Friday, September 17, 2010

Engl 312-Rhetorical Analysis for TV Commercial

Old Spice Commercial-Click me!!!

1. The argument of this TV commercial is that the overall quality of life for men will improve if they use Old Spice deodorant.

2. The audience includes women that are in a relationship with a man and is concerned about the way their significant other smells.

3. The goal of this advertisement is to get women to buy Old Spice deodorant for their significant other.

4. The commercial tries to accomplish its goal of getting women to buy Old Spice deodorant for men in several elements of rhetoric.

Ethos- The commercial uses the element of ethos to appeal to authority. The commercial does this by using a physically attractive male who immediately demands your attention at the beginning of the commercial by commanding “look at me, now look at your man, now back at me”. This immediately builds up a sense of respect and authority from the speaker, and helps build up the credibility of the commercial.

Pathos- The commercial uses the element of pathos to appeal to certain emotions, specifically sexual appeal and humor. The speaker is an attractive male who does not wear a shirt for the entire commercial, conveniently displaying his athletic physique. The commercial is subconsciously projecting the emotion of sexual appeal, and persuading women to buy Old Spice deodorant because then their man will be just as attractive. The commercial also has several random comments such as tickets turning into diamonds, and the speaker suddenly appearing on a horse to appeal to the emotion of humor in the commercial. By inserting humor, the commercial is more memorable and people associate this good emotion with Old Spice deodorant.

Sufficient- Despite the effective use of the element of pathos, the commercial in reality lacks sufficient evidence to support its argument that Old Spice deodorant will improve the overall quality of life for men. There are no statistics, no studies, no personal witnesses, or any other solid evidence to support the claim.

Accurate- The commercial also is not completely accurate because it is not completely fair because it makes the mistake of the “straw-man fallacy”. It sets up an extremely weak counterargument of saying that men need to “stop wearing lady-scented body wash”. Any men’s deodorant would be appealing compared to women’s body wash, however, most men probably do not use ladies body wash, therefore making this an inaccurate counterargument.

5. Despite its inaccuracy and lack of sufficient evidence, the commercial is effective for an audience of women in a significant relationship. It appeals to the emotion of humor, making it funny and memorable and something women will most likely remember to mention to their significant other, and most likely buy.

Word Count: 445

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