After the Cavs upset the Lakers for the second time this season last night, I thought this commercial would be appropriate.
The previous commercial aired on Thanksgiving 2008 to promote the release of Lebron James' new shoe, the Nike Zoom VI. Though lacking in dialogue, I believe it's very successful in drawing the viewer in and getting Nike's point across. To demonstrate this point, I'll show how it appeals to each of the three central points of rhetoric. The most obvious would be the use of ethos. Lebron is the third most known athlete in sports today. He has taken the Cavs from one of the worst teams in basketball to a title contender. However, if that isn't enough for you, the likes of international superstar Lil Wayne can also be seen in the video. I believe this use of ethos can then be related to the logos. One might think, if Lebron is wearing these shoes and he’s an amazing basketball player, I could be just as good if I wore them too! Although we all know this fact isn’t true, most people will still believe they’ll have some added athletic advantage if they wear his shoe. But not only is Lebron playing in the shoe, they also show a female high school athlete performing at a high level wearing them. Finally, the commercial may influnce one’s pathos through the use of the talcum powder throw. Everyone in the video is tossing up powder, no matter where they are, and they’re excited about it. The trademark throw by Lebron alone is enough to evoke emotion in most sports fans. By influencing your emotions and getting you excited about the shoe, along with a little help from Lebron, Nike hopes to persuade you into buying their product.
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I had a student who did a primary source analysis on this advert last quarter, and he told me that Lil Wayne is a HUGE fan of Kobe Bryant and even wrote a song about him, which makes his participation in this advert amusing.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, you've done an amazing job explaining how the logos, pathos and ethos works in this advert. I think that, like all Nike ads, it's very carefully constructed to make all three appeals successfully.