A F Money, Happiness, and Instant Grati cation

with a newborn baby. e dog notices the family playing together and walks over to the baby. e baby immediately starts crying and the dog returns to its former place, and watches from the distance. e baby begins to play with a lion stuffed animal, and the father recognizes the dog’s jealousy and sadness. He uses Amazon Prime to order a lion mane costume and the dog makes a second attempt to meet the baby, and this time, is not rejected. e commercial continues by displaying the dog looking in the mirror with the lion mane on, and the father takes it off and puts it on himself. e ad implies that the family is upper middle class since they are well dressed and live in a nice home with warm, inviting colors. e advertisement is targeting the average family by displaying one on the screen: a husband, wife, child, and pet. But by creating a setting of above average wealth, the advertisement is implicitly putting the idea in the mind of the viewer that their situation will look like the on-screen family if they purchase Amazon Prime. e commercial is airing on television, as opposed to YouTube or a different streaming service. is is because the audience of television is mainly adults; the younger generations have moved on to Netflix and Hulu. e advertisement is taking advantage of the uniformity of society by placing their product into a situation that is parallel to the audience watching it.

It is obvious that the commercial is appealing heavily to pathos. e difference in the relationship between the baby and the dog before and after using Amazon Prime is what makes the ad effective. Who wouldn’t want the dog and the baby to get along? Before the father uses Amazon Prime, the dog is portrayed as lonely and appears to be longing for the baby’s acceptance. Afterwards, the family seems to be more united, and the baby reaching for the dog just pulls on your heartstrings. e simple fact that a dog and baby are being used is an appeal to pathos itself. Would a Gerber commercial be as effective without a cute baby in it? e short answer is no, so Amazon is appealing to that soft spot in their audience. Perhaps they are using the baby as a way to

appeal to their middle-aged audience members who may miss the days when their child was that young. Amazon is appealing to the viewer’s youth, and effectively establishing a relationship between their service, money, and happiness.

Furthermore, the scene where the dog is looking into the mirror with the lion mane on, and the father takes it off and puts it on himself is crucial to the advertisement’s message. Not only is this appealing to pathos through humor, but it also creates an underlying statement. e father saw how money correlated to the lion mane and how it made the baby love the dog. He puts it on because he might feel inferior or is upset that the child might be more attached to the mother. By paralleling the dog and father in the mirror, Amazon is inferring that money can put people on equal footing and is implying that spending it is a way to empower yourself.

Amazon is also appealing to ethos by trying to establish credibility with the audience. e use of the normalized family and how Amazon’s service has a positive impact on their lives is an attempt to convince you to believe their product is worth buying. Seeing an advertisement that is similar to your own life makes the product seem more applicable, and overall more useful. Amazon is aiming for their viewers to think it worked for them so it will work for me, too. e commercial illustrates how Amazon Prime is beneficial and attempts to build credibility through their service being put to use by a typical family.

Amazon’s “Dog to Lion” advertisement effectively pieces together convincing appeals to sell you its premium service. e setting and characters create an aura of relatability and comfort allowing for the viewer to be comfortable and trust the advertisement. However, when you purchase Amazon Prime, you are also buying into the cycle of instant gratification. e advertisement connotes money and happiness, so we, the audience must ask ourselves, do we want everything to be “prime”? Should we be more patient with our money or buy into fast and impulsive spending? And finally, how will this have an impact on our lives?

Puppy Monkey Crazy

C F

Advertisements have been around for a long time and as they have evolved from signs to radio to television, they have become inescapable and essential to the contemporary business model. e Super Bowl has become famous for its commercials and viewers often watch this event solely for these sponsored ads. Many different companies compete to have the most memorable ad that will hopefully boost sales. One company known for their advertisements is PepsiCo, which owns brands such as Doritos and Mountain Dew that are often known for their outrageous and silly advertising. Mountain Dew’s “Puppy Monkey Baby” commercial aired during the Super Bowl in 2016 to promote their new Kickstarter energy drink, and it took the world by storm. is ad mainly focuses on an appeal to pathos as the hybrid between a puppy, monkey, and baby strives to be just weird enough to get your attention and remember the product. e ad opens with three friends sitting on a couch watching television while looking tired and bored. e Puppy Monkey Baby then emerges from the wall and hands each person a Kickstart. After drinking this, the friends get up and dance with the puppy monkey baby down the hallway and the commercial closes with a shot of the can. is is used in combination with parallel struc-