For my personal narrative essay I have chosen to do option #1 and I will be collecting my photographs from a Starbucks coffee shop. As any frequent Starbucks customer knows, the atmosphere within a Starbucks location is key to their success. Through the use of colours, music, furniture and of course images, a certain type of brand culture is projected. My argument is that the images chosen to be displayed within the Starbucks have a certain rhetorical purpose in regards to the atmosphere of the store and are carefully selected to ensure that the brand values are emulated appropriately. The images to be analyzed have not yet been chosen as I have not visited a Starbucks yet, however from past knowledge I have a good idea of what images I will most likely come across. The images are not limited to the photos on the walls but may also consist of the advertisements being displayed as you first walk in.
Here are a few examples of what I may find:
I think this is a great way to approach this assignment. Be sure to discuss the location of the Starbucks, as that may have had some affect on the images that are displayed. Is it in a Chapters for example? Is it a small or large store? Is it a store designed for sitting and staying or is it one that caters to commuters? All of these issues may help you construct your argument about the images on display.
ReplyDeleteThis is a really cool idea! One thing I thought of while reading your post was that Starbucks rarely has images of the food on the menu boards, there is only food in the display case. This is fairly different from the atmosphere of Tim Hortons, for example, where the viewer is bombarded with images of the products they serve. Personally, I think this helps to make a kind of exclusivity for Starbucks customers, where they have a thorough knowledge of the products because they are part of a certain group (if that makes sense). You could definitely develop this idea in the analysis of the chalkboard ads.
ReplyDeleteI always thought that it was interesting that the stores are not franchised, but they are still able to maintain the brand's uniform appearance to a tee.
You could also possibly address why the logo was changed in the past year or so, how it is different and what impact this has.
Hope that helps!
I really like this idea as well, probably because I am a Starbucks fanatic. I have also noticed the images in Starbucks and how they are strategically placed in order to maximize profits. The images you posted above depict Starbucks very well, so when you are choosing your actual images you may want to choose something similar to those! You may also want to include something about the culture of Starbucks and how the culture is interchangeable worldwide. By this I mean that Starbucks works to ensure that their coffee shops are similar to one another in every country!
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