Red, White, and Beer

     The essay Red, White, and Beer is sarcastic and meant to be a parody. The speaker of this essay is Dave Barry and the occasion the purpose is to discuss the ridiculous commercials we see on television and how it always something to do with the United States of America. The tone of the essay is obviously sarcastic and satirical, and the audience is the reader. The subject is mainly on the commercials that are constantly being shown as patriotic and American. Barry talks about one commercial that is advertising Miller, which is a very well-known American beer. He is making fun of how it shows men as sweaty, shaking each others hands, and how this supposedly what American men are supposed to be like. Another commercial he talk about is when a group of men are building a house while drinking beer. He also mentions how after the commercial was shot, they probably kept pushing up a wall until it fell on to somebody's truck and the owner of that truck shook their hands. It it very obvious that Barry is being sarcastic because no person would want their house built by a bunch of drunk people, but because it is shown as being American people would actually do it. This essay also shows the affect patriotism has on products.

"Difficult To Tell If T.J Maxx Hit Hard By Recession"

     The following article, "Difficult To Tell If T.J Maxx Hit Hard By Recession" is found in the Onion.com and is written by The Onion. The article is about whether or not T.J Maxx has been affected by the recent recession. Financial analysts have observed more than a 1000 retail stores and have concluded that the large amounts of merchandise thrown every where is evidence that T.J Maxx has either been devastated by the recession or carrying on as usual. According to economist Graham Stinson, they are not sure if the messed up aisles may be a sign that T.J Maxx is on the verge of bankruptcy or if they are just doing really well. More evidence includes costumers stuffing their carts with lamps and children's shoes with bras inside of them. Lake Forest, IL resident Brian says that they are doing really bad because they are selling their products for really cheap prices and you have to take advantage of them before they go out of business. I chose this article because I found it interesting and funny. The article is basically making fun of retail clothing stores in general and the situation they always seem to be in. Every time I walk into one of these stores, such as T.J Maxx, the clothes are thrown on the floor, the the merchandise are mixed in together, and there is always a huge line.