Question

Describe an advertisement to others in the discussion group. The ad can be in print, video, or audio and can come from a print, online, radio, or television source. Describe how the ad attempts to or succeeds in persuading the audience through its rhetorical devices and use of color, sound, and images. Who is the audience? What is the ad's purpose? Why was it made? Discuss ads that others in the discussion group describe.

Answer 1

The advertisement I'm going to discuss is one of the latest Nike's video ads. This ad is narrated by Colin Kaepernick, NFL player who in 2016 protested against racial inequality by kneeling during the national anthem before a game.

The ad starts by showing a skater falling over and over again while trying to skate on a rail. Meanwhile Kaepernick talks about not letting people convince you out of your dreams because they think your dreams are crazy.

The video shows a muslin woman boxing, a woman in a wheelchair playing basketball, and many more people. The voiceover invites you to be the best ever, to dream the biggest dream.

The video is highly persuading, it uses real life examples of people who have excelled in sports through the biggest adversities and links them subtly to Nike, just by adding their slogan at the end. The video ends with the phrase "It's only crazy until you do it. Just do it".

The images are highly moving, a NFL player without hand making a touch down(sp?), a kid with no legs fighting in a competition. Kaepernick speaking to the camera while saying, "believe in something even if it means sacrificing everything" referring to the career he lost for protesting injustice.

The music is inspiring, slow with piano and violin. The ad uses the idea of an underdog reaching the highest levels of excellence in sports, and it features many people of color going along the lines of Kaepernick's experience. Its idea is that despite unfairness of circumstances you can still succeed. It uses a repetition of the phrase "don't be this be that (the best)", which is an anaphora and creates parallelism and rhythm. And also is a hyperbole since it exaggerates the examples.

The audience is people who do sports, and specially those who identify as underdogs, those who don't have that many opportunities for whatever reason. It was made to become viral because it is controversial, specially with the current political climate in the US. Many people were offended that they used Kaepernick in the video, people misunderstood his protest with anti-nationalism. The video indeed went viral

Answer 2

I will describe the Gillette commercial called "The Best Men can Be" (Jan 13, 2019).

• This ad attempts to persuade the audience by placing images of men behaving in negative ways that are associated with masculinity, followed by images in which men behave in kinder and fairer ways. The music that is used is inspiring, and the images are very slow in order to allow the viewer to fully appreciate the scene.
• The audience of the ad is both men and women, but the ad is particularly directed towards men, who are the people who buy Gillette products the most.
• The ad is meant to persuade men to check their behaviour, and to let go of "masculine" habits that might be damaging. It also attempts to invite everyone to reflect on these behaviours.
• The ad was made as a response to the growth of the feminist movement and the desire to reflect on gender stereotypes. The ad was also made to show that Gillette agrees with much of what the movement states.