Persuasive Advertising Prompts Purchases
Sylvia Timmons
Professor Christal Seahorn
Writing 3037 Advanced Writing Online
January 30, 2013
Persuasive Advertisements Prompt Purchases
Two major corporations, Progressive and Allstate Insurance, have recently launched televised advertisements that appeal to two distinctly different audiences to sell their insurance product by using persuasive appeals as defined in both Jib Fowles’ “Advertising’s Fifteen Basic Appeals” (Fowles, 2008, p. 558) and the Aristotelian Appeals. The advertisers used Pathos as the underlying appeal in both advertisements to reach their targeted audience, but Allstate’s advertisement, “Girl in the Pink Truck” (N.p., Allstate Mayhem Commercial) also relied on the need for safety (Fowles p. 563) and nurturance (Fowles p. 558) to appeal to parents of teenage girls; while Progressive’s advertisement, “Chick Flick”, (N.p., Chick Flick Progressive Insurance Commercial) used the need for sex (Fowles p. 555) and achievement (Fowles p. 560) to reach the young adult audience. An analysis will be made as to how these appeals are used to persuade audiences to buy their product and how they are cleverly disguised in the advertisements.
Pathos, an emotional response, was invoked in the target audience of parents of teenage girls by using a pink vehicle as the major prop throughout the advertisement. The adult male driver was purporting to be a teenage girl talking on the cell phone, texting, and driving while narrowly escaping several accidents in a parking lot (N.p., Allstate Mayhem Commercial). In today’s society, pink is typically associated with females, so this visual clue was immediately apparent to the targeted audience, invoking an emotion they could relate to—anxiety when their children are beginning to drive. In contrast, Progressive’s advertisement “Chick Flick”, the audience was immediately drawn in using the Pathos Appeal when the male character was depicted stranded and alone on a rainy night in a disabled vehicle (N.p., Chick
Professor Christal Seahorn
Writing 3037 Advanced Writing Online
January 30, 2013
Persuasive Advertisements Prompt Purchases
Two major corporations, Progressive and Allstate Insurance, have recently launched televised advertisements that appeal to two distinctly different audiences to sell their insurance product by using persuasive appeals as defined in both Jib Fowles’ “Advertising’s Fifteen Basic Appeals” (Fowles, 2008, p. 558) and the Aristotelian Appeals. The advertisers used Pathos as the underlying appeal in both advertisements to reach their targeted audience, but Allstate’s advertisement, “Girl in the Pink Truck” (N.p., Allstate Mayhem Commercial) also relied on the need for safety (Fowles p. 563) and nurturance (Fowles p. 558) to appeal to parents of teenage girls; while Progressive’s advertisement, “Chick Flick”, (N.p., Chick Flick Progressive Insurance Commercial) used the need for sex (Fowles p. 555) and achievement (Fowles p. 560) to reach the young adult audience. An analysis will be made as to how these appeals are used to persuade audiences to buy their product and how they are cleverly disguised in the advertisements.
Pathos, an emotional response, was invoked in the target audience of parents of teenage girls by using a pink vehicle as the major prop throughout the advertisement. The adult male driver was purporting to be a teenage girl talking on the cell phone, texting, and driving while narrowly escaping several accidents in a parking lot (N.p., Allstate Mayhem Commercial). In today’s society, pink is typically associated with females, so this visual clue was immediately apparent to the targeted audience, invoking an emotion they could relate to—anxiety when their children are beginning to drive. In contrast, Progressive’s advertisement “Chick Flick”, the audience was immediately drawn in using the Pathos Appeal when the male character was depicted stranded and alone on a rainy night in a disabled vehicle (N.p., Chick
Cited: Allstate Mayhem Commercial – “Teenage Girl in Pink Truck.” Commercial Review Tube. N.p., N.d. Web. 24 Jan. 2013. Web. “Chick Flick – Progressive Insurance Commercial” You Tube, You Tube, 10 Dec. 2012. Web. 24 Jan. 2013. Web. Fowles, Jib. “Advertising’s Fifteen Basic Appeals.” Behrens, Laurence and Leonard J. Rosen. Writing and Reading Across the Curriculum. Upper Saddle River: Pearson, 2008. 690. Print.