According to Robert Scholes, author of On Reading a Video Text, commercials aired on television hold a dynamic power over human beings on a subconscious level. He believes that through the use of specific tools, commercials can hold the minds of an audience captive, and can control their abilities to think rationally. Visual fascination, one of the tools Scholes believes captures the minds of viewers, can take a simple video, and through the use of editing and special effects, turn it into a powerful scene which one simply cannot take his or her eyes from. Narrativity is yet another way Scholes feels commercials can take control of the thoughts of a person sitting in front of the television. Through the use of specific words, sounds, …show more content…
Cultural reinforcement, the main tool involved in captivating an audience with a video text, is what Scholes believes to be the largest factor included in this Budweiser commercial. Without the cultural background of living where we do, comprehending the plot pummeled upon us in this commercial would be impossible. Without knowledge of baseball and its rules, we wouldn't know that the umpire had made a close, yet correct call, we wouldn't know that a screaming old white man running out onto the field was commonplace; we wouldn't even know why the man who swung the stick at the ball was running towards a white bag on the edge of a dirt path lined by grass. All commercials rely on some amount of previous knowledge, this commercial is no different. Late in the commercial in question, while the manager is toasting the umpire, and the Budweiser music is playing in the background, the viewer realizes subconsciously that the umpire has "made it," that he will live happily ever after, however untrue this may be. Our culture has influenced us so much that we almost require happy endings, within a 28 second commercial we can see the entire life of a black man unfold before our eyes, and by the time the commercial is over, we know he will have a happy life. The commercial doesn't actually sell beer, it simply sells the
Budweiser’s commercial would fall under the category of pathos as it strikes an emotional appeal by showing the struggles Adolphus Busch faced as an immigrant. Throughout the commercial, he sets out on a journey to America to pursue his dream of brewing the King of Beers. Later on in the video, he reaches his destination to America, but immediately experiences bigotry. One person is yelling, “You’re not wanted here!” while another person shoves him and yells, “Go back home!” (Editor 00:00:17-00:00:19). He faces many obstacles throughout his journey in America, but things start to look up as he reaches St. Louis, Missouri where he proposes his idea to Eberhart Anheuser, the second founder of Budweiser. This commercial uses pathos by portraying the bigotry and hate Adolphus receives after shortly arriving in America and later showing that regardless of the people who rejected him because he was an alien, there were others who welcomed him with open
When it comes to the topic of commercials, most of us readily agree that commercials are irritating. Where this agreement usually ends, however, is on the purpose of the commercial. Whereas some are convinced that commercials are meaningless, others maintain that commercials tell a story. Effective commercials are repetitive and illustrate a story. Marketers use rhetoric marketing, the art of persuasive speaking and writing, when persuading an audience to buy a product. Rhetoric marketing is especially effective through the illustration of a story. It is effective because the marketer is able to relate to the consumer with a story or message. Advertisers also use the appeals of logic, credibility, and emotions to intrigue interest in a company. Coca-Cola’s advertisement, “Falling,” depicts the product as a confidence building companion suitable for young love through a series of logical and emotional appeals that visibly promotes the brand’s credibility.
Approaching advertising in a different light would be emotionally. In America, advertising can be described as hard selling. Hard selling is a campaign or advertisement that is direct, forceful and straight to the point. For example while watching an American seatbelt warning on Youtube, the commercial is simply based on the motto, “Click it or Ticket”, showing average people driving their cars and getting pulled over by officers and receiving a ticket and fine. The commercial is to the point and straight forward, showing almost no emotion. The approach that American marketing companies have used is effective by saying ‘If you don’t’ wear your seatbelt, then you will be forced by law to pay a fine’.
The commercial doesn’t actually have a narrator, but instead the storyline is shown through the use of the golden retriever puppy. The use of a dog as the spokesperson for Budweiser evokes the idea of looking at the pup as “man’s best friend”. The dog’s objective throughout the ad is to find his way back home. This plot causes the viewers to get a sense of trust and loyalty from the “face” of the ad, the dog. Through “man’s best friend” Budweiser was able to make the viewers believe what they were watching. Also, the history of Budweiser’s beer from 1876 helps build trust in the audience.
With the emerging technological innovation, several companies have adopted different marketing techniques to make themselves popular and gain ground in the competitive market space. The use of television commercials has been one of the most utilized technique to disseminate information about products and services that are branded by particular company or organization (Gass and Seiter 23). When one watches television, he or she is always bombarded by several commercials with many marketing messages which are repeated over and over during television commercial breaks. Most of these television commercials utilize several similar persuasive or rhetoric techniques aimed at luring one either to buy, vote, or to otherwise influence him
Because the advertisement was aired five months after the September 11 incident, there were intense emotions among the American citizens. Budweiser was aware of this and created a commercial with strong emotional appeals. With pathos loaded, the advertisement seems to appeal to the viewer’s emotional senses. In the beginning, a character in the form of a man is fascinated by the horses. The image of the horses is reflected in the glasses of the windows. Business takes place in this area, but he takes a break from all the activities to watch the passing horses because of the awe factor that the Clydesdales stimulates. Thus, as an audience, I will resonate with the man by showing the same reaction. The behaviors of the man are expected to the audience how they should react as well. They are expected to stop every activity they were performing and understand the powerful message conveyed by the majestic creatures.
In Jib Fowles article, “Advertising’s Fifteen Basic Appeals”, he shows us fifteen ways commercials try to appeal to people around our country. The need for sex, need for affiliation, the need to nurture, need to aggress, need to achieve, need to dominate, need for prominence, need for attention, need for autonomy, need to escape, need for aesthetic sensations, need to satisfy curiosity, and physiological needs. These needs are all how companies appeal to our needs to interest us into buying their product. These appeals can be seen in almost every
Commercials, such as the 2012 Chevy Silverado Super Bowl commercial, have become part of people’s everyday life, constantly shocking, exciting, and engaging people with the meaning behind them. People see commercials every time they turn on the TV and file the information away for later situations, such as information about a cell phone data plan or a new vehicle just announced available. Each commercial watched promotes some sort of cause, object, or idea that companies want to sell to the common person. Commercials use symbolism, imagination, ethics, logic, and emotion to sell these things using their promoting techniques, one strong example of these things in action being the 2012 Chevy Silverado Super Bowl commercial.
Society uses manipulation to divert people’s attention every day and oftentimes people do not realize that they are being manipulated. An advertisement through television is one of the many ways that people are manipulated. TV uses advertisements daily by incorporating subliminal messages to get people to do things that they would not otherwise be thinking about doing. The following articles “Can TV improve us?” by Jane Rosenzweig, On Sale at Old Navy: Cool Clothes for Identical Zombies!” by Damien Cave and TV’s War of Words” by Deborah Tannen exemplify instances where manipulation is being showcased at its best.
“There are over 250 billion advertisements released to the public every year with the average person seeing over 3000 ads every single day” (Kilbourne). This is an astronomical amount of information for anyone to process in a week let alone in one day. This is a prime example of Capitalism at it’s finest. Controlling the consumer in every aspect of their lives. Jean Kilbourne also talks about how “Only 8 percent of an advertisement is actually processed by the conscious mind, with the other 92 percent being soaked up by the subconscious” (Kilbourne). Thinking about those numbers really brings into perspective how much we are truly influenced by media
In Robert Scholes essay, “On Reading a Video Text” Scholes asserts that modern visual media or “video texts” provide a powerful vehicle for “cultural literacy.” By making use of “visual fascination” in mass media and in particular, commercials, these “video texts” use this part to bring viewers out of boredom and pique their interest. Following this, “narrativity” comes into play not only giving viewers the story but providing them with the ignition for their on context using their own cultural knowledge and experience on the commercial. The final step in the process is the ideological confirmation that is “cultural reinforcement,” the securing of one’s place in a body or group. With “video texts” more widely seen than traditional forms of
In today's modern world mass media plays a dominate role. Television, itself, is one of the most influential forms of mass media. Television commercials deliver strong messages that alter and manipulate our mentalities and lifestyles. Commercials subliminally influence racial socialization, gender socialization and anticipatory socialization.
you buy them this toy. Every one of our emotions is played on so that
When analysing all of the advertising around us, sometimes we don’t look at what the true message of a commercial really is. We live in a world that is controlled by mass media and because of this advertisers are trying harder each year to outdo themselves and their competitors. Rhetors use techniques in their advertisements such as fantasies or surrealism to catch the attention of their audience. Companies like Audi pour millions of dollars into their marketing teams to make sure their cars look the best and attract consumers. Commercials that are shown on television today are great examples of rhetorical artifacts because of the many techniques being exercised by the rhetor. Analyzing this through the lens of rhetorical
Certain television advertisements present framing bias to gain more customers to purchase their products. Advertisers invest a large portion of the time presenting the audience how beneficial their product is and at the end, with in five seconds, they announce all the side effects. Viewer might be “wowed” by the product itself and pays less attention to the flaws, helping the advertisers achieve their goal.