American Idol recently had a show titled: American Idol Gives Back. As a usual Idol fan, I tuned into Fox and began to watch. Millions of Americans were watching this show at the same time I am or even when you were. This brought so much attention to to my eyes when famous people from America have volunteered their time, effort, and heart to touch lives of children and other people in need across not only this country but all over the world. This music celebration has made more than $140 million dollars in efforts to help charity.
Throughout the show, American Idol gave opportunities for people to use their credit card or call a number to continue to donate money to these charities. What seemed very encouraging to me was that they showed videos and interviewed these people who traveled across the world to spend time one on one with these people who are in need. Sometimes commercials to help benefit others seem to just pass through our eyes, but for some reason this just stuck to me. I hope others found this encouraging because the role models we believe that influence people at a young age were the ones who were attached to these children who were in desperate need. If I were to look at this photo, more than just a person without a home would come to mind. I think that beyond homelessness would be out there. These people are dying everyday from having absolutley no help, food, shelter, or barely even water.
The reason I chose this picture is because it made me realize how lucky we are living in America and having the opportunity of a lifetime. So, next time I think about complaining to my mom, or whining about not wanting to do school work, just think about how these children have it and then I will better judge myself.
I actually had no idea that American Idol was involved in these charities at all! I think it's awesome that people with LOTS of money were willing to give some away and also encourage others to do the same. This reminds me of a commercial I've been seeing lately about the scarcity of clean water in so many countries. It's strange to think that there are people living in such horrible conditions. I agree, we should all be thankful! :)
ReplyDeleteIt's great that American Idol shows conditions like this to highlight that there are people less fortunate than us out there. I think you could have probably described the picture more though because it seemed like you described the show more than it. Did you end up donating money? If you did, then the ad certainly did its job!
ReplyDeleteI watched this too. It was so incredibly sad! The one clip with the little tiny girl who was born with AIDS was so freaking sad. I wanted to go save her, right then and there. We should definitely be thankful, and American Idol reminded us that last night. Nice job on your analysis!
ReplyDeleteI didn't watch this show but I agree a lot about everything you've said here. Sometimes I feel like the only goal of those sad types of commercials is to get us to feel sad so that we WILL give to these foundations. And if you're a person with a heart, it's hard not to want to give! I often fear though that if I give my money to these organizations then it will never make it to the people that need it. I also noticed that so far all the comments to this post have been women. I think it is in our nature as women, lovers, and mothers to want better for people and to want to help with making the world a better place. Just some food for thought...
ReplyDeleteInteresting post, Heather. Who would have though AI was so darn rhetorical. (But what isn't really?!) I think you make a good point that lots of rhetoric aims to inspire people, and that seems pretty productive. But like Tacoi starts to get at, I wonder if making people feel sad and guilty is really the most ethical use of rhetoric...it's like pathos overload! Nonetheless, I'm sure glad they were able to collect so much money. That's certainly concrete evidence of the success of this rhetoric.
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