The Rhetorical Analysis of the Real Cost Commercials
The objective of a commercial is a biform: to lure the customers to get the company’s product or whatever they are showcasing to sell, to motivate customers to behave a certain way, to inform or remind the customers about the company’s product or brand, etc. Various methods are utilized to attract the potential audience to purchase a product.
The Real Cost, a major campaign for anti-smoking, has created an appealing commercial that publicizes a harmful effect of e-cigarette smoking. These ads are designed, not only to prevent teens from making the wrong decision, but to share awareness of how it can negatively impact on one’s social life. The Real Cost commercials indicate that by showing three different characters who are being re-programmed due to his or her obsession with vaping. While the time is ticking, the intense situation hinted by the background sound roams around each different areas, such as skateboarding, bowling, or chatting with friends. Wherever the characters are, they seem to be depressed, and clueless about reality. In the end, as the character isolates herself from the group and begins to vape, a bulging red eye appears. Ultimately, It signifies the negative implication vaping has primarily on mental health and social life. Then, the commercial ends with their significant intent saying don’t get hacked by vaping.
The advertisement utilizes the three rhetorical appeals of logos, ethos, and pathos through its commercial and implied meanings. Throughout, the video is able to convey a vivid sense of danger and to spread the awareness about effect of vaping. The ad was ultimately successful in persuading people to stop vaping. The commercial was created to evoke a response from its audience, which are both vapers and non-vapers alike. For the non-vaping audience, the commercial will either increase their dislike of smoking e-cigarette and its negative health effect, for example, getting re-programmed or hacked. The audience it would appeal the most is those people who extremely oppose e-cigarette products or vaping. People like this, ultimately, believe that anti-vaping ads will reach vapers and somehow convince them to quit or reduce the addiction of vaping, but this rarely occurs. People, who vape like young teenagers, find this commercial as unoriginal and obnoxious because they tend to feel as if it’s repetitively attacking their views and habits. The rhetorical element kairos comes into play in the commercial. Based on the year the ad was published, vaping continues to rise in popularity among high school and college students. Significantly, vaping soars in popularity among teenager because they are cheap, easily accessible and falsely told to be safe. Vaping doesn’t smell as bad as weed. Matter of fact, it doesn’t smell at all, and this is how it lures teenager to buy the product. Although the ads is not reaching the audience that really needs to see it, it provides a reminder for those who don’t vape – convince them from stop vaping. An effective way of publicizing a brand or product is by utilizing new advanced technologies, creating strategies and powerful ideas that allow the company’s customers’ brand or product to be stable and irreplaceable. Some company produce an ad to sell something that is bad; they would add a scenario about the benefits of their product rather than focusing on things that are bad. For example, if a particular company were to sell alcohol, they tend to create commercials about how it makes their client look fresh and attractive. But, they don’t acquaint their client the harm it does to a person’s body.
The first rhetorical appeal, logos, is used in the same context as it appears to be in this commercial. The divine reason for creating this ad is to promote the awareness of how smoking e-cigarette is bad for your health. In modern days, this is general knowledge. If this topic is mentioned, almost any person would say smoking is bad for your health. The idea of logos is listed because when teenagers buy the e-cigarettes, they think its cool or the thing to do now a day. They believe that it’s a new trend so why not try it. This ad encouraged people to realize that teenagers are making a wrong decision and they still have plenty of years to live, but small blunders like this can result negatively.
The second rhetorical appeal, ethos, also has an effect on the commercial’s message. In this ads, they used ethos by comparing two distinctive people-- one who has a mouth that resembles computer ports and seems sluggish, and other who appears to be a normal being and seems energetic. The audience is able to conclude several things about the character and credibility through this commercial. The audience can infer that The Real Cost is attempting to encourage a healthy lifestyle in teenagers because of their objective to create an anti-smoking commercial and address the prevention materials through digital and social media content. The company’s mission is to educate middle and high school students about the great risk of harm from regular use of e-cigarettes use; their messages focuses on major fact at risk for addiction. Hopefully, it will drastically lower the rate of vapers in this society.
The last rhetorical appeal, pathos, also has its major role in the commercial. When people discuss how bad smoking is and what disgusting things are in it, they begin to care about the kids because frankly, they don’t want them to get sick. They tend to bring more sympathy here because it overtakes the customer's attention to the health of their kids. Consequently, we know for a fact that smoking is injurious to our health, and we are aware of those ingredients in a cigarette, nevertheless, people still smoke. Companies like The Real Cost, utilized a graphic and emotional ad to make a difference in society. For example, from the ad, the character who tends to be obsessed with vaping, steps aside and desolate themselves from the group or even when they are by themselves just to vape, which makes a sense for the reader to acknowledge someone making a wrong decision.
The commercial uses sentiment by appealing to a person’s decision for their own health. They seem to be more depressed than ever for being isolated from their friends, or social life. In every scenery from the commercial, the obsessed character desolated himself or herself from their friends just to inhale the aerosol. Ultimately, it formulated a sense of sadness in the audience and a view of life at a certain point can be pathetic. Eventually, this will encourage people to stop vaping for the betterment of their health and their social life. The videos of the distinctive character with the e-cigarette and making the wrong decision employs the use of ethos, logos, and pathos through its coloring and controversial message. This advertisement utilizes the rhetorical element in its unique way. The simple message that audience should get is that vaping is dangerous to one’s health, in the ads, the person is being re-programmed. Smoking is very prevalent thought the world, but so does the advertisement who go against smoking. These type of controversial is never-ending battle between vapers and the media.
