Super Bowl Sunday Advertisement Analysis Essay

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Super Bowl Sunday is the pinnacle day for football, fun, and companies. With more than 114 million viewers, companies are able to reach an enormous amount of people within several difference demographics. A thirty second commercial costs a mere $5 million, making it the most expensive thirty seconds on television. As a result, companies spends hours creating an advertisement that makes an impression lasting beyond thirty seconds. This impression, or persuasion, can be employed by the central route of persuasion or the peripheral route – each with their benefits and disadvantages. An analysis of four ads will reveal how each type of ad is effective through factors such as the communicator, the content, the channel, and the audience. Central …show more content…

That immediately establishes credibility and allows the viewer to have a sense of trust in the message of the advertisement. However, this is not the direct communicator of the advertisement. The communicator which viewers interact with is a middle age, white, male, science teacher. While he is not necessarily attractive, he fits expectations of a science teacher. This stereotype fulfillment allows viewers to focus more on the message rather than on the speaker. Since he does not break norms, but fulfills them, there is little questioning of his credibility or authenticity. The premise of the commercial is the teacher to dissect a foreign animal, warning against interaction with such animal. As a result, he has proper equipment for dissection, he speaks with authority and confidence, and interacts as one expects. These are peripheral cues that allow the viewer to focus on the message rather than question the situation in which is occurs. The advertisement closes with voice other than the teacher’s, the assumed voice of the FDA which, in a calm and authoritative voice, leaves the viewers with the final message: “If cigarettes looked as dangerous as they are, you’d run like hell. Find out the real cost of tobacco”. An ending like such gives the viewer the impression that the narrator has knowledge they do not, suggesting expertise which motivates others to process

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