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Running Head: GENETICALLY MODIFIED ORGANISMS

Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs): Genre Analysis of an Image and an Article


Sergio Barrios
University of Texas at El Paso

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The exponential growth of Worlds population and the difficulties that many countries have to
confront to produce enough food to feed their population have motivated scientists to focus
research efforts in developing new food production techniques. As an outcome of these research
projects, new products known as Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) were mainly
introduced in to the food industry. GMOs in the food industry are commonly identified as
Genetically Modified foods to distinguish them from the foods produced by the traditional
methods. The controversies of introducing GM foods in the international foods markets include
the fact insufficient background research has been done to establish that these products are 100%
safe for human consumption. Other important point is the fact that there are no concrete studies
that demonstrate GM foods are better than traditionally produced crops. During the past few
years governments around the world have had intense debates to define the regulations that
GMOs should have in the national and world markets. In the meantime, the production of these
products s increasing rapidly. Nowadays there is an urgent necessity to establish whether GM
foods are safe or not for their consumption worldwide, even though they have been consumed for
years already. This issue is being addressed by two different genres. The first one is an image
that represents the industry of GMOs and the general idea people have when they know
something is modified by scientists, the image was obtained from the Natural Society website.
The second genre is the news article Another Too Big to Fail System in G.M.O.s obtained
from The New York Times. This article briefly reviews the main risks of the GMO industry. The
purpose of this paper is to analyze both genres thoroughly to be able to compare and contrast
them.

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Audience and Purpose


The purpose of the first genre, which is the image obtained from the Natural Science, is
to persuade the viewers in to changing the personal perspective they have about GMOs, the
author wanted to showcase GMOs in a negative way that pictures how these products can be
harmful for out health. The long term purpose of the image is to generate interest in the viewer so
he or she does additional research of the subject after observing the visual content. The purpose
of the newspaper article is to briefly inform the New York Times readers about the main risks
behind the GMO industry, and its relation to finances in the United States. The purpose of both
genres is similar in the way that they both try to change the perspective of the reader/viewer into
a negative perspective of the modified products, and also to motivate them to do further research
to be well informed in the subject. They convey in the fact that they want to generate curiosity on
their audience in relation to the discussed subject. The main difference in the purpose of the
genres is that the visual image genre does not attempt to provide concrete facts and information
as the newspaper article, it is less charged with information. This is obvious since it is an image,
but it does not include any type of informative text as a small slogan.
The targeted audience of the first genre can be potentially anyone who is a frequent
internet user that is looking for images related to GMOs. Since the image was found in the
Google browser, which redirects you to the Natural Science website. It is not hard to find and
any average user can easily find it while looking for information. It is not specifically limited to a
certain age group, but it could be concluded that the image could be easily understood by almost
everyone at least 10 years old approximately. Since the image only contains objects and no text,

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the viewer should have some basic background information of GMOs to be able to fully
understand the targeted message. The targeted audience of the newspaper article is the readers of
the New York times that are interested in articles that are about politics, finances and science,
which are very closed related sciences. The audiences of the genres contrasts in the way that the
audience of the image is more general compared to the audience of the article. The article does
contain technical terms that cannot be easily understood by anyone.
Rhetorical Issues
The ethos of the image is not very well defined since the author could not be found, but is
backed up by the fact that the image can also be found in the Natural Science website, which
includes several articles of well recognized scientists and organizations. If the credibility of the
image is associated to the website, the image has a strong ethos. The ethos of the newspaper
article it is very strong since it was written in a worldwide recognized newspaper as The New
York Times. Both authors have a strong ethos since they have scientific backgrounds and
experience in the field, on top the fact that they have written several articles for the newspaper.
The ethos of the genres contrast in the fact that the image does not have a recognizable author,
which weakens its ethos, unlike the other well-known authors of the article.
The first genre is very charged with pathos and it could be identified as its strongest
rhetorical appeal. The image was designed to instantly caught the attention of the viewer and
generate deep emotions. The emotions can variate depending on the viewer, since it includes a
hand stained with blood it might be absolutely disgusting to some people, but also very
interesting to someone that works in the biomedical field. The article is similar to the image since
it also has a strong pathos, it includes some statistics and facts that target to generate anger in the
reader as they realize they were misinformed for years. The authors wanted to generate a feeling

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of anger in the reader, this is demonstrated in the following quote, G.M.O.s threaten more than
they can potentially help. Irelands population was decimated by the effect of monoculture
during the potato famine (Spitznagel and Taleb 2016). By providing facts about the effects that
GMOs have already caused in Ireland, the authors wanted to make the readers aware of the real
danger that could reach their populations in a short term.
Similar to the pathos, the visual image genre also has strong logos since the logical
arguments it targets are well defined. The message is clear and there is no other possible way to
interpret it, by viewing the image you can clearly see the author wants you to avoid GMOs and
pictures them as bad. The image consists of an apple that is being simultaneously pinched by ten
syringes with different chemicals on them. The apple has staples that are holding it from tearing
completely apart and a red liquid that is assumed to be blood is falling upon the hand that is
holding the apple. The logical argument of the photograph is that the genetically modifying food
is destroying the food as we know it, and it is killing it as the apple is bleeding off as the
chemicals are being insert in it. In the other hand, the article has a strong logos as well since it
briefly explains the main negative points behind the GM industry. The author attempted to show
logic in his argumentation by providing precise information backed up by his background in the
field. By starting off with some general financial information, the authors followed by
introducing logic arguments of why GMOs are bad and how the industry will end up collapsing
in a short term. They meant not only to inform audience with general information, but also to
convince them into becoming anti-GMOs supporters. The authors provided their strongest
logical argument against GMOs with their conclusion, The G.M.O. experiment, carried out in
real time and with our entire food and ecological system as its laboratory, is perhaps the greatest
case of human hubris ever (Spitznagel and Taleb 2016). With this last argument in the article,

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the authors wanted to increase the level of awareness in the readers and make them realize the
GMO experiments are no longer futuristic as it might have been believed before.
Structure and Delivery
Even though both genres had very similar purposes, they were very different genres, the
article being much more informative than the image for obvious reasons. The structure of the
image was simple, since it combined very basic elements to convey the targeted message. The
syringes, the apple, and the colored chemicals can be easily identified by anyone, as well as the
idea they are trying to communicate when they are included in the image. The structure is simple
and very clear. The great advantage that the image has over the news article is the fact that it can
be easily delivered to a targeted population and it has a higher probability of catching their
attention. People are more prone to observe an image online, rather than reading an online article
that might not have an appealing title. In terms of structure, the article has a well-developed
argumentation with key points and a strong conclusion, unlike the image that only provides a
visual argument. The article has a well-defined structure that includes a short introduction that
states as general idea of what the article is about, and then explains point by point the main
issues in the GM industry, it finalizes with a strong conclusion that reflected the opinion of the
authors.

Conclusion
In conclusion, both genres were published to create consciousness in the population in
regards of the dangerous GM food products that are consumed daily around the world. The genre
analysis demonstrated that the newspaper article had a high credibility, because the information
presented was backed up by a nongovernmental organization, which eliminates any political bias

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that might have influenced the content. The analysis also demonstrated that the content of both
genres is more focused on the negative side of the GMOs, instead of providing a single overall
perspective of the problem that covers all the pros and cons of these products. In terms of
efficiency of the genre to reach a targeted audience and convey a clear message, the image has a
great advantage since it includes simple elements that provide a clear perspective of how antiGMO organizations see this industry. Even a completely uninformed audience, can easily obtain
a better understanding of the subject after observing the image. Overall, both genres could be
classified as good sources of information. They convey in the fact that only basic information is
presented, and if the audience if interested additional resources should be obtained.

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References

GMO apple squeeze [Online image]. (2016). Retrieved February 20, 2016
from http://naturalsociety.com/study-links-gmos-22-different-diseases/

Spitznagel , M., Taleb. N (2015, July 13). Another Too Big to Fail System in G.M.O.s. The
New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/

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