This study investigates the genre of toy safety recall messages. In 2007, also known as the \u22Year of the Recall,\u22 the U.S. Consumer Products Safety Commission issued recalls for 80 toys affecting millions of families. Burns, holes in intestines, choking, toxicity--these are just some of the hazards associated with the faulty toys.To alert consumers about the recalls, toy manufacturers create safety notices that are displayed in retail settings. However, these toy safety recall notices often suffer from poor visual design choices and inadequate expression which impacts their overall effectiveness of communicating risk. Toy safety recall notices are a unique genre because they position themselves within three areas of rhetoric: visual design, negative messages, and risk communication. The larger purpose of this research is to examine toy safety recall notices from these three theoretical perspectives. This research also explores audience perceptions and the complex contexts in which the notices function.
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