Macauley Mooney

Pop Culture is something that is continuously changing because new fads are being created and glorified every day. Pop Culture is decided by the people for the people. When something becomes popular it's because people in society obsess over it and takes it to the next level. One fairly new pop culture phenomenon is Amazon.

Amazon, the largest electronic retailer in the world, was founded in 1994 by Jeff Bezos based in Seattle, Washington. Amazon started off as an online bookstore but quickly diversified and started selling movies, CDs; video downloads and eventually got into retail such as clothes, home goods, anything someone could need. (Source 1) Amazon has no problem getting customers to purchase and use their goods and services. Amazon makes several electronics for consumers such as the kindle, fire tablets, and fire TV. Amazon has taken itself to the top as of July 2015 they moved passed Walmart as the world's biggest retailer. In the last several years Amazon has taken its popularity to another level. It has achieved this by three influential ways being the amazon website, the amazon logo, and amazon’s commercial.

The amazon website was launched in 1995 a year after it was founded. The amazon website makes it easily accessible for people. Access to the website is (here). They have the option of having the one click one buy button. This button allows you skip the three step page and go right to purchasing. Amazon was one of the first companies to do this and it paid off with more goods being bought. The genre of this artifact would be internet genre because it's accessed online view the World Wide Web. The website is informative on products that consumers want to buy. The media used for this website is digital, they have a computer based website that can be accessed from a phone but they also have it featured as an app. (Source 2) The purpose of amazon having a website is to sell their products to consumers and keep them purchasing goods. They achieve this by the appeal of their website they make it easy for all kinds of people to access it from adults, elderly and even children. The website has anything from food, to clothes, kitchen ware, games, etc. It is all popular stores thrown into one online marketer. The rhetorical appeal of the website is logos because they are informing you about products and why you should buy them.

Another subsection of amazon's website is the prime section of the website. Amazon prime is a rewards membership to paying customers that include a plethora of benefits. They range from amazon pantry, amazon TV, and free two-day shipping as well as many others.  The prime section offers free shipping. It offers deals to members and offers planned payments that could last months. The audience for this part of the website would be prime members. The media and mode for this would be digital because it is another section of the primary website. The genre of this would be internet genre as well. Amazon also offers Prime pantry in another part of their website. Prime pantry is a section of their website that allows you to purchase pantry items in bulk. For example, customers can buy loads of toilet paper, to packs goldfish, protein or cases of water. The genre would be internet genre because it is web based. The purpose of this section of the website is for people to buy everyday necessities at cheap prices. It encourages people to join prime membership also for more discounted deals. The media and mode would be digital because it’s accessed through the website or app. The rhetorical appeal of prime pantry is logos because when the items are bought in bulk and through the website they are cheaper than they would usually be in grocery stores.

Amazon also has their iconic label that advertises their brand worldwide. The amazon logo has two versions one with the word amazon with a curved arrow underneath or an A with a curved arrow underneath. Amazon sells this logo on hats, shirts, other types of clothing. They also make it available on stickers, magnets and digital pictures. The purpose of the logo is to expand their brand globally and make it become instantly recognizable. The audience for the logo is people worldwide. People who want to wear and advertise their love for amazon. This includes families, men and women who are constant users etc. A big promotion of the logo is when companies that want and receive sponsorship from amazon. The media and mode of this artifact would be digital because you can get it on the internet via picture or physical because you can get it in clothing. The rhetorical appeals used for this artifact are logos and ethos. Logos because it the logo is self-explanatory on how they work and ethos because famous people or companies support the brand. The genre of this artifact would be a sub-genre of nonfiction such as narrative nonfiction because it is giving factual information about the brands logo and what it means. The logo means that amazon will get your desired product to you as soon as possible that's why it has the swift arrow underneath. The logo is simple and sleek. It is easy enough for any individual to understand but also appealing where consumers would want to wear this on clothing.  

The final way amazon spreads its own brand globally is the use of commercial. Amazon has a vast amount of commercials. Commercials are ways for companies to get their message about a product or event out fast and in a short period of time. Some of the most notable Amazon commercials are ‘the priest and imam’ commercial and the ‘Baldwin ball’ commercial. The priest one can be seen (here) and the Baldwin ball (here). Both of the media and mode of these commercials would be digital media, auditory, and persuasion. The purpose of the priest commercial is trying to persuade customers to join prime membership while Baldwin ball is trying to get customers to purchase the amazon echo. The genre for ‘the priest’ would be dramatic because it shows friendship between two different cultures. The Rhetorical appeal used would be pathos because it is trying to get the people to sympathise and see compassion, while also persuading them to join their membership. The genre of ‘The Baldwin ball’ would be a comedy. The rhetorical appeal used in this commercial would be ethos and logos. Ethos because it uses famous stars such as Alec Baldwin, actor starring in movies such as the hunt for red October, beetle juice, TV shows like 30 rock and SNL, and Dan Marino, hall of fame dolphins quarterback, to attract people from sports fans to movie buffs. Logos is used because in the priest commercial it just shows you how fast prime membership works and how easy it is. For the Baldwin ball, it influences people to buy the echo because of its multiple functions and making life easier for the average person. The last commercial is the ‘Advent’ commercial which stars famous brothers Seth and Josh Meyers. Josh was a star on Fox’s Mad TV and also starred in the popular show that 70’s show. While his brother Seth was a writer and actor for the infamous Saturday night live and host his own show ‘Late Night with Seth Meyers’.  The commercial can be seen (here) Amazon is using ethos in this commercial because there are two notable celebrities starring in it. The purpose of this commercial is to convince people to join amazon prime. It also shows that famous people that society idolizes also use the product and service. The intended audience for this commercial is people not members of amazon prime but are interested, college students, normal people, families, etc. The media/mode of this artifact would be audio, digital and persuasion. It would be both of these because they are speaking and customers can see them interact with one another. The genre of this commercial would be a comedy because it is funny and attempts to make the audience laugh. 

All of three of these artifacts show how amazon has influenced the tech world. Amazon has been at the top of the virtual marketing and sales for years and will continue to do so, Because of their widespread support. They use particular tactics to continuously spread their brand. They are successfully becoming a part of people's everyday lives without them even knowing.  Amazon opened a physical store in 2015 and has been stepping up its game against competitors. “Nothing in Amazon’s store has a price. You have to check it with a smartphone because today’s retail world is no longer about every day low prices — it’s about prices that change every millisecond.”(Source 6) Another big thing going for Amazon is how they keep winning awards in different fields. They have won NRF’s (National Retailers Federation) most important award Retailer of the year in 2013. (Source 4) Amazon video was put in the voting for best comedy for the Golden Globe awards. In 2016 they shocked the world and won 2 out of their 5 nominations beating out competitor Netflix. They won Best musical or Comedy and best actor/actress in television series. (Source 6) Amazon is one of the most well-known companies throughout the world and it doesn’t look like they are going to be slowing down anytime soon.