“A drink of the kings”

02 Feb 2009 1 Comment

by perrkk in Rhetoric analysis Tags: ,

 
Welcome page to Kahlua website

Welcome page to Kahlua website

Kahlua.com is a well-thought out site with the goal of persuading the purchase of its product by specifically targeting its younger drinking audience. The Kahlua company accomplishes its goal by first transporting the viewer of the site to another, romanticized world and relating to the younger audience via using interactive graphics and entertaining extras. All the while, the designers of the site also send numerous silent messages throughout several aspects of the site, which all point to the product, convincing the viewer that Kahlua is unique, versatile, and a must-have.
Kahlua is a unique coffee-like alcoholic drink, which originated in Mexico and is said to be made from Arabic coffee beans; “a drink of the kings”, as the site says. This history of the drink’s origins serves as the inspiration to take the first step in persuading the audience: a transportation into a different time and place, where you can even share in the experience of living like a king by drinking Kahlua. Through the visual rhetoric of the background art, featuring a calm sunset and silhouetted images, the viewer is taken to a relaxing country where the worries of the world seem to melt away. This background image, or else colors imitating the sunset feeling is repeated on every page of the site. This background in key to creating a relaxing atmosphere that will make the viewer want to relax more as well, possibly by getting a drink to unwind.
The atmosphere of casual interactions and relaxation is also the medium that is used to convey another strong persuasive aspect of the site: silent messages. The sheer beauty of the sunset, and the beauty of the physical appearance and accents of the actors in the more interactive parts of the site suggests to the viewer that perhaps if they drank Kahlua, they too could be just as beautiful. Silent messages are also creatively carried into the blog page on the website, where blogs are written on what appears to be napkins. I don’t believe that anyone could get more casual. A few of the posts suggest that they were written by famous bartenders, but the site offers ever user the opportunity to write something. By using this relaxed mode of writing, the viewer feels that they are being offered an honorable opportunity by posting to the spot at which someone well respected has posted. In this way, the viewer receives the feeling that they too are special and respected and become more as ease and more likely to respond. In this way, the company may receive more feedback.napkin blogs/comments

 Silent messages are also sent out on every page of the Kahlua website, where visual rhetoric is utilized by having a constant repetition of Kahlua icons. The ancient art design that is the focus point of the welcome page of the website is repeatedly used as links and scroll bars in the website. Plus, the title with the characteristic bright yellow text saying “Kahlua” is boldly shown across every page. These constant reminders leave no room for doubt about what this website is about and keeps the viewer constantly focused at the product at hand. As an addition to this advertising method, there are extra facts about Kahlua that pop up in the middle of the screen every time a page loads when a link on the site is clicked. The text is not there for long, so the viewer is compelled to read quickly in order to receive the extra bit of information. In this way, too, the web designers keep the viewer constantly engaged in the site and the product, preventing distraction even during the time it takes to load a page.

 

 

 

 

Kahlua problems

01 Feb 2009 1 Comment

by perrkk in Rhetoric analysis

exploring-websiteThe only hindrance that occurs while navigating through the site is the very thing that makes thee site so appealing and entertaining: the high interactivity and slight random organization of its links. The menu bar is placed at an unconventional location at the bottom of the page, opening the page up to the visual rhetoric of the graphics, but possibly disorienting the viewer from the normal. Also, though links are able to be explored, there is not much description of purpose for the links or instructions of use of the links on all the pages. This causes for confusion on both how to work the links and as to what the link offers. This use of slight haphazardness in organization of links could be another advertising strategy, however, because if someone has to explore the links to find what they are looking for, then they are again achieving their goal of keeping the viewer on the site for a longer period of time and influencing greater. However, the lack of instructions on certain pages also cause frustration. One good example of this was on a page with a scroll full of history about Kahlua. In order to read further on the history, I had to use the scroll, which was a tiny red Kahlua icon that scrolled from left to write, rather than the conventional top to bottom. The lack of both convention and instruction on this particular page caused much confusion in navigation of this section of thkahlua-commerciale site.

Since Kahlua is an alcoholic beverage, the site also includes amongst its entertainment commercials emphasizing the importance of responsibility while drinking. One such video shows natives that are typically in Kahlua commercials shooting out a man’s car tires with arrows because he was considering drinking and driving. Also, the site itself protects itself legally by limiting the site to only people who claim to be of drinking age. I was at first impressed by this feature of the website because ideally, this would limit its audience to only people of legal drinking age and not aid minors with knowledge on alcoholic beverages. In reality, however, there is no proof that the age someone types in is actually correct. So long as a person can calculate what their birth date should be, they can enter the site.

The organization and appearance of the website as a whole seems characteristically identical to its audience. The site is slightly unorganized and reflects many of the things that the younger audience is attracted to: entertainment, relaxation, parties, and news concerning all of the above. I myself visited this site on my 21st birthday due to curiosity when I saw the URL on the label of the bottle my friend had given me. I was a prime example of the new drinker and the perfect target for this website.

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