Sunday, February 8, 2015

TOW #18- Nissan Commerical "With Dad" (visual text)

Nissan’s Superbowl commercial for 2015 relies heavily on an appeal to pathos in an attempt to be effective. Nissan already has automatic ethos from being a well-known car manufacturer, so the commercial does not have to spend any time explaining what Nissan is or how reliable its cars are, etc. Additionally, the purpose of the ad is not really to explain the advantages of all of the different cars produced by Nissan, but rather to stand out from amongst all of the other commercials during the Superbowl and just gain awareness and popularity as a result of the commercial. Nissan does this by portraying a story of a boy growing up while his father is away most of the time racing cars. This story attempts to appeal to the pathos of the general American population who is watching the Superbowl by portraying the story to which many American families with working parents can relate (the working parents feel as though they have missed watching their children grow up because they are always at work, which is a common feeling amongst many American working families). The Harry Chapin song in the background aids in this appeal to pathos by sounding sad and regretful, which attempts to cause the viewer to feel sad a regretful as well. Additionally, Harry Chapin died in a car crash, so an inferred meaning of the use of this song could be that Nissan is trying to prove that their cars are safe, so that will not happen if you drive a Nissan car (which is shown through the part of the commercial when the father is in the car crash on the track but manages to walk away from it unharmed because he was driving a Nissan car). The commercial ends, however, on a happy note when the father comes to pick up the boy, immediately before the commercial puts up the Nissan logo, which helps the audience to make the connection between the happy feelings and Nissan and makes them, even subconsciously, associate happy family feelings with the car and want to buy that brand of car.  

http://www.msn.com/en-us/video/watch/superbowl-commercial-nissan-supernumberwithdad/vi-AA8RWIw 

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