Let’s start from the beginning. This add was released by Bloomingdale, a high-end, luxury department store chain, coming upon the holiday season in November of 2015. Honestly, I’m not quite sure where to go from there, for this add makes no sense in how it is supposed to be selling the reader to buy clothes from this department store.

Right off the bat, there’s the pitch that I suppose the company found amusing and thought would create a little fun with all the holiday cheer. “SPIKE YOUR BEST FRIEND’S EGGNOG WHEN THEY’RE NOT LOOKING.” How about we don’t do that. First, this is down-right inappropriate. By publishing those, Bloomingdale is discrediting their ethos, their credibility. Especially in today’s society, spiking someone’s drink is a huge NO. For women, this is a scary situation. And for men, this is embarrassing to portrayed as a predator.

What is it that we see? Here, I believe the board members thought, “Oh, it looks like they are having fun. All dressed up! Holiday Party?!” As if the goal was to appeal to the reader’s emotion. They do this by correlating shopping at Bloomingdale; you’re destined to have a great time in our clothes. Though, you see, this isn’t the case at all. Here you see this girl who is laughing and having fun (possibly after her drink has been spiked) and this creepy guy staring at her as if he was the one who spiked her eggnog — looking at her as if he desires her. What does this imply? Bloomingdale completely missed what the audience thinks, for, in this case, it seems this guy has seduced this girl (INAPPROPRIATE), indicating this to be date rape possibly.

Through both the statement and the imagery, the persuasive appeal is off the mark. They tried to create an ad that showed how shopping at Bloomingdale for your clothes result in a quirky and fun experience. Instead, they created an ad that shows how shopping at Bloomingdale will result in a creepy, uncomfortable situation.