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Mrs. Graveley
Advertisement/Media Message Analysis
EGL 101
Rough Draft Essay
04-05-09
Credit Card Companies
Credit card companies like MasterCard and Visa are using humor to persuade
their customers to use their cards. These themes suggest that when customers use their
credit cards, everything is fun and game. Credit card companies want customers to think
that everything can be purchased with credit cards, while everything is done in a speedy
manner and fun at the same time. Each credit card companies have different logos and
different themes but their aim is the same, which is to persuade consumers to use their
cards. MasterCard uses the combination of passion and a sense of humor to attract a
broader audience of people and Visa uses fun and comedy to attract an audience of teens
and younger people.
While MasterCard presents its card through commercials they are using their
famous logo “priceless”. One commercial I watched was when a man catches a cold
while he is cleaning and washing up his elephant in the countryside. When the elephant
sees the man has a cold, the elephant takes a MasterCard from under his feet and goes
towards the city. In the city he buys soup for four dollars. He buys cold medicine for
eleven dollars, tissues for one dollar, and a blanket for twenty-four dollars. At the end of
the commercial the elephant arrives to the countryside and gives it to the man. The end
commentary in the commercial goes like this that “making it all better is priceless”. The
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commercial and MasterCard is trying to convey that happiness can be achieved at the
moment by using the credit card and all you have to do is pay later. One other thought
that the commercial is trying to convey is that everything that can be purchased can be
bought with MasterCard, meaning everything. While everything that cannot be purchased
is completely free meaning the attraction and the friendship between the man and the
elephant. This friendship cannot be purchased but only earned and chosen by the elephant
and the man. This shows that MasterCard is using passion as a theme to attract
consumers.
Elsewhere, when Visa presents their card through commercial their main purpose it’s to
attract audiences. Unlike MasterCard Visa wants to attract audiences from teens and
younger people. However, the difference from MasterCard is that Visa wants their
consumers to think that everything is fun and enjoyable while consumers are using this
card. The company also wants to show customers that everything is done in a quick
manner while consumers are using this card. The commercial shows that while
consumers are spending they are happy and are willing to spend more.
In the commercial it describes that people are living with a happy lifestyle while
they are using their card. The venue of the commercial is the restaurant. In the beginning
of the commercial, the commercial shows the deli department of the restaurant. In this
department the chefs are having fun while they are tossing the food in the air. Everyone
in the restaurant is doing their job fast, while the lines for waiting is running quickly
because people are swiping their Visa cards fast and quick. The now serving lines in the
restaurants are moving fast and quick. The cashier is happy to take Visa cards instead of
cash. Later in the commercial when one guy is taking out his wallet for money, the guy
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behind him bumps into him and they both fall. Everyone in the restaurant looks at the guy
who takes out his wallet for money. When the guy takes out his dollar bills, people look
at him in a very angry manner and humiliation. The man is an ordinary guy and he knows
that he has been humiliated. This means while using the Visa card everything is going
perfect and going in an orderly pattern. And as soon as one person takes out cash instead
of the Visa card, the orderly pattern is destroyed and other customers look at him
strangely.
Both credit card companies are trying to achieve one purpose which is to attract
audiences and consumers. However, Visa targets mostly consumers from the teenage
groups and younger people, as they show in their commercials that while you have a card
and you spend your card, your life becomes fun and full of happiness and you spend your
life in pattern. MasterCard’s main purpose is to mostly attract people from all ages.
MasterCard wants to position itself as a friendly credit card company with a sense of
humor, as well as to tell the public that everything is gradually changing. Gradually
changing meaning that the times are changing in which people want to spend on what
they desire and there is no better way to do this then using MasterCard for all their
purchases. Instead of using cash and checks for their everyday purchases, they can just
use their credit cards. Anything which cannot be purchased meaning friendship, passion,
and love, people do not have to use their cards because they are “priceless”.