Introduction: Rhetorical Analysis
American Apparel sells clothing and accessories made by Americans, in America. However, the relatively streamlined, clean web site (in terms of design) does not only sell clothes, but also youth and virility, sex and cool. By examining the rhetoric at play on the site, I will determine how successful American Apparel's argument is in terms of ethos, pathos and logos. Also under consideration is whether or not some of their choices distract and hurt or attract and help. Essentially, am I buying what they're selling or not?.To back up a moment: let's establish how rhetoric will be defined. For this analysis, rhetoric will be defined as "the human use of symbols to communicate" (Foss, Foss and Trapp 1). Because this website is heavily visually orientated I would also like to consider what Birdsell and Groarke said concerning visual argumentation, "the recognition that visual meaning is not necessarily arbitrary is the crucial first step that we must take in our development of a theory of visual argument" (Birdsell and Groarke 2). Thus, we are to assume that the visual choices made by American Apparel for its website are conscious and purposeful; more to the point, they have meaning.
So, how do these choices affect the site's ethos?
