AT&T Texting While Driving Campaign
One television campaign that I thought relied heavily on pathos was AT&T’s Texting While Driving Campaign. This television advertisement campaign aims to use real people’s stories about texting and driving to urge people not to risk their lives and text while operating a motor vehicle.
I believe this particular commercial effectively employs pathos by using the story of a girl who lost her sister because of texting and driving. This story is something that people can relate to because it makes people think of their own sister or brother or loved one. This makes the commercial more affective because it makes it relatable to people be appealing to a sense of family and love for ones family.
This commercial also appeals to sympathy for the girl who lost her sister in an accident involving texting. It makes the viewer feel bad for her especially when she shares personal anecdotes about how much she cared for and loved her sister. This appeal is effective because it furthers the appeal of love of ones family and it makes the viewer imagine how they would feel if they lost a family member.
Lastly, I believe the commercial slightly appeals to the emotion of fear. It makes the viewer realize that this could happen to them or a family member if they text and drive. This appeal is affective because it could make a viewer think twice about texting and driving. This appeal to fear mixed with the appeal to family could also convince a viewer to urge their loved ones not to text and drive.
Ultimately, I think this commercial campaign, and this commercial in particular is very effective at employing pathos. It appeals to the emotion of love for ones family, sympathy for the girl who lost her sister, and fear of accidents caused by texting and driving. I believe the combination of these three emotions really make this commercial effective.
Good choice! I totally agree. I hate watching those commercial because they are so sad. I actually am proud to say I do not text while I drive and that is not because of the commercials. I hate driving and so I still don’t feel that comfortable doing it at all. I just got my license, May 30th. Talk about late, huh? After I got my license, I was here for summer session so I did not really get to drive much so now I feel I must be a lousy driver because I don’t remember how. When I drive though, I make sure to put my phone in the backseat turned off because I don’t want it to distract me. The people I see texting the most while driving are people who have been driving for years. They are experienced drivers that feel comfortable enough behind the wheel to text. After seeing these commercials, it affirmed the reason why I don’t text and drive. I am still a sketchy driver. I drive way too slowly and to add texting to that…I am a ticking time bomb. I am not doing that. People who do are just inconsiderate and don’t care about the safety of others or they are saying…No, it will not happen to me.
For our last speech, I was actually really close to choosing something from AT&T’s driving campaign, specifically an ad that featured only the word “yeah”, and then underneath stating that a girl lost her life sending this one word meaningless text. I think that AT&T can be very effective because their ads and commercials really focus solely on pathos by sharing the stories of others who have been affected by the situation at hand. Viewers, including myself, obviously feel horrible for the families who have lost a loved one, and yes, if we’re not smart, texting while driving could impact our lives for the worse as well. The commericals definitely make you want to ignore your phone while driving, and overall, nice choice!