Blog 1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=isPm79xTzM4

     The commercial I chose was a NBA basketball commercial that was featured during Christmas time.  It features five NBA stars: Dwight Howard, Carmelo Anthony, Joe Johnson, Russel Westbrook, and Dwyane Wade.  This commercial touches all three of Bitzer’s terms used in his rhetorical situation.  The purpose, or exigence, of this commercial has two main motives. The most important one being to try and sell the special, one game only Christmas day jerseys and secondly to try and promote people to watch the games itself.  The audience of this commercial is aimed towards basketball fans and fans of the individual players featured in this commercial.  However, the commercial can also be aimed at a more broad audience due to the fact that it was Christmas time, which usually means people are shopping for gifts.  The Christmas jingle in the commercial sort of reminds the audience that it is that time of year and being that these jerseys are one of a kind, they might be a good gift to get someone.  The third term Bitzer mentioned was constraints.  I believe there is one main constraint and that is that the commercial is aiming toward an audience of one religious preference; being people who celebrate Christmas.  The players are dribbling basketballs to the beat of a famous Christmas carol.  People of different religion backgrounds pathos, or their emotions, might be a tad bit skeptical of the fact a Christmas carol is being played.  The makers of this commercial could have easily made it a “Holiday special” and aimed it toward everyone celebrating a holiday, however they decided to aim its audience towards people who celebrate Christmas.