Name: ________________________________________
Period:
Critical Viewing – Critically evaluate the commercials and print ads we view in class.
Product/Service
Purpose/Message (of the ad)
Intended Audience
Appeal/My Reaction
Allstate
Volvo
Insurance—home; avoid mayhem; security
Buy Volvo for your kid; safety
Pathos—worry; insecurity
Pathos—worry, fear
Ally
Use our bank; we don’t charge “ridiculous” fees
Homeowners; age 25+
Parents w/ kids any age from birth
to 20
Low-balance banking customers?
Lyndon Johnson—1964 campaign
(Daisy Girl)
Michael J. Fox (Parkinson’s)
US Marines
Farmers Insurance
Vote for LBJ; be sure you go out and vote.
All voters (one of the few w/giant
audience)
People w/money to donate
Young men ages 14-25
Ages 20+
Pathos—FEAR!!! TERROR!!! DEATH!!!
Car owners (not businesses) age
20+
Females 16-35
Ethos—safety, reliability
Bridgestone
L’Oreal mascara
Donate to Parkinson’s disease research.
Enlist in the Marines
Insurance—home, auto, life, small business; reliable,
conservative care of your insurance $
Buy our tires; we make all kinds of tires for important jobs and
always make the best; safety
Sell mascara to “sell” attractiveness to men
Pathos—anger, indignation
Ethos—they live w/Parkinson’s; celebrity
Ethos—hero image; he’s living this
Ethos—safety, reliability, permanence
Truth public service announcement
(PSA)
McDonald’s 1980s
Don’t start smoking; because it kills so many people.
Teenagers to young 20s
Logos (pseudo/fake logic and scientific “evidence”)—
“up to 12x more…”
Logos—1,200 deaths DAILY from smoking
Eat at McDonald’s.
Families, especially young kids
Bandwagon—Join us; we have such fun together!
Samsung (Iceland ad)
Be extremely unique and odd with a Samsung Galaxy S4 phone
Age 16-29
Avant-garde—This is NOT a trendy iPhone.
Nokia Windows phone
Age 20s; young professionals or
soon-to-be professionals
Females 16-30, especially her fan
base
Athletes, former athletes, wantabe athletes 20-40
Mainly females; age 20-35; health
conscious
Voters--undecided
Avant-garde—This is so unique that it neither an
iPhone nor a Galaxy!
Testimonial—She lived it; celebrity.
Crest toothpaste mouthwash
toothbrush combo
Ronald Reagan 1980 campaign
speech
Don’t argue over iPhone v. Samsung; get our phone instead
and be even more of an individual
If Jennifer Hudson says it worked, it must work; if good
enough for her, then good enough for me.
If a real-life, tough athlete uses only Advil for pain, it must be
good.
Used together are better than “ordinary” toothpaste; stats
plus a comparative checklist
“Lady Liberty”—torch still shines even in bad times; appears in
background
Sprite
Buy/drink Sprite.
Teens to 20s
Abbott for Texas governor 2014
campaign ad
Republicans, be sure you get out and vote against Wendy
Davis in the governor’s race!
Republican voters in Texas
Obama 2012 campaign ad—Big Bird
Humorous ad portraying Mitt Romney as being against Big
Bird and Sesame Street (and by extension, kids)
Cain will bring jobs; is an American instead of a politician; will
bring “real” change
Voters
Weight Watchers
Advil
Herman Cain 2012 Republican
Primary campaign ad
Critical Viewing_AdsInClass_LEM_key_2014
Republican voters
Testimonial—He had some serious pain!
Logos
Transfer—Statue of Liberty and flags in background
during speech; direct references to Statue (“Lady
Liberty still shines her torch…”)
Transfer—if you drink Sprite, you’ll have tons of fun
like these young musicians are!
Name Calling—Davis is “just like Obama”; in other
words, the insulting “name” called is “Obama.” (You
Obama, you!)
Name Calling—Big Bird hater, Sesame Street hater,
doesn’t care about kids, etc.
Glittering Generalities—jobs, real American, change
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Product/Service
Purpose/Message (of the ad)
Intended Audience
Appeal/My Reaction
McCain v. Obama 2012 campaign
ads
Barnett Shale (The Barnett) natural
gas company
Ads including typical words like hope, change, jobs, maverick,
reform, prosperity, economy, etc.
Give this energy company a good image (instead of image as
polluters and/or destroyers of the environment)
Voters
Glittering Generalities
North Texas public (this is more a
goodwill, public relations ad)
American Express Gold Card
Apply for an American Express Gold Card
Jaguar (Brits)
Buy a Jaguar automobile.
Professional couples with aboveaverage income (wanta-be rich)
People with high incomes
DirectTV
If you have cable instead of DirectTV satellite, you’ll be bored,
which leads to this, then that, then falling into a dinner party.
Buy Old Spice instead of girly-smelling aftershaves.
Plain Folks—Regular employee isn’t worried to have
his family living next to a well; they make sure they
don’t harm the environment
rd
Snob Appeal—3 story: we’re so special we can fly
to Italy just to have an authentic Italian dinner!
Snob Appeal—The coolest bad guys are British and
always drive Jaguars; you can be bad/elite, too. (“It’s
good to be bad.”)
Logical Fallacy—this one isn’t serious but still wants
you to decide DirectTV is better after seeing the ad.
Logical Fallacy—use Old Spice and you can BE this
sexy guy who easily gets the ladies.
Old Spice
Critical Viewing_AdsInClass_LEM_key_2014
Cable TV subscribers
Men late teens to 40s
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