B2: CRA Topic/Issue

My topic is energy drinks and the issue is the risks associated with them. I chose this issue because there are plenty of different viewpoints on the topic of caffeinated beverages. This issue is fitting for this assignment because it is discussed across multiple types of media and each author has his or her own purpose for speaking or writing about the issue. Ranging from doctors’ professional opinions in journals to caffeine-crazy adolescents on Twitter and energy drink advertisers on television to a mother who lost her child to an accidental caffeine overdose: there is a lot to say about energy drinks. The tone of the piece will depend on the author’s expertise and association with energy drinks and his or her opinion on how serious the risks are to them. People who have seen the negative consequences of unlabeled, highly caffeinated drinks will speak about the risks very differently than caffeine dependent people who rely on energy drinks to get them through the day or advertisers whose job is to effectively promote the product. I am looking to reference tweets or memes because they will most likely be made from actual consumers and are likely to defend the issue, instead of sources that just identify the risks. Depending on the writer’s background and audience there will be different rhetorical appeals. Doctors may use logos because they have information about just how much higher the caffeine content is compared to a cup of coffee and how that increases the risks. People who have lost someone unexpectedly to energy drink use or have seen a negative change in a users’ attitudes or personalities will likely appeal to emotion. Energy drink advertisements will use pathos as well but in a different way - by showing how great and productive energy drinks will make you feel and how they are logical to consume - promising that their drinks are amazing and perfectly safe. Popular and respected newspapers or magazines are likely to be more impersonal sources of information because first-hand experience with energy drinks is not necessarily available and primarily depends on the author.

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