Skip to main content

Metrecal's Pathos

In order to persuade the audience to purchase their product, the Metrecal Advertisement strongly uses pathos.  As the advertisement starts off, the viewers are presented with multiple angles of "slim, trim" people.  These happy and fit people paired with the jovial music evoke feelings of envy from the viewer.  As these "slim and trim" people joke as they gather around the Metrecal Advertisement, it is meant for the viewer to view their happiness as a result of the Metrecal drinks.  The next shot is one of an attractive women taking a sip from her 'Dutch chocolate' flavored Metrecal drink, which then evokes a sense of curiosity from the viewer.  This sense of curiosity is then built upon as they introduce a total of 14 flavors, allowing these diet drinks to taste just like the milkshakes viewers would indulge in.  This drink is made even more appealing as the shot is switched to the same women from before lunging on the couch looking happy and 'trim'.  This pathos ends with the Metrecal drinks eating a hearty meal of meat and potatoes but still being able to lose weight and look slim and trim.  Overall, the use of pathos takes advantage of one curiosity into tricking them into purchasing their Metrecal drinks. 

Comments

  1. Good analysis of appeals to pathos, especially the "Dutch Chocolate" advertisement, as this would spark curiosity for an exotic sounding milkshake, especially when an attractive woman is endorsing the drink. You could've put in more links though, like maybe a link to the 14 flavors Metrecal introduced. Also you should include at least 1 image in all your posts, as the first image appears in the thumbnail on the homepage, making your blog look more interesting. Dakota

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Metrecal's Audience

In the (Diet Drink) - Metrecal Commercial (1965) , it promotes a new and sweet way of losing weight: through a protein-filled milkshake. While doing this, it seeks to gain the interest of different groups, in which it succeeded. The commercial first begins by saying, “Here they come. The slim ones. The trim ones. Who are they?” By beginning the commercial with physical descriptions of the people, the author immediately catches the attention of two audiences: People who are slim and people who desire to be slim. This is because if a slim or trim person is watching this advertisement, they would be eager to know how the author identifies the slim and trim ones; as it relates to them. The second audience, those who desire to be slim, will be curious to know why there is a commercial specifically being made about slim and trim people. Moving forward, the author of the piece then says, “They’re the Metrecal for lunch bunch.” At this point, the author is appealing to those who yearn to belon...

SlimFast - Yes I Did

The SlimFast “Yes I Did” commercial promotes the use of the SlimFast beverage in combination with either a regulated or lenient diet plan, for the ultimate goal of fast and dramatic weight loss. It begins with the phrase, “Millions of people just like you have lost weight fast.” Audience is immediately established as anyone viewing the commercial, and the product is rendered accessible and effective. Because of the diction, specifically the use of the general ‘you’, the viewers become the subjects of the advertisement and the audience is broadened to an unlimited group. This effect also invites those viewers that are skeptical of or intimidated by the weight loss process to consider the SlimFast method, or at the very least listen to the advertisement. The next audience description are the statements that discuss the methods of weight loss. In the commercial, different ways such as “snacking it off” and “blending it off”, are included in order to further broaden the audience and relat...

What is SlimFast Even About?

The commercial, SlimFast - Yes I did, is a relatively simple commercial.  It opens with people dancing to a song while holding various SlimFast products. They all act very happy and excited, presumably because of the weight loss items they have. The people in this commercial are all attractive and are there to make customers think that they too can become attractive if they use these products to lose weight. This rhetorical situation, or Kairos, is one many Americans are familiar with. Since the later half of the 1900's, people were viewed as attractive only if they didn't exceed a certain weight. Because of this, many companies started looking into selling weight loss supplements. Today these are sold in many different forms such as food, drinks, and pills. Over the decades, weight loss products have become very popular in American culture. The weight loss industry makes upwards of 40 billion dollars a year, and even though there is evidence that the weight loss industry is lo...