Furguson 1

Haley Furguson
Professor Olivia Rines
UWRT 1101-02
4 February 2015
Commercials Purpose and Elements
Whether in the car listening to the radio, watching your favorite television show, or at the
movie theater it is almost impossible to avoid the things that interrupt our viewing and listening
experience; these interruptions are called commercial breaks. In the world today, there is a high
impact of multimedia on society. People are constantly being surrounded by television, radio and
videos. This technology allows not only individuals to communicate, but businesses and
companies. The communication of businesses through videos is made through commercials.
Commercials throughout society have always been a way to communicate new products. This
communication has in many ways helped boost companies income greatly by sharing upcoming
products in a flattering way. To create more interest, companies will appeal to emotion and
persuade customers to believe that a certain product or campaign is important and the best.
Emotional appeal and the many elements of commercials are very important when it comes to
persuading a viewer to believe the bias of the producing company.
According to George Boykin the goal of advertising is to persuade (Boykin). There are
many reasons why a company or organization would want to persuade viewers. When watching
television, movies, scrolling through the internet or listening to the radio, commercials can come
on at any time. These 30-60 seconds of video clips will include a message that involves the
company logo and or name, something that attracts attention and also an emotional appeal. These
different parts of commercials all create a sense of relatability, which are a high influence on
viewers persuasion. Since persuasion is a main goal of a commercial, relatability and its

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elements are all around important in commercials not only todays commercials, but
commercials throughout history.
Most people are aware of commercials because of the amount of television and media
viewed in todays society. As Linda Alwitt says, Today's television audiences are sophisticated
viewers. They know what to expect from television programs and commercials because a
lifetime of viewing has made them familiar with a variety of television formats, content, and film
techniques (Alwitt 35). This familiarity underlines the definition of genre. When commercials
have the same format or similar formats, it is the repetition of a certain idea or genre. Alwitt says
that since consumers and viewers have become so familiar with commercials and its contents, it
has become harder to surprise and entertain audiences (Alwitt 35). Since it has become harder to
entertain, the need to analyze different aspects of commercials has become more important.
There are several discourse modes in the genre of commercials, although some depend on
the type of commercial. The discourse modes involved with commercials are description,
information and argument. When description is involved with commercials, there are usually
descriptions of products and or messages involved with the company sponsoring the commercial.
For example, the description may be about a food product, which may appeal to hunger,
describing the food that is displayed. All descriptions include the product that is being sold;
which is a biased description because it is from the companys perspective. The company will
reassure the product to be something amazing, and increasing the amount of product purchased
or claims that are believed. This bias is what makes commercials so important and competitive.
Each brand desires to show their product the best it can be, viewers may believe the product to
be at the same high standard that it was advertised as and yearn to buy the product or message.

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Information is involved with commercials because companies are supplying information

about different products or ideas. An idea that is informed could be one ranging from information
about a certain medicine product and the side effects of the product to information about a simple
clothing piece. Information is an important discourse mode of commercials because they involve
communicating information about certain companies and organizations locally, nationally and
globally.
The last discourse mode, argument, relates to only a few commercials. An example of a
commercial using argument would be a campaign commercial arguing why a candidate of a
campaign should be nominated. Arguments generally are biased just like descriptions in
commercials are. Argument is also included throughout commercials by the biases of companies.
Companies argue that their product or pitch is the best and are wonderful; how companies
advertise their product is another way they are arguing a better opinion of their product.
The purpose of commercials being persuasion is accomplished by convincing viewers a
product or idea is something that is worth believing and purchasing. A main way a product is
convincing is through emotion. When someone is connected to a piece of entertainment it is
because they connected through emotion. The consumption experience includes major
emotional components that might be summarized colloquially under the heading "fantasies,
feelings, and fun" (Holbrook & OShaughnessy 46). Research cannot guide advertising strategy
effectively unless it considers how the brand or product fits into the emotion-laden experience of
consumption (Holbrook & OShaughnessy 46). This supports the claim that emotion influences
the purchasing and consuming of products shown in television advertising.
Purpose is shaped by the core features of a genre. The core features of commercials
include the emotional appeal, something that makes the commercial memorable or relatable, a

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company name or logo and also the main feature, the product. Emotional appeal highly links to
the commercial being memorable and relatable. When a commercial is memorable, they are
usually funny, annoying, sad, and the list goes on. A commercial is seen as memorable
when people start talking about the commercial and its different elements.. Having people talk
about a commercial means there is talk about the product which ultimately means the product is
a success. The product is the main focus in the commercial, everything about the product is
highlighted.. The product then links to the company name and logo, who are the sellers. If the
company ends up being the talk of the commercial, they then have an array of products that may
be purchased. Eventually, persuading people to buy a product and achieving the ultimate goal of
the advertisement.
In the commercial Terry Tate, Office Linebacker, Terry Tate, a famous lineman for the
NFL becomes a linebacker of an office for the company Reebok. Throughout the commercial,
Terry Tate is constantly tackling office workers to increase work ethic and sales. This slapstick
humor and the use of a famous football player make the commercial memorable. The intended
audience is those who wear sports apparel because Reebok is a sport apparel outfitter. Being
aired during the Super Bowl, the intended audience is only part of the actual audience because
only a portion of the audience may be interested in athletic apparel. The bias in this commercial
is that an office linebacker will increase success of business in an office workplace. This bias
is seen because the beginning of the commercial specifically states that there was an
improvement of statistics in the workplace after the linebacker was hired. This commercial was
used with humor to capture the viewers attention and direct that attention towards the product
advertised.

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In another commercial called the Jogger, made by Nike, an out of shape adolescent boy
is successfully running to find his greatness. This appeals to emotion by motivating people to
Find Your Greatness, which makes people feel like they are meant to be great. The intended
audience are those who are either out of shape or self-conscious about their body image and
pursue to start working out. This commercial is mainly played on online ads when scrolling
through websites, so some of the actual audience is the intended audience because a lot of people
who are surfing through the internet are more sedentary. According to Erin Jansen, People who
live sedentary lives spend most of their time inactive, often sitting - usually in front of the TV,
the computer, or a video console. The bias in this commercial is that if people buy Nike shoes,
they will find greatness and begin to work out. People may believe this by seeing an overweight
pre-teen boy running and believe that they can also do it. The commercial is motivating viewers
mainly to have them become more active; the more active a person is, the more they will need
athletic shoes.
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The last commercial, Kit Kat TV Commercial made by Kit Kat, employees in an office

are eating Kit Kat bars to the popular song by Kit Kat, Give Me a Break. This commercial
becomes memorable by playing a catchy song that will get stuck in viewers heads. The intended
audience is both those who work in an office and those who are hungry. Some of the actual
audience is the intended audience because the commercial is played on general television and
some people of the intended audience may be viewing it. The audience is usually persuaded to
buy Kit Kats because they are either hungry and watch the commercial, craving the product or
the products catchy jingle gets caught in their head. The bias in this commercial is that Kit Kats
are great tasting and will create a great break experience. This is seen by the actors purely
enjoying the candy in the commercial and also by how relaxed the actors seemed in the office

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space. In reality this may not happen for many people, but in the moment of hunger a lot of
people would strive to buy a Kit Kat bar to resolve their craving.
Most commercials include similar aspects. Although products may change, the link to
emotion and psychological features persuading people are main elements for most or all
commercials. It is possible that commercials may end up in different forms but the genre itself
will hardly evolve. Commercials are ideal when it comes to increasing the consumption of a
product. Productivity will continue and people will also continue buying, selling and making
items. Without commercials, companies would not have the convenience of informing and
persuading people to buy their product through multimedia advertisement. There should be more
of a look on the emotional aspect of commercials and understanding the effects emotion has on
the influencing of purchasing an item. This should be done because peoples opinions on
products are changing and the need to persuade is even greater; understanding and including
emotional appeal will allow companies to have a stronger advertisement of their product. I have
learned that there is more to a genre than what it seems. Genre has many components that add up
to what the genre may be. Without applying audience, emotion, product, company and market to
a commercial, a commercial would not be considered a commercial. Genre has great impact on
everyday lives, just like a commercial has a great impact on a person purchasing a product.

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Works Cited
Alwitt, Linda F. Suspense and Advertising Response. Journal of Consumer Psychology: 35-49.
JSTOR. Web. 8 Febuary 2015.
Boykin, George. "Examples of Different Kinds of Persuasion in Advertising." Small Business.
N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Apr. 2015.
Crazydesiman. Reebok Terry Tate Superbowl Commercial. Online video clip. Youtube.
Youtube, 30 August 2007. Web. 24 January 2015.
Holbrook, Morris and John OShaughnessy. The Role of Emotion in Advertising. Psychology
& Marketing Summer 1984: 45-64.Wiley Online Library. Web. 25 January 2015.
Jansen, Erin. "Escape the Sedentary Lifestyle and Get Healthy." InsidersHealth.com. N.p., n.d.
Web. 27 Apr. 2015.
Now. Kit Kat TV Commercial. Online video clip. Youtube. Youtube, 21 September 2009. Web.
24 August 2015.
Sportsliveinfo. Best Nike Find Your Greatness Commercial - The Jogger. Online video clip.
Youtube. Youtube, 1 August 2012. Web. 24 January 2015.