Yi Rong Liao

Professor Enos. C
First Year Writing
September 19th, 2016

Rhetorical Analysis for BI article

Businesses worldwide often crave the knowledge of the spending patterns of their
consumers. Capitalizing on this knowledge is tremendously beneficial to a firm
aiming to maximize its profits. Now coming to age are the Millennials, those born
between 1981 and 1997 (JPMorgan). Ranging from ages nineteen to thirty-five in
2016 they represent the working class for at least the next twenty-five years,
therefore increasing the relevancy of Matt Turners article Millennials aren't
spending money like their parents did.

In Turners article, which was posted on Business insiders website, he describes the
evolution of the spending culture from non-millennials . . . (who were) born before
1981 to millennials, and discuss what these patterns could potentially mean.

With the context of this article and the fact that it was posted on the Business
Insider website, it is clear that the purpose of Turners article is to educate business
minded individuals seeking an insight into the spending culture of this generations
youth. This is evident as only people who visit the business insider website will come
across the article. Turner references a presentation by Gordon Smith, chief
executive for consumer and community banking at JPMorgan and states how it took
place on Monday at the Barclays Financial Services Conference. This reference

highlights the exigency of this topic and strengthens the relevancy of Turners article.
Turner also mentions how he has written before about the bank spending big to land
younger customers to emphasize JPMorgans (focus) on this group. Here Turner
uses the reputation and prestige of a globally recognized bank to give credibility to
the importance of understanding this trend and appeal to the readers.

On the article there is also an image by Aly Weisman, a Business Insider employee,
titled A millennial at the Burning Man festival. In this image there is a young lady
dressed in a cheetah printed corset-like dress. The title refers to the lady as a
millennial, thereby suggesting that she is a representation of the entire group. She
poses by holding up part of her cape to her sides. This pose agrees with Turners
opinion that Millennials spend a lot more on experiences things like travel,
entertainment, and dining (Matt Turner). Using an image from the Burning Man
festival directly reflects the aspect of spending on an experience rather than
(housing), transportation, (groceries) or retail (JPMorgan). Her pose also suggest
that youths are more free spirited and willing to explore. This image enables readers
to imagine what millennials would look like and hints at what millennials would
prioritize in terms of spending culture.

Turner introduces a chart that illustrates the Spend category distribution by

generation (credit + debit cards, 2015) (JPMorgan), Turner mentions JPMorgans
definition of the year of birth that would categorize one as a millennial and nonmillennial. With this mention Turner not only clarifies the difference between a
millennial and non-millennial but also associates yet again his article with the

JPMorgan. This effectively persuades readers to trust Turners argument as it

increases his credibility as a writer due to his affiliations.

This chart depicts the difference in expenditure of millennials and non-millennials on

travel, entertainment and dinning as thirty-four percent and twenty-eight percent
respectively. (JPMorgan) Here Turner uses logos to appeal to the logic of the
readers, as these statistics prove that actual research has been done on this topic.
Furthermore, presenting the research in numerical values allow readers to believe
that the result is definite.

The last image in the article is of population and retail (spending) by generation
(JPMorgan). From the image it is clear that the population size of the Millennials is
greater than that of generations X, boomers and silent. Here Turner once again uses
logos to support his argument that the spending patterns of the millennial generation
are important, as theyll be shaping consumer demand for years to come (Matt
Turner).

Throughout his article Turner continuously uses ethos to strengthen his credibility as
a writer. Also, he provided statistics in the form of charts to appeal to the readers
logic. These accompanied by his informative tone allowed him to successful draw
readers in to educate them about why it is important to understand the spending
culture of the millennial generation.

Works Cited
Turner, Matt. "Millennials Aren't Spending Money like Their Parents Did."Business
Insider. Business Insider, Inc, 14 Sept. 2016. Web. 18 Sept. 2016.
<http://www.businessinsider.com/jpmorgan-chase-gordon-smith-millennialsspending-patterns-2016-9>.