Americans certainly seem to be notorious for celebrating their holidays by indulging in drinks. Even now certain events are well known reasons for inebriation. USA Today had a poll showing the top ten beer holidays.
The illustrations are not necessarily that exciting, only showing a cartoon figure holding a glass of beer and he looks generally happy. The cases they show are counted by the millions and placed in order based on holiday or event. First place is July 4th, a well known holiday for celebrating our country by watching fireworks while enjoying a brew. The Super Bowl takes number 10 with about 15 million less cases than July 4th.
The way the chart is set up is rather bland. It just has the image of the boy with the beer, and the only bright color is yellow. The way the numbers are presented isn't very interesting, just simply placed in two rows of five. Adding color to the title might have made it more appealing and noticeable. Still, once you notice the chart, it's hard not to stop and quickly read though it. The illustration isn't the most appealing, but it still is better than just showing the rankings in a glass of beer.
Overall, I find it funny that this is part of USA Today's News category for Snapshots. Clearly the relevence of which holiday is celebrated with beer doesn't really have an impact on our lives. For some it may, but honestly if I had continued life without knowing that Christmas was in sixth place I would probably be fine. It's an interesting fact but I'm still skeptical of how it fits in to the category.
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I agree that this story doesn't really fit into the "news" category, but I would not consider many of the USA Today snapshots to be newsworthy, including the one I commented on. How many beers Americans drink and the domestic gross for 3D films have little impact on our daily lives. It's just a quick pointless graphic to look at if you're bored. If it would have discussed how alcohol consumption over holidays leads to a higher percentage of drunk-driving accidents or something then it would have been a more newsworthy topic.
ReplyDeleteAlso, your graphic, like mine, didn't have a lot of color to catch a reader's attention. If some of the text was in color instead of just black it might look more interesting. Also, quite a few of the snapshots, at least in the "news" seciton, have a lot of the color yellow to make it stand out more I suppose. The information presented is also not very specific. For example, are they counting every kind of alcohol or only beer? Furthermore, are they only counting cases sold or individual beverages as well?
American holidays and sporting events often lead to excessive alcohol consumption. The person depicted by this graphic makes it seem as though this is something to celebrate. USA Today is praising the amount of alcohol consumption in this country without warning consumers about the dangers of excessive use.
Sorry I forgot to put my full name
ReplyDelete-Melissa Wesloski
USA Today has once again managed another less than exciting useless snapshot. To a mild degree, this snapshot's content is a "fun fact" to think about for less than a minute, then tuck it far away in your brain and wait for the day that someone raises the question, "I wonder if the superbowl 'holiday' sells the most cases of beer?". In which case, you would be able to think back and respond, sounding extremely intelligent and an avid "news" reader.
ReplyDeleteOn the contrary, as previously stated, the bland, uneventful image will not at all help you remember this useless fact. At first glance, you simply see a boring chart with an annoying blur of yellow in the background. By the second glance, you notice a glass of beer which fades in the background due to the obnoxious yellow blur. I agree that adding more color to the title, or anywhere on the page for that matter, would have helped.
I think it's safe to assume that this snapshot has no news value and is merely a fun fact that got misplaced in the "news" section of USA Today's snapshot section.