Sunday, January 27, 2008

Advertisement


This is an advertisement from American Express. It is one of the many ads from the My life, My card series. The writing is as follows:
My name: Kate Winslet
childhood ambition: to act
fondest memory: Camping as a child in Cornwall U.K.
soundtrack: Rufus Wainwright "Poses"
retreat: Any beach. Anywhere!
wildest dream: A cure for breast cancer
proudest moment: Giving birth to my children
biggest challenge: My job alarm clock: My son perfect day: Sunday lunch with all the family in England first job: A kids cereal commercial indulgence: Chocolate last purchase: Latte and a muffin inspiration: My parents My life: Is my family My card: is American Express. The audience for this ad is women. Women who have children or who idolize Kate Winslet. The purpose of the ad is to get people, specifically women from the ages of 25-45, to buy American Express cards. The rhetoric used is a mixture of pathos and ethos. The creators wanted an emotional connection and Kate accomplished that by talking about her family, which is the pathos aspect to the ad. Using Kate Winslet is the ethos element to the ad. I believe the ad successfully accomplished what it was targeted for. Everybody loves Kate. She's a great actress and she hasn't really had any bad press. Kate talks about her family and finding a cure for breast cancer which really hits home for a lot of women. She is a great pick for selling the card to that particular audience. This isn't really saying overly much about our society. People buying a credit card or some other product just because a celebrity endorses it is not something to brag about. Practically every company uses celebrities to sell their products and people buy them because that celebrity says they're great. This gives off the impression that our society can't think for themselves, that we have to be told what to buy.

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