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.
17 thoughts on “Blog Post #6: Brief Rhetorical Analysis of a Commercial”
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This commercial’s title is “Will find a way” by Under Armour sporting brand company. Dwayne Johnson is the main character of this advertisement. He explains the popular athletes and explains how they became successful. This indicates the fact that this advertisement is ethos as celebrity endorsements. Audience who watches this advertisement admire Dwayne Johnson and he makes the people buy the product. I believe that this ads used Antithesis, because definition of antithesis is when you make connection between two things. Dwayne Johnson puts all the athletes to connections with achievement.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oEVC47c4tXU
The title of this commercial is “Lebron: Beginnings” by Nike, one of the famous sports brand in the world. This commercial used ethos and pathos to compel the audience to buy their product. As one of the greatest basketball players in the history of the NBA, Lebron James, who is the main character in this commercial, talks about humble beginnings and determination. This conveys his background story as having a humble beginning where he overcame poverty and tragedy through determination before his successful basketball career. Moreover, to make the audience feel emotional, the commercial added clips of inner-city, young, passionate kids who look up to Lebron just like he did to other great basketball players when he was young. Therefore, the audience is inspired by his humble story, determination, and success, which would make them buy the product.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JlItYKCtQ-8
The commercial that I had pick is the “Tootsie pop” commercial by the tootsie roll industry. The strategy that they used for the commercial is pathos, meaning that they try to appeal to their audience emotionally. Also, in a way the are able to use logos. The logic behind the tootsie pop is questioned by a phrase in the commercial, “How many licks does it takes to get to the center of a tootsie roll?” This was the a question that is simple but it was hard to answer because there was a phrase before said, “I never made it without biting, ask Mr. Owl.” Then the owl took the challenge to see how many licks it would take, but after the third lick, the owl took a bite into the Tootsie pop. This shows how much of a craving the tootsie pop was, which lead to the ending phrase, “The world may never know.” This phrase was told to the audience that the Tootsie pop was so delicious that biting into it was inevitable.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2IA5Cv_5-g8
The commercial I selected is “Maddie” by Chevy, the car company. The commercial is focused on a young woman and her dog, Maddie. In the first scene of the commercial, the young woman is sharing her last moments with Maddie. Later, the viewers are transported back to the past with a series of flashbacks which highlights her milestones such as learning how to drive. Throughout the commercial, the dog was present by her side. The commercial uses pathos to appeal to the viewer’s emotions. The commercial does this by using the rhetorical device, analepsis. As people watched the flashback, they feel a sense of nostalgia, because they are reminded of past events they have experienced.
LINK
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3t6bLugtJkQ
The advertising for the Japanese automaker Infiniti is dedicated to the new Q60 coupe featuring renowned English actor Keith Harington as Jon Snow in Game of Thrones. This advertising uses one of the persuasive methods, Ethos, because it uses a famous actor to convince the audience of the car’s reliability. Driving a sports car, he expressively recites the poem “Tiger” by the English poet William Blake, in which he expresses a sense of awe and wonder at the creation of an evil tiger associated it with a car. Quoting the poem, Keith uses the literary devices of alliteration – the repetition of consonants in one line, such as the sound / t / in “Tyger Tyger, Burning Bright” and the sound / ae / in “Dare his deadly clasp!”
The tiger makes decisions very quickly, he has a great reaction and a love of risk. Thus, the manufacturer compares the character of the tiger with the capabilities of a car.
Link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZqAgnyupr9w
The commercial I selected is from McDonald’s. It is about a wife who sits in the wrong seat and gives a bite of her food to a man who she at first thought is her husband. Later, she realizes she fed the wrong person and goes back to her husband behind the wrong man. At last, her husband tells the man, “This is actually how we met.” This commercial uses a lot of pathos. First, it shows how the wife can’t notice anything in her surroundings besides her McDonald’s breakfast. “The simple joy of getting lost in a great breakfast,” said the narrator. Therefore, these two elements together show the audiences that McDonald’s breakfast is very delicious that people usually only focus on it, and they are unable to put their attention on something else, even their family (in the commercial, it is her husband). They try to bring back any memory the audiences have about losing attention because of the foods in McDonald’s. After the wife returned back to her correct seat, “This is actually how we met,” was said to the man from her husband. It is also a place the commercial uses pathos. It shows that McDonald’s is the place to build relationships, to make friends, or to meet your loved one. Thus, they try to bring back any happy memory the audiences have in McDonald’s with their friends, family, or their loved one; how their relationships are built and grow in McDonald’s.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ccxe0r9Ba8w&list=WL&index=5
The commercial that I chose was the “Want It All” Nike commercial with Kevin Durant and LeBron James. The two biggest names in the NBA in one commercial can appeal to a lot of people because there are two sides. In each other careers the two stars have been portrayed as enemies so that brings both fan bases together. The pathos come in with the music choice and how every distinctive beat makes you want it even more. Using a little kid also appeals to the young kids striving to become the two NBA Players in the video. The logo Nike’s Swoosh is a whole phenomenon in it’s self. WIth the “Just Do It” already being a thing it shows the grit and determination of Nike and its meaning behind the company.
The commerical I pick is a very influential commerical made by Apple in 2016. The thesis of this commerical is accessibility. Apple uses people who have disabilities as an example to show how even people with disabilities can have their live more colorful and better using Apple products. Patho is applied to this commerical because it shows how delightful it is for a dumb man to catche up with his friends via iPhone, how happy it is for a blink man taking picture for his son using iPhone, and how deaf man is able to go to hiking and does what he loves with Apple devices. Apple uses logos and ethos in this commerical to demonstrate how accessible Apple products are. Apple products are so accessible because people with disabilities can easily use them in their daily life. Being a disable person is not a good thing. However, in this commercial, those people with disabilities are full of smile in their face when they use Apple products. They can contiune doign what they love with their friends, family. The sentence said by voiceover ” you can… , you can… , you can… , you can…” is also a rhetorical devices, which in this case, emphasize even though as a disability person, you can still do anything with Apple products.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XB4cjbYywqg
I chose the commercial of Bubly Sparkling Water with Michael Bublé. In this commercial rhetoric is used greatly to make the product stand out and to make the commercial memorable. Logos is shown by the customers and the worker of the store, they are showing the logical pronunciation of the word “bubly” which has the same as pronunciation as the word “bubbly”. Ethos is shown by singer Michael Bublé buying the Bubly Sparkling Water since he is a famous singer people would want to try his favorite drink. And pathos is presented when the little girl comes up to Michael and asks fo ran autograph and at the end of the commercial where Michael is trying to fix the name of the drink. And the commercial employs a rhetorical device: epistrophe. Almost all of the sentences said in the commercial ends with the word “bubly” just pronounced differently by Michael Bublé.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-_Uh-vZXgo
In this Nintendo commercial, there is a family of two parents and their son. The son receives a Nintendo Switch from his parents and the father receives the Nintendo Switch Lite from his wife. From this, the commercial appeals to pathos because Nintendo conveys that the Nintendo Switch can be played by anyone, from a child to a parent. Later on, they play Mario Kart 8 Deluxe and Luigi’s Mansion, which are both reputable games that people have known about for years, which appeals to ethos. As the family plays these games, they look like they are having fun, so again, it appeals to pathos since a family can have time to enjoy playing games together. As for logos, you can see that the Nintendo Switch can be played by two people, by taking out the controllers from the device and use them individually. In addition, the commercial uses the general rhetorical device of repetition, where the father says, “Here you go, kiddo,” to his son, and the mother repeats the same phrase to her husband. This emphasizes the emotional appeal to Nintendo’s audience, that both a child and an adult can enjoy playing the Nintendo Switch.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLvBD3PDB8w
This commercial is 2 minuets long. The Company of this commercial really wanted to show the importance of family members. The narrator of this commercial used pathos through a tone that will put the audience in aw, a tone that will make the audience grief. Another way this author showed pathos was through pictures and the way they slowed-moed the picture was very eye catching and hear warming. Also with all the colorfulness in the video caught my attention as well. After watching this commercial I felt what the daughter felt as if my dad works vary hard and tell us he’s happy even tho he isnt. It made me put my self in her shoes and really have an understanding of how she felt. Even tho this commercial did not have a complete set with pathos and logos it can still grab you’re attention as an audience.
Watch up until 2:40
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=erNhlR5pQgg
The commercial I chose is from Dr. ForHair Shampoo. The commercial was advertising a shampoo. This commercial relates to all ethos. pathos, and logos. This relates to ethos since Dr. ForHair Shampoo casted celebrities to be in this commercial. Pathos because after the celebrity’s hair was washed with the shampoo, the celebrate made it seem like their hair was so soft. They were so impressed with how their hair came out to be after washing, to the point that he asked the workers of the salon to wash his hair multiple times. Lastly, logos because in the end, the character that the celebrity was playing did not have enough money to pay his bill. As a result, the celebrity needed to work there until his bill had been paid from his wages. A rhetorical device that was included in the commercial was a simile. The celebrity said, “My scalp is like a baby’s hip.” He compared his scalp to a bab’s hip. Meaning that his scalp was as soft as a baby’s butt.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yRWsBm2R7Jw&ab_channel=MeeinKorea
In this commercial “Salty”, an advertisement for Knorr Sidekicks, they appeals to pathos by first introducing “Mr. Salt” was a cute role in this video. His experience as being abandoned made us feel empathy for him. Then the music is also a perfect tool to further appeals to this sad feeling. People can easily relate Sidekicks’ product to the lyrics: “Tell me how am I supposed to live without you.” When we think about something cute, we often relate them to something positive. This ads takes avantage of this thought and persuade people that cute Mr. Salt should not be heartbroken. Therefore, this commercial is a good ad by appealing to pathos.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AYTkn1w8HUI&list=PLF3uyLX9mS5LNs_cl0p73V1HiN4UABxpF&index=5
I chose the Hyundai commercial with BTS. In this commercial, we can see all three models of persuasion: ethos, pathos, and logos. Ethos is shown by the presents of celebrities. BTS, as a popular boyband, gives credibility. The audience thinks that this car should be good if they approve it. We can see pathos with the music in this video. The “Positive Energy” track was created for #PositiveEnergyChallenge and this commercial in particular. The lyrics are a repetition of the phrase (anadiplosis), “Positive energy because of you”. They also put videos of people who did a challenge to this song in the advertisement. It creates the feeling of the importance to the person who listens to it, “I am the one who creates positive energy”. The logos part is represented by the phrase “inspired by the sound of the water drops”. At the beginning of the video, we can hear the water drops and visual representation of it. In the end, we can see the car parked on the water. The visual shows water drop with its sound again and it comebacks to BTS who are standing around the car. This whole concept starts from the water and ends with it that gives the logical way to tell the story by introducing “hook” and “conclusion”.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DAmmeAMWAh0
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=k2pgHqmlVLI
This is a commercial about Dominos’s car side delivery. The commercial is published in 2020. I think the commercial use pathos. Because of COVID-19, people are afraid of getting sick. We are all worrying that we might get infected during the process of delivering. So Dominos make this commercial to express the idea of delivering the pizza safely and conveniently. In the commercial, there is an action of a delivery man frisbee the pizza to the car, which finally drop on the floor. And by contrasting this action to car side delivery, Dominos claims that all the customers can get their pizza with no contacting with anyone, making the containers feel safe. Besides, it also mentions the price of buying a pizza, which is very cheep. So people will decide to buy pizza from Dominos. The commercial is interesting, having emotional effects to customers. There is no ethos in this commercial, but the commercial is still very persuasive.