Ohhh you almost had it, you gotta be quicker than that! Sound Familiar? I’m sure many of you have seen the State Farm commercial that this quote refers to. If not you can view it here:
Now this commercial and many other commercials may seem like just funny ads that we are forced to watch until our favorite show comes back on; but do these ads actually exemplify some of our rhetorical devices? Let’s take a look. For this ad, I would definitely say that ethos is a huge part. When “Anthony” appears, he looks professional, well-kept, and knowledgable about insurance. On the other hand, when the fisherman shows up with his “dollar,” he looks like a sweet old man, but not someone you would trust to buy insurance from. This establishes ethos, or credibility, for Anthony (State Farm), while providing, for lack of a better term, reverse ethos for the competition (ruining their credibility). There isn’t really a show of pathos to much in this piece, unless you are a girl who has felt the passion of wanting a purse that is too expensive. There is logos present in the form of the idea that any normal person would want a greater discount on something you would like to purchase. Because of the discount with State Farm, it makes the reader think about them for a potential insurance company. The downside of this ad is that it is rather transparent. All those savvy consumers out there are constantly on the look out for business trying to trick them into buying something. It’s pretty obvious what each of the aspects in this video are trying to get you to do, so it’s easy to disregard the commercial as something rather exaggerated and obvious.
Now for an ad that is a little less known. Even if you’ve never played tennis before in your life, you’ve probably heard of John McEnroe, who was famous for his tennis tantrums. I’ve included a video of them, just for your viewing pleasure, because I find them highly amusing.
*Tying this back into effective use of rhetoric, these outbursts are great examples of how to not use rhetoric.*
Well anyways, this next ad is for Chase Moblie Banking. It uses tennis players Andy Roddick and good old Johnny Mac. Some of you may not have seen this commercial, so you can view it here:
For this commercial there is, believe it or not, a lot more pathos involved. However this is also one of the downfalls of this advertisement. See for someone like me, who is a tennis player and who understands the sheer frustration of the sport of tennis, this commercial really connects with me. Also, seeing someone like Johnny, from the olden wooden racket days of tennis, brings about a sort of humor along with a bit of nostalgia from the past. This captures the attention of the audience. Unfortunately, the audience isn’t all made up of tennis players, and for those that aren’t, this commercial holds a lot less meaning. Furthermore, ethos is also established by using tennis pros. This shows that if the big-time tennis players use this mobile banking app, so should I. Again, this really only holds true for people that idolize, or at least respect, the tennis pros. Which again, is usually only tennis players or people that know the sport. So while this is a great commercial for someone that plays the sport of tennis, for just an average american looking for mobile banking, it really doesn’t get the job done.
Just comparing you’re blog about commercial to others I’ve seen on regular print adds it is obvious with commercials you have a lot more material to work with which makes the rhetorical analysis more lengthy and interesting. When you are watching commercial on TV you never think of WHY they make you feel a certain way or walk away with a certain attitude, they just do. So to look at the common State Farm commercial some people see everyday and examine how that company wants you to think about their business is very interesting.
The ads you chose to talk about clearly show that they use logos, ethos, and pathos in order to get their message across. I liked how you addressed all three of these topics when analyzing each ad instead of just focusing on just one topic. I never realized when watching that State Farm commercial the use ethos and logos, but now I will the next time I see it on tv.