Attempts at Being Persusaive

When scrolling through my social media I came across an ad for 1upnutrition, which before this I had never heard of before, I watched the ad mostly because I thought it may come in handy for an analysis for class, which it did! https://www.instagram.com/p/BWJSOzln5-0/?hl=en&taken-by=1upnutrition

At first I honestly didn't know what this was an ad for aside that it was fitness related. By the end of the video I came to the conclusion it was simply promoting fitness, it wasn't an ad for the company because it never shows any name or logo for them at all. I like the idea of an advertisement simply made to promote fitness and weight lifting, but this video is so sexualized I couldn't believe it! Many shots are made that linger on her butt and chest when she is bent over doing lifts to target her back. In the very beginning she takes her shirt off so that she is only wearing a sports bra and shorts and it is clear she has put oil on her skin to emphasize her muscles. The entire ad is just her doing various lifts to workout.

The target audience appears to be people, both male and female, in their 20's. This could either be people who already currently workout and they want to persuade them to use their product/continue working lifting or to convince people to begin to workout. They try to persuade by targeting emotions. For women they want them to look at the girl in the video and say "I want to look like her," and for men they want them to look and think "I will go to the gym and maybe see girls like her," targeting thoughts about self image/health and sexual emotions, respectively. I would say that this could be both a hit and a miss, some may notice the over the top sexualization and ignore the ad, while others may be targeted through emotions exactly as planned.

One of my favorite commercials is a commercial for Budweiser, this isn't because of the company it is for, but rather for the message it sends. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=56b09ZyLaWk

This commercial shows a man who brings home a puppy and it shows them play together and shows the puppy getting older, forming a close relationship with his owner. Budweiser does show its logo on bottles throughout the commercial, but this ad is to send the message to not drink and drive. At one point, the owner of the dog leaves with his friends, says goodbye to his dog, and the dog waits. His owner doesn't come home soon quickly and it shows him waiting some more before the words "For some the waiting never ended," show up on the screen. Then his owner comes home and says he had too much to drink and stayed the night at his friend's house.

This ad is targeting anyone who drinks or knows someone who does. It is a broad audience, but an ad like this can be relateable to many people. Emotions are yet again the way we are being persuaded. When watching the commercial and seeing the dog wait with a sad look on his face we wonder when his owner will come home, and when the words take over the screen we wonder if he even will. Targeting emotions when relating to an animal is very powerful, many people have pets and have a special connection with them. Thinking about leaving your animal behind can be saddening and that is why this is such a great ad.