The Rhetoric of Super Bowl Commericals

After watching the Super Bowl I found myself in the midst of the perfect kairotic moment to discuss the rhetorical appeals used in Super Bowl commercials.  One of my favorite commercials of the night was Bridgestone Tire's commercial in which the conservative driver and the beaver scratch each others' backs.  A company will pay millions of dollars for each second of air time during the Super Bowl, so they know their ad sells. I will analyze just what it is that makes their ad sell to the public under the categories of ethos, logos, and pathos, and conclude with the reason why targeting these appeals is so effective in the advertising market.

As the busy beaver precariously meanders into the one lane road we begin to cringe as we see a car zooming to carry him to his certain death. However, just before the messy crash we catch a glimpse of the driver as he swerves swiftly around the beaver. In that two second picture the company has created a foundation of ethos with the audience.  The driver is smartly dressed, but nothing too fancy, so we see him as an average business man or office employee.  His key characteristics are his glasses, and his "couldn't hurt a fly" build.  His glasses give him the persona of a smart consumer. One who doesn't live outside his means, but demands quality from his products. Finally, his non-muscular build makes him an average person who tries not to harm others, even if he had the ability to do so.  In the first eight seconds of their ad, Bridgestone has appealed to and leveled with their target audience: average Americans who are smart consumers living within their means, but demanding quality from their products.

The quality of the product, Bridgestone Tires, is displayed in both the opening of the first and second scene. This is a direct appeal to logos, or the logic of the audience.  In the first scene, the car is able to dart around the beaver and on to the one lane bridge without a large decrease in speed. In the second scene, the car comes to a dead halt after skidding just a few inches when the driver slams the brakes in a bad rainstorm to avoid hitting a fallen tree.  While viewers may question the reality of these conditions, they do not doubt that Bridgestone makes good tires, and the company is effectively selling their product appealing to the audience's logic by demonstrating the quality of their tires.

Logic, however, is not the big seller in this commercial, and it hardly ever is. It is the pathetic story of kindness between the driver and the beaver that wins the audience's hearts. As I watched this commercial, all I could think of as the beaver was about to be pulverized was how cute it was.  In the second scene, after the heroic driver saved the beavers life, it was the beaver's turn to return the favor.  He gnaws down the tree as he anticipates the arrival of his friend and it falls just in time for the driver to screech to a halt (with good tires) and watch as the bridge he was about to cross gets washed away by the flooding river.  As the driver and the audience exhale after his near death experience he looks over and sees his friend the beaver. Then they have a heartwarming moment as the beaver signals "I got your back" to the driver, and the driver responds in shocked amusement. The appeal to the audience's pathos is the product's strongest selling point.  Even the most conservative consumers will often think with their heart before their head. As they shop for tires they will remember the honorable and heartwarming tale that comes with the Bridgestone product, and will unconsciously trust the product more.

Advertisers know the formula to connect with their audience and sell their product.  Many consumers are more likely to trust a product based solely on recognition with that product from an advertisement.  The commercial appealed to the ethos of the smart consumer, the logos of the product's quality, and finally the heartwarming pathetic appeal of the reciprocal kindness of the beaver and the driver.  At the end of the commercial the audience was happy and may have even laughed like I did. They were happy that the beaver and the driver were okay. The beaver and the driver were happy that the car had Bridgestone tires, and the advertisers were hoping that you were too.