CareerBuilder
With all the hype of Super Bowl XLII commercials it was not hard to find a commercial to analyze. With companies paying as much as $2 million dollars for one 30 second spot, one would expect high quality commercials. I chose the CareerBuilder commercial that is available above.
It is hard to use any of Aristotle’s four causes because you don’t even know what the product is until the last couple seconds of the commercial. Persuasion is the power of words to influence a person’s actions. This commercial only had five words and they weren’t even spoken. So how, one might ask, is this commercial persuasive? I think that it was one of the most persuasive commercials during the Super Bowl. The people at CareerBuilder used our own personal feelings against us.
To start they set up the environment, a person working while the boss sits around doing nothing. Now think about how many people have ever felt the way she looks. I think the feeling of being burnt out at a job is a feeling that everyone has experienced at some time or another. To draw in a bigger group the worker is female and the boss is male. Females in many different industries feel that they have to work harder than males to get recognition.
Now they have us hooked. We can all relate in some way to the worker. Add some desperate, sad music and the stage is set. The worker’s heart explodes out of her chest and storms into the boss’ office and jumps on his desk. The heart pulls out a sign with two very powerful words, “I QUIT.” I know that I have considered those same words on a number of different occasions, and I’m sure many other people have also. As the heart storms out of the building, it is followed by “follow your heart.”
CareerBuilder is trying to persuade its viewers not to use their product, but to have the courage to get out of your current, possible dead end job. Then at the very end, the last two minutes, of the commercial they throw in their name. They are saying if you decide to “follow your heart,” and get out of your current job, come see check us out. Maybe we can help you and your heart find what is right for you.
February 11, 2008 at 9:50 am
Very nice start. I like the style, your grammar is good and you seem to have a good grasp of what we did in class. This is one of the most gasp-inducing ads I’ve seen in a while. There is something so satisfying about it, isn’t there?
If I can make a couple of minor recommendations they are: be creative with your titles, and don’t always put the ad at the top. Some weeks you’ll want to introduce it before you show it. This will help keep your journals interesting.
Good job! –Sarah–