Rhetorical Meme

This meme is meant to explain that compostable plastic cannot be composted, despite what the packaging says. It can only be composted when exposed to air. I used to work in a restaurant where we had to go through the trash and pick out the “compostable” utensils from the compost. Most of them cannot even be recycled. When you put compostable plastic in the green bin it is buried underground and cannot compost the way it was intended.

Sarcasm is used in this meme in order to get the message around. It is kind of made to make the average person, who may not know that the compostable plastic isn’t compostable, like they are not educated. This may give me, the creator, some more credibility.

I also used the rhetorical strategy pathos. It may make some people feel badly that they are using “compostable” plastic products that are, in fact, not compostable. They may feel like they are not doing their part for the environment. This may makes them steer away from the products all together, like I intended when making the meme.

This meme doesn’t really use logos, however it does seem logical that plastic, whether it says it is “compostable” or “biodegradable”, would not be able to do either of those things.

In conclusion, rhetoric is everywhere, even in the memes we scroll through on Instagram. We are constantly under an intended influence. If you understand how to use rhetoric, you can better understand how and why it is being on you.