This week's feature is a video done by WongFu Productions. A team of three Asian Americans out on a mission to bring more laughter into the world, WongFu Productions makes videos that often parody situations or poke fun at common stereotypes in a friendly manner. And by friendly, I mean kid-friendly too. The thing I like about WongFu is that their humor is very clean and simple. It's often very cheesy, but it still manages to produce a chuckle out of me and a good other 566,481 subscribers.
I decided to discuss this video, because rhetorically, it's a rather interesting subject. From the medium to the content, this video speaks louder than one would initially assume.
The video itself is very corny. Phil, Ted, and Wes are at their jokes again, and Wes amuses you with his witty phrase "When it's yellow, let it mellow. When it's brown, flush it down." The humor goes further as Ted and Wes try to decide whether Ted's "little present" is yellow or brown. Your reaction is probably that of amusement mixed in with mild disgust. But no worries--they put in the disclaimer that they don't actually put Wes's phrase into practice.
This video, while very funny, is actually intended to be a form of a public service announcement. WongFu Productions takes an active approach to General Electric's "Ecomagination" campaign and creates a video to promote water conservation. The rhetorical technique that WongFu uses in this video is to take an idea (water conservation) and exaggerate it to an extreme. No one in their right mind would think to conserve water by not flushing. However, by humorously exaggerating the idea, WongFu succeeds in conveying a powerful message to the viewer. They make the statement that conserving water is so important that desperate times could call for desperate measures, such as not flushing.
I love youtube videos! Every week as I observe the rhetoric involved in the videos of my favorite youtubers, it excites me to see how youtube has the potential to positively impact our world!
**Hopefully this video doesn't persuade anyone to leave their bodily excretions unflushed.
These fellows definitely came up with a creative and humorous way to get the point across.Youtube has really made such an impact on our lives, and this video is just another example of how youtube videos are not only entertaining, but also persuasive.
ReplyDeleteThe headphone jack on my computer doesn't work and both of your blogs have videos so it put me in a pickle. However, this sounds very interesting and amusing. I know some little kids who would surely love to watch something like this. We all remember those potty jokes that we heard when we were little and for some reason we thought they were so bad even though now we look back and they really aren't at all.
ReplyDeleteWho says poop jokes can't serve a purpose? I feel that the most entertaining service announcements are by the shows I watch perform the PSA with their own signature style. One can make a case that they are getting paid by GE to do so, but it's nice that you can just enjoy the humor without thinking about the corporation behind it.
ReplyDeleteThere's actually a long history to the "If it's yellow..." phrase. I lived in a town once where we needed to conserve water for a couple weeks due to flooding (I know--irony), and this phrase was plastered on posters all over town.
ReplyDeleteSeems like an interesting way to implement this unusual piece of advice!