Bunce
1
Brandi Bunce
Professor Guenzel
English 1101-1107
31 October 2013
Final Paper Resubmit
Lightning Bolt
The “Lightning Bolt” Gatorade commercial plays off of the history of Gatorade and
displays the top athletes that they sponsor. This commercial was first published on March 22,
2013, but is also readily available on YouTube and has over 20,000 views. The commercial
begins with a Gator’s football game where the team is losing. Once the players drink the
Gatorade, it appears to give them the energy to score and win the game. This specific
commercial demonstrates the development of Gatorade, which started in a lab at the University
of Florida. The commercial takes its viewers through a journey of elite athletes such as Michael
Jordan, Peyton Manning, and Serena Williams who drank Gatorade throughout their careers and
succeeded in their sport. The commercial also shows the transition of the bottle from glass to
more environment friendly plastic bottles. When watching the “Lightning Bolt” commercial, one
can see that there are many similarities to Keith Grant Davie’s article, “Rhetorical Situations and
their Constituents.” Grant-Davies article can help one gain increased understanding of the
rhetorical situation that takes place in the “Lightning Bolt” commercial.
The critical lens, “Rhetorical Situations and Their Constituents” discusses concepts such
as constraints, audience, rhetor and exigence. After reading this article, one can have a better
understanding of how the “Lightning Bolt” advertisement targets consumers and affects the
audience. As the rhetor, Gatorade and the advertisement company used their knowledge of
rhetorical situation to make themselves stand out from their competitors and help them gain
Bunce
2
consumers. The goal of the rhetor is to manipulate the audience into thinking that their products
are the most successful and they made this a point in the “Lightning Bolt” commercial by using
top athletes. Grant Davie states, “the roles of rhetor and audience are dynamic and
interdependent.” (110) In this case, the rhetor depends on the consumers to buy the product and
the consumer depends on advertisers to successfully display the product. The commercial
demonstrates how the rhetor has chosen specific music, images, and diction to entice their
intended audience. The song “Lightning Bolt,” is an indie rock song that evokes positive
emotions. One phrase they choose to emphasis is “continue the legend,” implying that Gatorade
can make you, the consumer, legendary. This is one way that the rhetor may display their
product in order to get the consumers full attention.
In this Gatorade commercial, the rhetorical framework is centered on attracting their audience to
buy their products. Their marketing target is an athlete of any age and level, but anyone is
welcomed to use it. In this particular commercial, to inspire the “every day” athlete, they
showcase athletes in the professional arena. By specifically choosing these elite athletes,
Gatorade uses ethos to provide the audience with creditability and influence the audience to in
turn strive to be just as successful. This also connects to their slogan, “Win from within.” Even
though Gatorade can be seen as an enhancer of athletic performance, one needs to have the selfmotivation and determination to achieve the comparable success. This advertisement style of
Gatorade gives consumers the misconception that their product is directly responsible for an
athlete’s success. Gatorade’s careful selection of athletes also uses the ethos of the status of the
athletes to enhance the rhetorical argument. When the audience sees their role models drink
Gatorade, they may become inspired and even form new and higher goals. The advertisers aim to
convince viewers that an athlete is at his best because Gatorade is at its best, which goes back to
Bunce
3
the slogan “Win from within.” The use of several different sporting events, specifically
professional football games, instead of high school football practice, plays a role in the feelings
of the audience- they now feel as though they are actually at the game excited and cheering on a
team. In the commercial, they choose to include the dumping of the Gatorade onto the winning
team’s coach in celebration. This form of celebration is famous and used world wide in many
sports. When the audience watches this, it evokes emotions such as happiness and excitement
that they want to take part in. Gatorade clearly and effectively targets the audience based on what
excites them the most.
Another aspect of the rhetorical situation mentioned by Grant-Davie is the audience
(110). The opening scene of the commercial takes place in a laboratory at the University of
Florida where Gatorade was first created. This uses ethos to show the process of creation, how
the testing took place and how Gatorade changes its formulas to stay innovative. The audience
can physically see how the product is created and how it changes in order to compete with other
sports and energy drinks. This can influence the audience to continue to purchase Gatorade
products instead of the competitor’s because they see that the company is actively working hard.
One of the claims their company makes is that it quenches thirst. Through high intensity
workouts you lose electrolytes, but by drinking Gatorade, you can replenish what has been lost
and speed up recovery time. The advertising Gatorade chooses to do highlights this concept,
which pulls in consumers and knocks out water from the competition. The lightning bolt logo
that Gatorade uses symbolizes swiftness. Athletes want to have these characteristics and the
lightning bolt logo can play into this idea of making one fast. When the audience sees the
lightning bolt on products, they relate it to a positive stereotype in hopes to see an enhancement
in their training on a daily basis. This causes another misconception among viewers who may
Bunce
4
start to believe that Gatorade directly causes agility in performance and series well beyond its
intended purpose. Again, Gatorade takes advantage of the audience by masking their product
based on consumer interest.
Although Gatorade is the leading product in the sports drink industry, it does have some
competitors. These competitors serve as constraints on Gatorade’s products. Grant-Davie delves
into detail about constraints, stating that, “a constraint can be people, events, objects, and
relations that constrain decisions and actions of the rhetor, but don’t always have to be negative”
(111). Gatorade is a drink that is supposed to help replace lost electrolytes. Research shows that
Chocolate milk is a negative constraint on this product because it does what Gatorade does and
more. In the article, “Got Milk? Try Chocolate after your workout,” Kelly L. Phillips informs
readers that, “Compared to plain milk, water, or most sports drinks, it has double the
carbohydrates and protein content, perfect for replenishing tired muscles. It replaces fluids …
packs a nutritional bonus of calcium, and includes just a little sodium and sugar.” Should
Gatorade worry about this competition and adjust their marketing strategies to better grasp
consumers searching for products with electrolytes? Gatorade will continue to succeed because
they know how to attract their audience, which is people who like to work out. These people
admire top athletes used in their commercials; many of them looking for a logical, founded
reason to buy and may be persuaded by the fact that it improves recovery time. Another
constraint of the company itself can be money, because they sponsor several top-notch athletes
that require compensation for even endorsing the product. By the end of the day, money is what
it takes to sponsor these athletes as well as produce advertisements.
Grant-Davie shares an example of Sprite advertisements that use similar argument
strategies to Gatorade. Sprite discusses the elite athletes of their sports to intrigue and persuade
Bunce
5
their audience. “In the case of the Sprite ad, the exigence of the communication is complex: it
includes the corporation’s desire to sell and the consumer’s desire for a product that will fill one
or more needs. (Thirst quenching but also identification with a popular celebrity).” (102) This
example is a primary constraint because it is direct competition. Grant-Davie describes exigence
as, “… a problem or need that can be addressed by communication”(102). Gatorade wants to be
seen as an exuberant, yet unique type of product rather than to be perceived as an ordinary
supplement, which is what sprite is doing.
Gatorade is a company owned by PepsiCo. The mission statement for Pepsi Co is
"We aspire to make PepsiCo the world’s premier consumer Products Company, focused on convenient
foods and beverages. We aim to produce healthy financial rewards for investors as we provide opportunity
for growth and enrichment to our employees, our business partner and the communities in which we
operate. And within everything we do, we strive to act near honesty, openness, fairness and integrity."
(Barbara Farfan)
The marketing campaigns of Gatorade align with the company values. Gatorade follows the
same guidelines that PepsiCo has established with their products because they are part of the
PepsiCo family.
For Gatorade’s “Lightning Bolt” advertisement, their marketing team has implemented
the rhetorical situation in their commercial text. The use of exigence, rhetor, audience, and
constraints, concepts given by Grant- Davie’s description of rhetorical situations, is used to
persuade their audience to buy their products. Being aware of the concepts within the rhetorical
situation, readers can now see the use of persuasive methods in everyday advertisements such as
the “Lightning Bolt” Gatorade commercial.
Barbara Farfan.. N.p. Web. 4 Oct 2013.
<http://retailindustry.about.com/od/retailbestpractices/ig/Company-Mission-
Bunce
6
Statements/PepsiCo-Mission-Statement.htm>.
Gatorade. “Jake Bugg - Lighting Bolt Gatorade Commercial.” YouTube. 22 Mar. 2013. Web. 07
Oct. 2013
Grant-Davie, Keith. “Rhetorical Situations and Their Constituents.” Writing About Writing: A
College Reader. Ed. Elizabeth Wardle and Doug Downs. Boston: Bedford/St. Martins,
2011. (101-118). Print.
Phillips, K. L.. N.p.. Web. 2 Oct 2013. <http://www.fitnessmagazine.com/recipes/healthyeating/superfoods/chocolate-milk-after-workout/>.