COMMUNICATION CHANNEL: Television
INTENDED AUDIENCE: This advertisement aired during the Super Bowl so it was seen by people of all ages. However, the target audience is adults twenty-one or older.
Well, isn't this commercial the life of the party?
Okay, that was a lame cliche, but it is exactly what this commercial is about: being the life of the party, even in the worst of circumstances.
Let's analyze the persuasiveness of this commerciail. First of all, the slogan: Here we go. This phrase is sometimes used sarcastically to indicate that "the same old thing" is happening again. But this phrase is also used when something really exciting is going to happen. For example, when someone is at the very edge of a dip while he/she is riding a roller coaster, he/she might say, "Here we go!" The slogan is repeated twice in this commercial, once by an excited captain and once by "the voice." Slogans are "catchphrases that express a brand name, its benefits, and its 'personality'" (Larson, 2010, p. 380). Obviously, Bud Light's "personality" is that of fun, parties, and good times.
This advertisement also uses one tactic of Hugh Rank's intensify/downplay model. According to this model, persuaders use strategies to either intensify certain aspects of their product or strategies to downplay aspects of their product. The four strategies of action are (1) intensify good points, (2), intensify opposition's weak points, (3) downplay weak points, and (4) downplay opposition's weak points. There are six tactics used with the strategies: repetition, association, and composition (for intensification) and omission, diversion, and confusion (for downplaying).
Here, the tactic of association is used. Association "links a cause, brand, candidate, and son to something already liked or disliked by the audience" (Larson, 2010, p. 32). Even those who have only seen promos for the popular television show Lost can connect the commercial's visuals with the show's visuals. There is even an Evangeline Lilly look alike. Thos who are living under a rock and don't know anything about Lost are familiar with other stories of being stranded on a deserted island after trusted means of transportation fail like Robinson Crusoe or Gilligan's Island. Associating this commercial with exciting stories of survival ensures that audiences are going to pay attention to the story because they immediately want to know what happens next. Since most survival stories have a happy ending, audiences want to know how the happy ending will come about.
Finally, this commercial uses the AIDA model. This model is is related to the organization by motivated sequence method of organizing persuasive messages. AIDA stands for attention, interest, desire, and action. These appear in the advertisement this way:
Attention: The first few seconds in which the survivors seem to be waiting for some news. This catches the consumer's attention because it presents the question: "Why are these people here?"
Interest: The Evangeline Lilly look alike says her lines and the consumer is know interested in the plight of these people. Attention can only be held for so long and can last for only a moment, but interest is harder to turn from.
Desire: The moment everyone starts partying, the consumer wants to party too. The benefit of the product is shown: good times.
Action: When "the voice" announces that Bud Light is "the sure sign of a good time." What consumer does not want to have a good time? "The voice" might as well have said, "If you want to have a good time, get some Bud Light."
No comments:
Post a Comment