Rhetorical Analysis. pull the audience s mind in different directions and to attract them to a certain product. Ads construct a

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1 Mac Thoreson Rhetorical Analysis ENG 111 Rhetorical Analysis In many ways, the strength of advertisement is often ignored. Advertisements are designed to pull the audience s mind in different directions and to attract them to a certain product. Ads construct a belief or desire to understand what effect this product could have on the consumer. Media does a fantastic job of making sure these ideas circulate through society. Almost every minute of television has some sort of advertisements in the program, such as a drink used by an actor or a box of cereal sitting on the kitchen counter during a scene. Advertising surrounds our daily lives. Billboards, commercials, television shows, store windows, school bulletin boards, and much more all have advertising on them. It inevitably consumes us all, so why not understand it? Understanding where these viewpoints originate and the certain tactics companies used to illustrate their product would help consumers understands the product, and can possibly save money by purchasing a similar product. Gatorade is a product that uses complex advertising to attract its consumers. They understand why the athletic drink came to be and realize athletes of a certain age are more likely to use Gatorade than a person not involved in athletics. Gatorade is full of electrolytes that are shed from an athlete s body during physical activity. Replacing these electrolytes, with Gatorade, will help increase performance and become a winner. We can understand how this is portrayed by becoming more knowledgeable about what companies are trying to do in order for you to use their product, or what they show; to be able to look at the logos, ethos, argument, audience, kairos, claim, warrant, and overall purpose of the advertisement.

2 In January of 2009, some mysterious ads began to show up on television programs, and more commonly on sport programs. At the beginning of the commercial, a piano starts a soft but powerful tune. Scrolling across, from right to left, are many great athletes taking a pose in the way they performed the sport they played. Michael Jordan, Derek Jeter, John Wooden, and a few others run across the screen to the voice of Rap artist Lil Wayne. Lil Wayne names a quality as each athlete passes, appearing to be describing the athlete personally. Some of the qualities mentioned are: the swagger of an athlete, golden, gifted, a lower case god, genuine, dynasty, the greatest of all time, and others. As the end of the one minute commercial comes to a close, the letter G slides across, rotating clockwise. The commercial is moving and powerful. The audience can feel the passion and desire from the piano playing in the background and by reading the expressions of the athletes. These athletes understand what it takes to be a champion. It sets a tone for the audience and gives the audience an extreme sense of pride and a sense of winning. After viewing this commercial, chills travel down the viewer s spine and the ultimate goal of the advertisement was reached; people wanted to know how to become all of these attributes Lil Wayne described. For two months, these commercials continued appearing on TV and there was no ideas circulating of what G stood for. As two months approached from the initial release of the commercial, billboards and other advertising began to display these same athletes in a still shot. Michael Jordan making his game winning shot in the finals, or Derek Jeter diving into the stands to make a catch during the World Series appeared on these ads. Across the picture is written, That s G. The font is strong, solid, and white. Gatorade began to put its name on their ads, and it is interesting how Gatorade began to introduce their product. This font appeared across the actual picture of the athlete. That s was split up to Th at s, and was stacked up on top of each other. The G portion of the phrase was finished off by the bold G on a Gatorade bottle, which sat half empty. So, the audience had a solid understanding of what That s G stood for, and there was a direct connection between the still advertisement and the commercial.

3 In the commercial that appeared on TV, the audience is clear and simple. Anyone who aspires to be a great athlete or anyone who strives for success would be motivated by these commercials and advertisements. The main target market is probably athletes, male and female athletes between the ages of Many world class athletes begin to train around the age of twelve and it has been proven in many cases that it is nearly impossible to maintain peak performance after the age of forty. This audience can easily begin to interpret that consuming Gatorade would cause the user to obtain all of these properties and possibly obtain them at a later age in life. This is the goal of the Gatorade Company. They are trying to attract people in this group to buy and use the product to become like the players shown in the commercials. In this case, the audience is real, invoked, and imagined. The ethos of the TV advertisement is influential. Lil Wayne is the speaker in the commercial and he speaks of the qualities in these athletes. Also, the use of Lil Wayne is effective as a result of his wellknown voice. People hear him speak and can associate him with being the best in the music industry too. Gatorade most likely used Lil Wayne in these ads because he is extremely popular and has a distinctive voice. Not only is Lil Wayne successful in the music industry, his voice in itself would attract audiences to pay attention the commercial because of his voice. Therefore, gator is attracting audiences both intentionally and accidently for their benefit. The kairos of these commercials is during athletic events. Gatorade would want to show this piece during these events because most of the audiences during athletic events are the target market they are looking for. People of the ages 12-40, both male and female who are likely devoted to athletics in some way, are viewing these programs. The audience viewing this ad would be more likely to respond to Gatorade than the evening news audience. The kiros of the billboard ad would be any populated area. Cities with a large amount of car traffic passing would be the area where the ad would be most effective. This ad needs to get as many eyes as it can on it.

4 The logos of the advertisement is the appeal that Gatorade gives these great athletes the fantastic qualities such as glory, golden, genuine, and gifted. Lil Wayne supports this assumption at the end of the commercial by claiming, That s G, which infers all of this is obtained by G, Gatorade. The second half of the Gatorade ad is the photo advertisement, often found on bill boards, on street walls, in magazines, and in other places. The still photos show Derek Jeter completing a double play, Dewayne Wade dunking in a game, and Candace Parker posting up in a WNBA game. Across the picture is text that reads, That s G, and next to it is a picture of a partially drunk Gatorade. Again this is implying, even more so than the TV advertisement, that Gatorade is the reason athletes have such great success. This ad is more effective than the other because it directly shows what it is trying to imply. The first advertisement ties into this ad because it leaves the audience wondering what G is. After the release of these still ads, all viewers are aware what G represents and how it ties into being a great athlete. The logos of this advertisement is action of the shot. Gatorade leaves a partially empty bottle next to the picture, clearly showing where being a great athlete comes from. Also, if one has seen the previous TV advertisement, they can recognize the same athletes are being shown in the bill board advertisement as the ones used in the description by Lil Wayne. This is no coincidence. Gatorade directly ties these together and fills all the doubt of what G initially stands for. The ethos of this still advertisement is different from that of the commercial. In the commercial, there was a clear speaker who has emotions in his voice. The picture does not have any extraneous elements like the first so must show everything it needs to in pictures or words. This also does a better job than the first commercial because the audience can directly understand what G is and what they are trying to portray. Overall however,

5 Gatorade is a great example of what almost every company, domestic and foreign, does to the consumer. Educated buyers can understand what Gatorade and other big name producers, such as Powerade, is trying to do to the market. Almost in a monopolistic way, these two companies control the market. With larger profits, Gatorade is able to dominate the airways and advertising spots, suffocating other competing companies and manipulating consumers. Although from a business standpoint, Gatorade is successfully controlling the market. What s G? G is a number of attributes that almost all great athletes posses. Gifted, golden, glorious, and many others are what Gatorade is trying to portray to the audience that they can be if they drink Gatorade. G is not just a letter and is not describing the actual drink, but describing what it takes to be a champion. Everyone wants to be G, and Gatorade puts this advertisement out where the public understands that Gatorade is a part of becoming G. That s what G is. It is the heart, hustle, and soul of the game. That s G. And Gatorade has what it takes to be G.