Select a commercial that is approximately 30 seconds long, and provide a rhetorical analysis of the commercial. In your analysis, comment on how the commercial appeals to ethos, pathos, and logos (or if it does not appeal to one or more of these dimensions of rhetoric). Also, comment on a rhetorical device that the commercial employs (See list of rhetorical devices). Your response should be eight to 12 sentences long. Please include a link to the commercial.
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In a Wendy’s breakfast commercial about Honey Butter Chicken Biscuit (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R9cisMBnIgw), there were great appeals to the audience by using aesthetic images of the burger, bacon, eggs, and the honey butter chicken biscuit. First, the commercial portrayed Wendy’s burger as the rising sun with the lines, “Tomorrow, it can only be better with Wendy’s breakfast.” Following that, bacons appeared with the pun, “A tomorrow that says BAE-can, not BAE-cant.” This is a usage of anaphora, repeating the word “tomorrow” in the beginning of the two sentences and in addition, some personification to “tomorrow” by making it say something. There was a use of metaphor with the line “when eggs rain like opportunity.” The word “tomorrow” is repeated many times throughout the ad like “tomorrow brings even more like a honey butter chicken biscuit” and “no matter what, tomorrow is looking good,” etc. I think this ad did a great job as it did make me want to have some of the breakfast items in it. The narration put emphasis on some words to make it dramatic, as with the actions like cracking eggs and spreading the sauce, and seemed to make what they’re saying sound like facts.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nLwML2PagbY
This is a commercial of the Mercedes-Benz intelligent drive. In the commercial, people hold the chickens and move their bodies with the music. The chickens move forward and move back when the music sings, “up site down.” And the chickens make a round when the music sings, “ round and round.” The dancing chickens and the music impassion me to move my body also. The word “up site down and round” repeated several times in the music. There is the use of simile and metaphor. They describe the intelligent drive as these chickens that have magic body control. In the background, these white lines represent the road. Seems like the chickens are driving on the road. I really like this commercial because it is very funny. I still think about these dancing chickens after I close the video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2IrXtsd5LKQ
This commercial of Popeyes did a great job of convincing their audience to buy their deals. The commercial started with the opening line of the spokeswoman of Popeyes saying, “You know why Louisiana food is the best food in the world?”
The man replied, “Because we slow cook.” This right away showed logos, since they’re using the logic that slow cooking creates the best meals. The next images were of how the fried chicken was being prepared using the slow cooking method. These images illustrated Popeyes as only cooking their fried chicken in the kitchen which gave the feeling of homemade fresh meals. This demonstrated ethos since Popeyes was seen as a credible source for homemade food. The spokeswoman later on said, “How good? I’m talking four pieces for only five dollar good. You heard me, four for five dollar good.” The rhetorical device that was used was an epistrophe since the end of the phrase was being constantly repeated, which emphasized the five dollar deal for having four chicken pieces. The emotion of having a good home-cooked meal for a good deal illustrated the rhetorical device of pathos. The commercial illustrated that Popeyes meals were homemade, delicious, and affordable. They also displayed their prices with a clear font size above the meals, which captured the audience’s attention to seeing the deal that they’re getting at Popeyes. The commercial at the end concluded with their classic ringtone saying, “Love that Chicken at Popeyes.” The last few seconds of the commercial the audience was left thinking about Popeyes, since it was the last word that was shown before the ad ended. I think this commercial did a good job since I was left wanting to get Popeyes afterwards.
I chose Australian Bananas “Lasting Energy” 30 sec TV Commercial. In this advertisement, it shows people that bananas are a good snack. In the advertisement, people who want to eat sweets in the office are beaten by big gloves. The people by the pool, those playing on the grass, and those playing with friends all eat bananas and show happy expressions. At first, I was puzzled about this, but immediately I understood the meaning of this ad. This advertisement uses epistrophe, which mean repetition words or expressions at the end of consecutive phrases, clauses, sentences. The advertisement keeps repeating “That’s a nana”, “is nana” and “nana” to let the audience give the audience a feeling of believing that bananas are a good snack. I believe the audience will go back to the supermarket to buy bananas after watching this advertisement. Place on the table and enjoy them slowly.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjhohEqv4so
In this commercial for Grammarly (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uLFiZfvL_L8), there is no speaking at all. All of the information the advertisement has been trying to show is through images, actions, and emotions of the character. At the beginning of the commercial, the student seems to be nervous about her writing piece, so we can infer that it is probably an important academic paper. Later on, the video shows how her continuous usage of Grammarly helps to build her writing proficiency. Her emotions transform from anxiety to happiness and excitement. This is where the commercial tells people that you will be satisfied with your writings along with your emotions if you use this software. Moreover, it also shows people how convenient it is to use this software because the writer will not have to manually cite the source, instead, the software will cite it for you. All the writer has to do is to copy and paste the citation. The commercial grabs my attention a lot especially because I am also a student who will write tons of papers not only for academic purposes but also for job-related ones. It is obvious that I will want to check every part of my writing to ensure it is probably perfect to submit.
I will say that the commercial uses logos and pathos for the most part. The logos takes place when the message in the video is telling you how the use of a writing tool like Grammarly will enhance the quality of the paper. The last scene in the video where the student gets an “A+” from her professor also indicates the usefulness of this technology. On the other hand, pathos is used where the student in the video shows how anxious she is when it comes to writing a paper without understanding the expectation of her professor. I believe that a lot of the students will face the same situation and feeling when he or she is not sure about how the quality of the final paper will be. When the student in the video gets happy in the end, this somehow convinces the audience that the software can make you happy too. Both of these emotional scenarios can make the audience resonate with when it comes to the difficulty of writing and the gratitude when getting a good grade from the paper written.
Also, I am not very sure if the commercial has demonstrated any of the rhetorical devices since most of them are related to words while the commercial I picked has zero speaking. As I check through the list of the devices, I did not really see any matches with it, but I could be wrong.
This is the M&M’s commercial. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6vc3NZyK2is) In the video, there are two M&M’s act as human. The yellow one holds a bag of M&M’s in front of a fan and said, “The crispy M&M’s are back” because the red one let him tell their fans. Then the red one comes in and said, “not those fans”. The yellow point of the other two types fans and ask is this fan. There is uses antanaclasis. It uses two different meanings of fans to create humor in the commercial. The first time I watch this, I was confused about their conversation. I realized these two are talking about different fans. It is a fun commercial and put point into audiences’ mind in a humorous way.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9h_-vBYui_U
This is a commercial about water. This commercial uses logos for most parts. It shows the cause and effect relationship to tell the customers the importance of water. For example, “drinking water is essential to your health that’s why you need to drink plenty of water to keep you hydrated throughout the day.” This illustrates a cause and effect relationship, it focuses on the relationship that because water keeps people healthy, so we need to drink it. Additionally, this commercial also uses some rhetorical devices. For example, “Unlike power drinks or soft drinks, water is truly the only drink that can quench your thirst.” This example uses comparison and hypobole to highlight and exaggerate the benefits of water – to quench your thirst. The use of the word “only” and compare to power drinks and soft drinks are for the purpose to emphasize only water can quench thirst.
The commercial on Sugar Bites is created with the purpose of engaging the audience (dominantly parents) to be aware of sugary drinks that they are buying for their kids. In order to gain credibility, the ad included statistical reasoning on why sugary drinks are bad. As the ad begins, the music sets a serious and formal tone for the narrator behind the scene who explains how sugary drinks “can destroy teeth, cause obesity, and lead to type II diabetes.” The use of facts increases credibility because the ad is saying more than just sugary drinks are bad but providing the consequences that can arise as a result of drinking sugary drinks. As mentioned earlier about the background music, it is important to know that the type of music in the background can influence the viewer’s mood. A piece of more serious music in the background informs the viewer that what’s coming up is serious for closer attention. Later in the ad, an animation of teeth coming out of the juice playing along with a tearing sound in the background can tense up the viewer to let them realize the horribleness of sugar drinks. The use of music and animation in the ad plays a role in switching the viewer’s mood and emotion from being unconscious to conscious of the issue with drinking sugary drinks. After all, logical reasoning is present as the viewer comes to see the “monster” behind sugary drinks and is able to conclude in complement with the facts that drinks are bad and thus you shouldn’t buy drinks that are bad for you. The rhetorical devices used in the ad include personification of sugar when claiming that “Sugar Bites” and a call to action for parents to “Protect their kids.” These techniques together help to emphasize the reconsideration for parents to avoid buying sugary drinks on sale for their kids after considering the level of high sugar in many drinks and the consequences they can bring. Though the ad was only 30s, I think it was enough to make this point clear to the audience given the way ethos, logos, and pathos was structured and formulated.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TzPS6ELoZ1I
This ad from McDonald’s is really short, however, it leaves you with the sensation of wanting to eat fries (believe me). In this ad, they make a close up to the fries that allows you to see how crunchy it is. They also use the background music which is like music you would hear when entering heaven to portray the message that the fries are so good they would take you to heaven when you eat them. Something that really impressed me was the way they incorporated real life in the commercial. As a consumer I am always complaining about the fact that I can be with I friend, I order food and ask her if she wants some, she says she does not want and when she sees it she starts eating my food. I am impressed because they used a real life situation in their ad which makes the viewer relate to the ad and convince them that next time, instead of ordering one, they should order two fries.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dkA9u_C8Qfw
Finally, McDonald’s does not use logos because they do not want their audience to be aware of the amount of diseases that can come from eating to much fries, it can cause you diabetes and high cholesterol, but McDonalds prefers to not say this in the ad because if they do they would lose clients.
Amazon Prime’s 30 second commercial about their convenient and fast subscription is one that you would not want to skip. The reason is because they have no speakers, but a musician that sings a happy song. This commercial have the rhetoric device meiosis, where less emphasis of the product presented to achieve a greater effect. Advertisement like these allow the watchers to enjoy watching it more. Amazon Prime was not exaggerated, but just included for like four seconds. The pathos within this commercial is strong, because it is all musician and no speaker, the commercial depends on acting and having watchers to have emotions when watching the commercial. The girl shows sympathy to the street musician and donates a dog costume to them to help them earn more money. As a watcher myself, I feel some consolation. For logos, the commercial relates to everyday street life, seeing a street musician not doing well with a dog and a everyday street cart girl that buys a cute dog costume off amazon prime…getting the product fast, the street musician start doing well. As for ethos, amazon is a big company. The subscription Amazon Prime guarantees buyer product quality and fast service. The commercial is full with ethos since many people use Amazon Prime.
https://www.youtube.com/watchv=QRkMKn065GA&ab_channel=AmazeOn
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZEMFAx_8cvc
This ad is about a flea, tick, and worm spot-on treatment for cats by Bravecto for Cats. In the commercial, ethos was used as a rhetorical device to help appeal to the audience. They stated in the ad that their product is the “loooooooooooooooongest” lasting treatment in the industry, providing a fact. They delivered the message with strong confidence. Even though they did not go into details about how their product is the longest lasting but they used their company’s credibility to appeal to the audience. In addition, emphasis was used on “loooooooooooooooongest.” By using an immense amount of “o’s” causes the audience to pay attention to it and to keep that in mind. In a way, pathos was used in the commercial. “You can spend less time treating and more time doing this *man dancing and dabbing*” This phrase appeals to humans preferring convenience over complication by showing how it would be more convenient for people to use their product and how they can spend that time on whatever they want. By adding the man dancing part causes the audience to feel like it was relatable and how they should purchase the product.
This video is a commercial on Milk by Dairy Farmers of Ontario. The commercial uses pathos and logos to explain why milk is so great and all the benefits that it can give. It talks about how milk can inspire someone to be like a “morning person” and how milk can keep up with a person at any age. It shows a woman smiling when drinking it, a woman pushing through a rough time doing her job, and a child growing taller with upbeat music in the background. The video also shows a child drinking milk and smiling, saying that if milk can make that happen, it is “pretty special.” Also, it talks about how it makes the organs in the body function and “creme brulee cremmy.” It evokes the feeling of joy and perseverance to the people watching the ad. The people also think about the good that milk brings to children’s health. A rhetorical device that the commercial uses is anaphora, which is the repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning. It repeats the words “it can” often to show what milk can do for someone and what people can inspire to be. It gives the person watching the commercial hope and inspiration that milk can change and is good for the body.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ApqxheQIGD0&ab_channel=Lenard%27sChicken
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UN5o1PtpXAM
This is a commercial about a bar of chocolate by Butterfingers. A rhetorical device that this commercial use is homoioteleuton, which is using the last sound of words in repetition. The commercial says, “Crispity, crunchity, and butterity.” and this phrase uses the “ity” sound in each adjective to express the feeling of eating a Butterfinger. The commercial uses mostly pathos. At the beginning of the commercial is a skit. The employee savors the Butterfinger is a hint that it is delicious. When he receives a fake phone call, he puts down his Butterfinger and another employee tries to steal it away adding to the emphasis on that a Butterfinger is really good. Then the employee on the phone catches him and pins him to a wall with a stapler to show the obsession of Butterfingers and that it is worth fighting over. Overall, this skit was meant for a humorous effect. It later shows a graphic a split Butterfinger and describing them with the mentioned adjectives to give a feeling of savory.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IO9d2PpP7tQ
Everytime I see this commercial it makes me want to cry, which means that this commercial is appealing to the emotion of the viewers (pathos). They show abused and neglected animals to urge people to call and donate their money. When people see these animals they’re going to feel bad for them and most likely give away their money. The animals are shown locked in cages, with cuts, they look miserable and starved and with this people will feel bad for them because they don’t deserve that kind of treatment. By using pathos this commercial is persuading the viewers to call and donate. They are also using ethos because they’re using a famous person to be the face of the commercial and they have her telling people to call and donate. People will also be persuaded to do so because if they know who she is they will see her as a credible source and trust what she’s saying and call to donate. Through the use of the ASPCA’s ethos pathos they’re urging people to help the neglected and abused animals get help which is the sole purpose of the commercial.
This video is a commercial by Nike. In the commercial, a woman is exercising in Nike’s sportswear. The commercial uses anaphora, which is the repetition of a word or expression at the beginning of successive phrases. The narrator in the background said “nobody is going to get you out of bed in the morning. Nobody is going to be there to cheer for you. Nobody is going to push you to keep going when you hit the wall. Nobody is going to make you be who you want to be.” As the woman is exercising, the narrative is saying “Nobody is…” in an encouraging tone to make the commercial more appealing to the audiences. It delivers a message that Nike’s sportswear can bring out the best of you. This commercial also uses pathos because Nike wants the audiences to feel what they want them to feel. The narrator said “Nobody is gonna just do it for you. You have to do it yourself.” This is very appealing because the music in the background is very motivating and along with the narrator, it makes it very persuasive. It sounds like a life lesson. At the end of the commercial, it shows the Nike logo and its slogan, “Just Do It.” It just makes me want to buy some Nike right now.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jW4_y0efc-4&list=TLPQMDUxMDIwMjATe0x0DAS5Og&index=1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2XZYB2vrwgc
This is a commercial about Ham by company PRIMO. In the commerical, there are only two people, the father and the son, and the father is making his son a sandwitch with cheese and ham. The son later stated, his mother’s way to do the sandwitch is ham and cheese, which here the commercial used chiasmus by creating an inverted relationship with different parallels. The commercial pointed out the most important part in the sandwtich is the ham by placing it at first. Later when the father recorecct the order both of them start to enjoy the sandwitch with joy. The setting is at home probably morning or noon which could relate to most of the families and by showing the expression of joyful while eating the sandwitch made by PRIMO’s ham could make the audience curious about how it acutally tastes. Since the commercial is trying to relate to the family market and by showing expressions on how enjoyful the ham could be, the commerical is using patho and it also reflect how PRIMO knows their audience on what they want. Though the commerical most laid on how joyful is to taste the sandwitch made by their ham, they still attracted people by how easy it could to make launch or breakest with simply adding a few hams into the bread, not only save times but also meet the flavour needs. That is definetly attractive to most people who are busy at work or school and do not have effcient time to make foods.