social issue these days. Blog posts and
commercial advertisements are present methods of delivering information to us and will continue
throughout the future. They also share similar visual aspects from pictures to videos. People
doing these actions of genres can be anybody; even young children do it now that this generation
has become more technical. It is more than obvious to say blog post and commercials deliver
information the same way.
First off, depression is a mood disorder that causes a persistent feeling of sadness and loss
of interest. (Depression) Depression is more common in a blog post than in advertisement,
because teenagers write their all the time, every day in a blog post. Blog posts are gets the
persons feelings across in less than a sentence to an entire paragraph. There have been
commercials of depression to advertise a company or a form of medicine, but not as much to
convey awareness. There have also been some posts on social media that are a sign of help, but
we do not realize this. The intended audience for each genre doesnt differ. Blogs posts and
advertisements intended audience on teenage depression is not a single or specific, but the

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audience includes anybody such parents, adults, other teens and etc. The same goes for the
discourse community, because neither one is defined by age but interest. The difference between
the two genres though is some of the general interest depending on each of their structures. The
audiences for a blog post are likely to know the contents of the blog. The blog could be from a
depressed teenager but no one stops to acknowledge it or help. Sometimes the blog can be
obvious, but there are also some that requires you to read between the lines. The commercial
audience on the other hand is likely to know awareness of depression in general if the person
doesnt change the channel or skip the ad on a YouTube video. The commercial for the audience
shouldnt take more than a minute of their time, but a blog post, involving reading, can take five
minutes to five hours including actual interest. The purpose of blog posts and commercials about
teenage depression is to aware and convince the audience of this serious disorder and lend a
hand. People would want to share this information, because it could be a friend or their own
child. Depression can be a dangerous disorder which makes it more important for everybody to
know.
Blog posts are more conveying with a message, because the world is more technical and
everybody is on the internet and social media now. Every minute of everyday somebody is on
their phone or on their computer using on social media. Commercials can be conveying, but
more than likely nobody really pays attention to commercials that arent comical. Serious issues
in commercials also have to be structured in a way to capture the audiences attention which can
be more complex in its timeline, because the audiences attention spans are getting shorter.
Social media blog posts function is to get your feeling across about any topic with usually less
words than a full essay. Commercial advertisements functions is to aware, entertain, inform,
and encourage an audience of day to day things. The content of the two genres can be informal

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but some advertisement commercials can be more formal and professional especially with topic
of teen depression. Another point is that blogs rarely have technical language and have more
slang, but a commercial barely has any slang at all, because it is not good for youth to see and
hear.

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(Fig. 1 Advertisement: Commercial)(Teen Depression Commercial)

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(Fig. 2 Blog Post)(Amanda Todd rip)

Figure 1 establishes the informations credibility with the overall basis of the
advertisement alone, because teen depression is a proven everyday situation and its effective but
not as much I believe myself should be. The commercial sets the tone with background music
and shows pictures of the teenagers who are depressed along with statistics about depression.
The emotional response from the audience would be a bad, guilty feeling, because anyone
couldve passed any of these teenagers with signs of depression and ignore them not knowing the
substantial issue. People dont understand how big depression is and what could be a result from
it. Figure 1 is conveying a message with statistics, but it is not enough. The advertisement
doesnt provide a link to where the information was taken. The evidence wouldve been more
appropriate if the link was provided and every person in the audience wouldnt have to do their
own research to make sure the statistics were accurate.

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Figure 2 a student wrote a post a girl he/she attended school with who committed suicide.
He/she physically witnessed the girl being bullied. The genres information accomplishes belief,
because the writer of the post personally knew the girl and this makes the information effective.
The picture used in the blog draws the audience to curiosity partially because of her
attractiveness. The audience would scroll up to see who the girl is especially when R.I.P. is
presented on top of the photo along with a heart. The emotional response continues to be
curiosity. The picture and video of the girl, crying out for help that was mentioned in the text if
it was further below the photo, is concrete evidence to support the appropriate information given.
The video is a confession of being bullied and asking those who view it to help from the girl
herself. The two genres emotional representation proves that they are pathos in rhetorical issues.
Figure 1 and figure 2 have similar structures, but figure 1 is a video and constructed in a
certain way. The structure of the blog post (fig. 2) consists of a name, picture (not the picture
included within the blog), text, comments, share/like options, and description of the blog. The
blog itself is only shown, because of its length but the other characters are there once the blog is
viewed further up/down. The advertisement (fig. 1) is not showing its characters, because it is
covering the full screen. The advertisement has subscribed, watch later, add to options at the
bottom, and other videos aligned on the right side to differ from the blog post. Figure 1 will be
broken down and asked specific questions.

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(Fig. 3)

(Fig.4)

(Fig.5)

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(Fig. 6)

(Fig. 6.1)

(Fig. 7)

(Fig. 7.1)

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(Fig. 8)

(Fig. 9)

(Fig. 10)

(Fig. 11)

(Fig. 12)

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The figures above (figs. 3-12) are screenshots of the advertisement commercial. The
images are in order and organized to convey its message. There are many questions on the
information shaped in the commercial. Why did the author choose these photos? Why add the
information with the photos? What would be the first impression when looking at the photos
without the text? Would the audience understand what the commercial is trying to convey if
there wasnt any information next to the photos? How would the audience feel without the text?
What would be the first response to each image or the entire commercial? What are the emotions
towards each image in the commercial? These are questions I had to ask myself personally.
I was confused, but curious to know what the intent was in the commercial. The essay
shouldnt be based off me, but Im going to counseling for depression. My reaction would
probably be different from somebody elses, because I can automatically tell what is going on
without fully viewing the commercial so I tried thinking and feeling like somebody else. The
author chose the photos to grasp the audience to ask Whats wrong? Whats going on? Is this
important since its a commercial? Why? The information next to the photos informs the
audience the purpose of the commercial. The first impression, if somebody is looking away from
the commercial, is What is the sad, beautiful music is playing? The commercial has to be
serious and important based on the audio. There are few people in the audience that would
understand what the commercial is conveying without information being presented, but not
many. The audience would guilty, careless, and maybe concerned. The audience might take
initiative because of what they might be feeling, and research teen depression. I do doubt most
people in the audience will regard the information, but I hope they do so. The blog post and
advertisement show no other language features. The text in both genres were formal, but the

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information in the commercial came across as a little more professional even though there
werent any specialized vocabulary.
It is difficult to say which genre was more effective in conveying its message, because
everyone feels different about it. I can say the commercial is more effective, because I wouldnt
stop to read a long blog, because I dont like reading. Im more of a commercial or just to say
visual in video kind of person, but a stranger could say the blog was more effective. Everyone
wouldnt feel the same way. The impact of the genres were indeed emotional, but the genres in
my predicament allows me to understand that Im not the only one and informs me that
depression is a more substantial issue that I wasnt aware.

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Works Cited
"Amanda Todd Rip." Pinterest. Web.
Blake, Thomas. "Depression." Clicks. 1 Jan. 2015. Web.
Vee, Vianel. "Teen Depression Commercial." YouTube. YouTube. Web. 29 Nov. 2012.

Kayla,
Once again, I can tell that you really took time in performing this analysis and I can see
your effort in the lines of this paper. There are some issues in your own sentence structure and
diction that can easily be improved with a little bit of work (and some individual tutoring) that
will help you to communicate your points more effectively.
In terms of your level of analysis, you were definitely on the right track, and I know this
was a struggle to understand. In each of your points, you often stopped just shy of fully
connecting the dots within the analysis. For example, you mention the music in the
commercial and how it enhances the tonewhich is an excellent pointbut you move on
without telling us how the music accomplishes this.
Keep up the good work! It will continue to be your hard work and effort that will make
the most difference for you, so dont give up!
Unfortunately, I had to take 10 points off since you didnt include the comparison chart.
75/100