Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q8SOT9fCTfM

After reading Miller’s “What is Rhetoric?”, I now have a deeper understanding of rhetoric. The Superbowl that took place last Sunday was a great opportunity for me to find advertisements that can appeal to what I understood from the article. One of the many advertisements that have caught my attention is Jason Momoa’s Rocket Mortage commercial. This commercial generated a lot of attention online shortly after it aired during the Superbowl. Some even claim that it is the best and funniest commercial of the night. This commercial has a heavy presence of pathos. From what I understood from the article, the rhetoric appeals of values consider the audience. Also known as pathos, it appeals to emotion. This commercial does a great job appealing to the audience’s emotions. Jason Mamoa, who’s known as Aquaman, a very hunk and masculine figure adored by many, suddenly took things to a turn.  As he enters his house talking about how much his home means to him, he slowly takes off his clothes,  fake body parts, and wig to reveal the opposite of him. This resulted in a very comical advertisement, hence appealing to our emotions. This clearly worked in terms of getting people’s attention and the success of the advertisement.

As a commercial, aside from grabbing the audience’s attention with emotion, whatever they’re advertising must be practical and be reasonable enough for people to consider using their services. The narrator of this commercial appeals to reasons and credibility but not as much given that most of the 60-second commercial was Jason Momoa talking. They claim that this mortgage service provides a personalized and convenient experience for you. This commercial doesn’t offer more detail other than that. This is very likely because the advertisers are not trying to lecture the audience in an expensive time-limited Superbowl commercial. So their strategy of putting more emphasis on the pathos (appeal of emotion) towards the audience is a much wiser one. Because this makes it a more memorable commercial of the night. While the audience might have not learned a lot about Rocket Mortgage, they remember this commercial and the company’s name associated with it. The next time a viewer is considering getting help to finance their home, there’s a good chance that they will have the name of this company in the back of their heads. They can do their own research from there. It is safe to say that Jason Mamoa’s Superbowl commercial with Rocket Mortgage has utilized rhetoric.