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Ruben Vargas
Yogita Maharaj
Writing 01-08
October 30, 2012
Males Only, Females Keep Out!
Advertising and commercials have grown to be a part of the everyday life. Print ads are
seen all the time, while browsing the internet or while taking a simple stroll around the
neighborhood. Ads are posted for every product imaginable, and advertising is also seen in the
form of commercials during television show breaks. Whether the advertisement is for a Mattel
Barbie doll or for a 2013 Ford Mustang Boss 302, companies are always trying to go after the
money, and the best way companies do that is with advertising their products or services
wherever they can so that they can spread the word about their products. What some companies
fail to realize is that the market for certain products or services has changed from being male
oriented to being equal with or even completely dominated by women. An advertisement for the
new KIA Optima is a great example of how car companies fail to see the shift in the vehicular
market, “... A third, even half, of many car models were being bought by women”(Steinem 256)
as stated by Gloria Steinem in her article Sex, Lies, and Advertising.
The article Sex, Lies, and Advertising is Gloria Steinem's account and point of view on
advertising and how a magazine succeeded without any advertising that, for example, would
advertise gender-neutral products, but would give the impression that women must become like
men in order to fit in and succeed. The commercial is good at appealing to the morals and values
of most males; however, Steinem would have been appalled by KIA's commercial because
although the product is gender-neutral, this commercial is obviously directed at a male audience.
The morals in this commercial are heavily masculine because the women that appear in the
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commercial are scantily dressed and are excited over the man in KIA Optima, which sounds a lot
like many stories where the male is a lady's man and the female in the story is infatuated with
him. This “story like commercial” is a great example of what Sonia Maasik and Fisher Solomon
explain in their chapter introduction of the culture of American film as being based on
archetypes, or based on “anything that has been repeated in storytelling from ancient times to the
present”(Maasik 367). In that respect, the many different archetypes are used to enhance our
emotional response towards commercial, and so it contains a good deal of pathos. Maasik and
Solomon explain how to interpret the signs of American films and how they can continue to
repeat stories but always add in a different element. Although the ethos and pathos in this
commercial is very well conveyed, the logos shown in the ad is defective. It does not respond to
all consumers, but picks ideal consumers and shows statistics for those individuals.
The commercial begins with a familiar jingle, “Mr. Sandman” by The Chordettes, and a
sandman figure sneaking into a man's bedroom, we assume he is trying to give him a good
dream. Suddenly, he trips on the man's slippers and his entire sack of “magic sand” is dropped on
the sleeping man's head. The music is suddenly changed to “Kickstart My Heart” by Motley
Crue and the product is introduced here with the man behind the wheel; a new 2012 Optima
Limited car in white. The flag girl, Brazilian model Adriana Lima, gives the go ahead and the
man rips off the starting line and zips around the racetrack. As he is speeding the luxurious car
around the arena, he is being cheered on by a multitude of bikini clad women and also by the
band Motley Crue, who it seems are preforming their song live on a concert stage in the middle
of the arena. The entire shot is then changed to a white background with black lettering that reads
“OPTIMA” and “Not your average midsize sedan” written underneath, then is it changed for the
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last time to the monthly payment and down-payment information for the vehicle.
The commercial appeals heavily to the values of men, because men are known
traditionally to love their cars. The man in this commercial is having the best dream imaginable
from a male standpoint. He has beautiful women surrounding him, an amazing car that he is in
control of, and he is hearing a concert by what we presume to be his favorite band because it is
his dream, and so are held as his values. These values alone help many men connect with the
person in the commercial, for it is the dream of many men to have beautiful women surrounding
them while they are driving a beautiful car and are listening to a free concert from their favorite
band. Although it may sound great, those values do not appeal to many females because women
may not want beautiful women surrounding them, and they may not want a concert at all;
however, they may want the beautiful car that is portrayed in this advertisement. The
commercial, then, is flawed in that it conveys the more masculine values of the company's
consumers and delivers little to no appeal to the company's female consumers.
The commercial has no conversation between any of the characters, but the songs that are
played help to set a mood and help to activate an emotional response or archetypical idea in
people, which will help to trigger an emotional response from the commercial's target audience.
The “Mr. Sandman” song is an archetypical song that conveys a sense of ease and relaxation that
can be used here to lull the listener into a relaxed, almost dreamlike state. The song is then
changed to “Kickstart My Heart” which is a fast paced rock song meant to inspire or energize a
person. In this case, “Kickstart My Heart” is used to convey a sense that the KIA Optima is an
invigorating automobile and has the potential to take people anywhere that they desire. The
biggest archetype that is portrayed in the commercial happens with the females in the
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commercial, “Signs of Life in the USA” contains a passage that summarizes this archetype
nicely, “...The unspoken cultural message... that women are simply the sexual reward for manly
men”(Maasik 367-368). In essence, this archetype is saying that women are nothing but a reward
for men, and although it is extremely sexist, it is exactly what this commercial conveys. Not too
smart of a move on KIA's part (again) considering that, “A car is an important purchase for
women, one that is such a symbol of mobility and freedom that many women will spend a
greater percentage of income for a car than will counterpart men”(Steinem 256). The full version
of the commercial has another archetype added on to “balance” the mostly masculine
commercial; the sandman first visits a woman's bedroom and gives her dream of meeting her
“knight in shining armor”.
The commercial uses many different archetypes and fairy-tales to help the audience
identify with the character in the advertisement. The ending is where the vast majority of faulty
persuasion comes in because it states that someone may own this car for “only” $189 a month
with $2,499 due at the signing, in other words about a $2,500 down-payment with monthly
minimum payments of about $190. It seems like an extremely low payment for this beautiful car,
but in reality it may be way higher than that because the payments shown are estimates of
payments that someone with perfect credit would pay, but many people do not have perfect credit
or even good credit, some may have no credit at all. This information has a huge fault then
because it does not take into account the credit scores of consumers, it just demonstrates what a
person with perfect credit will be able to pay for the down-payment and for the monthly lease.
Overall, the commercial is a very bad attempt from KIA when it comes to marketing to its
consumer base. KIA should have made the commercial more feminine friendly, or should have
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made a double of the commercial portraying the female version of a “perfect dream”. The ethical
appeal is exclusively for men, from the hot models to the rock music, and the female appeal is
almost nonexistent. The emotional appeal is there for men, but again it has little ties to female
emotions other than the “knight in shining armor” archetype in the full length version of the
commercial. The factual information towards the end of the commercial is slanted, and so gives
the impression that the vehicle is more accessible to everyone.
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Works Cited
Bochsler, Matt. "Motley Crue KIA Commercial." YouTube. YouTube, 12 Mar. 2012. Web. 27
Oct. 2012. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KzxrhA39d6c>.
Auto, Hersons. "2012 KIA Optima with Motley Crue & Adriana Lima." YouTube. YouTube, 10
Feb. 2012. Web. 27 Oct. 2012. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=em2Ikjt8lWU>.
Maasik, Sonia, and J. Fisher Solomon. "The Culture of American Film." Signs of Life in the
U.S.A.: Readings on Popular Culture for Writers. Boston, MA: Bedford/St. Martins,
2012. 365-76. Print.
Steinem, Gloria, Sonia Maasik, and J. Fisher Solomon. "Sex, Lies, and Advertising." Signs of
Life in the U.S.A.: Readings on Popular Culture for Writers. Boston, MA: Bedford/St.
Martins, 2012. 249-69. Print.