Ashley Long
Dell’s (Product) RED Campaign Against HIV/AIDs Goes Consumerist
The artifact that I chose to analyze is an advertisement clip from the 2008 Superbowl commercial involving Dell's promotion of their new (Product) RED laptop. In this advertisement a man purchases a (Product) RED Dell computer. After his purchase he experiences a hero effect of congratulations and a kiss from a beautiful woman. An image and link to this advertisement is available as follows:
Dell 2008 Superbowl Commercial.
I chose to rhetorically analyze this artifact to due to its used of pathos to identify with the audience, and
thus create a selling response. The use of this persuasion interested me especially in sales, since this form of advertising relates to my merchandising degree. The research question that I posed in this analysis is “How does Dell’s use of pathos in their advertisement reinforce the hegemonic Consumerist ideology?”. I argue that the advertisement creates an emotional response in order to persuade the consumer that Dell’s product is medically, globally, and socially significant. I back up this claim by critically analyzing the visuals and language elements in the cinematography. These elements include the main character, the lighting, the background, the crowd, the woman, the music, and the text. By analyzing all of these elements, I provide further insight on how the ad creates emotional appeal in the artifact and thus an emotional response to consume the good. This analysis is designed to remind viewers and consumers to not take what they are seeing at face value. If they are not questioning the motives of the advertisement and are not educating themselves on the issues surrounding the ad, then they are buying into the consumerist system. And by not keeping themselves accountable and keeping these corporate giants in check, the results of ever expanding cause related marketing sales tactic could lead to disastrous affects to the comprehension of the issue in advertisements, to the people affected by the issue, and to the overall image/brand of the company.
Discussion Questions
In this advertisement, Dell is basically saying 'buy our computer and it will make you look like a good person.' They appeal to consumers' ego more so than their actual compassion. This is shown by the fact that people are going out of their way to give the main character special attention solely based on the fact that his laptop is red. Traffic literally stops out of gratitude for this marvelous consumer. As you said, a beautiful woman kisses him out of nowhere, even though he might be not even be single or straight, but because this is the praise he deserves for purchasing a laptop in which a portion of the proceeds go to AIDS research. And I couldn't have even gathered that from the commercial itself either. I just still remember the (RED) campaign, even though I probably will forget it ever existed in a few more years. They just end the ad by saying "Buy Dell. Save Lives." If you're not even going to clarify what cause you're fighting against, you probably don't care that much. This is consumer exploitation at its finest.
ReplyDeleteThe advertisement definitely overlooks the AIDS aspect of (RED) Campaign. AIDS is almost framed in a light that both suggests its importance but, overlooks the true severity of the condition. During that year, people heard of the (RED) Campaign, and many were completely aware of its affiliation with AIDS but, this commercial merely alludes to the disease while driving home the consumerism aspect of society. In a way it seems that the DELL (RED) Campaign ad tried to alienate their possible consumers from the disease; making it almost like the disease only occurs in third world countries. By doing this, DELL manages to not address the disease as a while but, manages to solely focus upon the idea of true "purchase power." Maybe this is because DELL too does not truly know the point of the (RED) Campaign? This is a possibility due to the lack of health and promotional information provided in the advertisement.
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