Rhetorical Analysis For Reese's

Reese’s is one of the most iconic brands of candy, beloved by Americans and known for chocolate and peanut butter treats. Yet, even the most beloved brands most advertise to maintain their presence, which is what Reese’s did in early 2009 when they released an advertisement that utilized a renewed awareness of global warming in the public. This came on the heels of the 2008 election, when President Obama won in a landslide with one of the main tenets of his platform being a focus on global warming. The purpose of this Reese’s advertisement is to to encourage their target audience, educated and liberal individuals, to purchase their Reese’s cups candy. Through the use of attention grabbing language, appealing imagery, and masterful ethos, Reese's appeals to an educated and liberal audience by relating its food brand with the

The phrase “global warming” is then followed by the word “now” which serves to appeal to the same sense of urgency that the first word, “stop,” appeals to. Finally, the phase “or all the Reese’s will melt,” appeals to the audience through playful diction. The target audience, due to their political beliefs, likely associates the concept of global warming with warmer weather. The diction is playful as it attempts to be humorous by playing on the what-if scenario for global warming in the context of Reese's cups. Since Reese's cups are primarily made of chocolate in the event global warming does occur it is likely the chocolate would melt, and making that the primary issue with global warming could be seen as humourous to the target audience. Also, the text with the punchline is written in a smaller font to underscore that that portion of the text is secondary and meant for after the advertisement has the audience’s attention