Maya Lipscomb
Carrie Sippy
English 1101
Rhetorical Analysis
Commercials
are meant to catch the viewers’ attention and provide catchy information. In
less than a minute, there goal is to “sum” up a product. A lot of thought goes
into the process of making a commercial and the message that it sends out.
While viewing the trident layers commercials all of these thought went through
my head and I developed more of an understanding.
In
the beginning of the trident layers gum commercial the audience is in view of
the speaker and the subway. This framing sets the tone that the commercial will
be focused on your everyday person. The whole time in the commercial the
background does not change. It has everyday people on it and the message is
that your average person can chew gum meaning it’s not expensive to buy. The
words that were said in the beginning were “trident layers will take you on a
ride to mouth fun town”. These words symbolize the ride that the people are on
are to a fun town. I see it as when you chew the gum it will take you a better
and funnier place. Most people see subways as a miserable source of
transportation but once you pop in that piece of gum it becomes anything but
ordinary.
The Karaoke commercial caught my attention
when it first came on because it included a well-known song. The song is “All
Night Long” by Lionel Riche and it was a hit song in 1983. It became number one
on three billboard charts (Wikipedia). Including a famous song in the
commercial makes it stick with the audience longer because it triggers memory
of the gum whenever you hear that song again and vice versa. The song lightens
up the commercial too by giving it life. It started off as a normal day on a
subway but once the karaoke scene took effect it gave the commercial a good
effect. It’s not normal for a karaoke session to break out on a subway and that
point is made in the commercial. But once the girl ate the gum the impossible
became true.
Once
the karaoke session began on the train it caused everybody to sing and dance.
This is implying that if just one person has a piece of gum then it will spread
happiness and joy to the people around them. The people on the train were not all alike
either meaning anyone can enjoy this gum. It’s not restricted to a certain
audience. In the commercial you will see young females, young males, older
ladies, an Amish looking guy and older men. The way that these people are
dressed differs too. It varies from work
attire to regular street wear. I implied
it to mean that students, parents, professionals and grandparents will all find
something to like out of this product.
The
actions of the people on the train changed throughout the commercial. From the
beginning to the end of the commercial there was a big difference in the way
that the people acted. At first everyone was all quiet, reading, looking out
windows and sleep but once the girl popped in the gum that all changed. There
was a chain effect that happened. They all acted how the normally would on any
other day in a subway but once the trident layers was added to a day in the
subway it changed. It caused them to open up more and express themselves.
The
slogan at the end of the commercial is “See what unfolds.” The trident layers
gum is made to come in a package that unfolds to reveal two rows of gum.
Placing this at the end of the commercial sends a hidden message of how to open
the gum package by unfolding it. The slogan also sends a message that once you
unravel the gum the actions that follow are mysterious because you will never
know what to expect. I’m sure the subway riders were not expecting a karaoke
session to happen that da. Once the
viewer’s go by the gum it is implying that they won’t be able to help what fun and
new things that will go on in their day either.
In
conclusion the trident layers karaoke commercial was very effective in the
persuasive techniques it used. The
framing, catchy song, sudden singing session and slogan all are rhetorical
strategies that made this commercial memorable for me.
