What is the Attraction of Dove Ad Legacy - Coursework Example

Analysis of Dove Legacy Video Ad Table of Contents I. Analysing the Dove Ad ‘Legacy’ 3 IV. Overall Persuasive Strategy 3 II. Rhetorical Appeals 4 III. Likeability and Authority: Cialdini’s Persuasion Principles 7 IV. Conclusion 8 References 10 I. Analysing the Dove Ad ‘Legacy’ The chosen ad is ‘Legacy’. The ad focuses on the stories of several mother and daughter pairs responding to a question on how they felt about their bodies. The daughters are young children, and the mothers are generally in the prime of life. Mothers are the target audience of this communication (Dove United States, 2014). IV. Overall Persuasive Strategy By asking mothers how they felt about their bodies, and then linking their feelings, perceptions, thoughts, attitudes and general orientation towards their bodies with how their daughters in turn felt about their bodies, the ad makes a powerful case for urging mothers to consider what they want to leave behind for their daughters as their part of their legacy. This is a powerful emotional appeal, given the obvious importance of the daughter in the lives of women as mothers. This is probably the woman’s strongest bond with any person. The implied message is that Dove cares about how they feel about their bodies and how the women are in relationship to the most important people in their lives, their children. Bringing mother and daughter together evokes positive and very intense feelings of love, and the intense feelings associated with motherhood and all that the bond implies. There is an obvious linking of all this powerful current of emotions with Dove, and how Dove wants to position itself as something that will make women feel beautiful and good about themselves and their bodies. There is the aspect too, of Dove being a part of what mothers can positively leave behind for their children as part of the mothers’ legacy to their children. The bigger legacy of course consists of positive vibes, happiness, being at home with one’s body, loving oneself and accepting oneself, that Dove represents (Dove United States, 2014) II. Rhetorical Appeals The key argumentation, in terms of Aristotle’s appeals, is the appeal to pathos, or the emotions. This is also an appeal to self-identity, the women’s interests relating to self (Writing Commons, 2014). As the literature on pathos suggests, and as the Dove ad demonstrates, this is a very powerful appeal. The very premise of the ad- that mothers pass on how they see and feel about themselves to the most important people in their lives, their children and their daughters- is inherently laden with powerful emotions (Kemp et al., 2012). The supporting ad elements, including the music, all work in concert to emphasise and enhance the appeal to pathos. This is by design. There is an attempt to on the part of the ad to appeal to the audience of the ad in the same way. In the same way that the ad elicits the emotional reaction of parents by linking the exercise to their young daughters, and saying that the daughters are affected by the mothers’ feelings about themselves, the ad also makes an appeal to the emotions as far as the audience is concerned. The buildup of the music cued to reach a crescendo towards the end is an obvious attempt to imprint a powerful and positive emotion to the hearts of the audience at the end of it, like in a movie. Moreover, the choice of adult mothers with young daughters as the participants in the ad is deliberate, as those constitute a major target market for Dove products. The appeal to the emotions work where the audience is able to identify with the characters in a movie, a book, a story, and here an ad (Kemp and Kopp, 2011). The race mix of the mothers also makes sure that the different target market ethnicities are included, to make sure too that the different members of the target market are able to identify with the mothers in the ad. There is an Asian mother, an African American mother, and three Caucasian mothers (DeSteno et al., 2004). The appeal to the emotion further works by showing that the women were likable, people that the target audience of the ad can relate to and empathise with. Mothers relate to other women who are like this, who show their human side, their problems and insecurities, as well as their natural grace and their sense of self-acceptance (Flanagin and Metzger 2008). The African American woman looks beefy, but she is beautiful and she seems to be confident about her face and her smile, and at home in her body. A Caucasian mother views her thighs as too big, but flips that and says that they are strong. The Asian mother has issues with her nose and her eyes, another mother seems to have some insecurities about her eyes too (Griskevicius et al., 2009). Furthermore, the appeal to the emotion works on another level, by portraying the mothers and daughters in a very positive light (Purdue University, 2014). The ad makes the powerful assumption that women love their daughters, and this love is powerful, beyond measure, something that is a powerful undercurrent to the whole exercise. They will do anything for their daughters, and will address issues about their sense of self and how they view their bodies. The ad shows the women in very comfortable surroundings, they are at their best ,and so are the children. They are comfortable in their motherhood, and their relationships with their daughters are healthy, positive, healing. By portraying the women and the daughters in this light, the appeal to the emotions has a chance to work its magic and to convince the mothers in the end to regard Dove as the brand that allows them to connect with themselves and with their children in this very powerful, emotionally positive way (Seijts and Farrell, 2003). The subliminal message of course is that Dove understands women as mothers, and Dove understands women and their powerful relationship with themselves and with their daughters in the emotional sense (Writing Commons, 2014). The appeal to the emotions works on this level too, that Dove bypasses the rational appeal to strike at the heart of what is most important to women on this emotional and relational level (Newman 2010). By doing so Dove too makes a powerful emotional connection with the women (Dove United States, 2014). Finally, there is the element in the ad of the setting and the general feel of the ad, that strikes one as being something straight out of an Oprah Winfrey talk show episode, from the presentation of the set, to the presentation of the women and children. This establishes a level of familiarity and trust, which are also stages for a successful appeal to pathos (Gunelius, 2010). III. Likeability and Authority: Cialdini’s Persuasion Principles The above discussion hints at two principles in Cialdini that are in operation in the Dove ad. First, the Dove brand itself hints at the authority that lies behind the ad. The people behind the ad are throwing the weight of the brand Dove on the ad, and the ad message with an air of authority and credibility (Mind Tools, 2014). Second, there is the operation of liking as a persuasive principle. In the ad the casting was done in such a way that the important target market of women who are mothers is represented fairly by members from different ethnic backgrounds. The women are presented in the best light. In terms of Cialdini the insight is that people will likely relate and buy from people that they buy, that are part of their group and shares their motivations, values and characteristics. By employing mothers who are dressed well, are beautiful in their own way, but also ordinary in the sense that they have physical flaws and are just like the rest of the women in the target market , not celebrities but ordinary mothers, the ad makes it possible for the target audience of mothers to relate to and like the ad. So too, the presence of young daughters immediately raises the level of emotional engagement between first the mothers and the children, and the audience. This is a very vital emotional relationship and the ad captures it and presents it in such a way as to elicit very positive and uplifting emotions at the end. It leaves the audience feeling good about themselves and the time that they spent watching the ad. The ad itself is very likable in this way. This being so, the audience is more likely to buy the ad message and like the Dove brand too (Kenrick, 2012). IV. Conclusion The above discussion makes clear that the appeal to the emotions, by making the ad very relatable and likeable, and by making a strong emotional connection with the audience, by referencing powerful mother daughter bonds, the concept of legacy and the maternal instinct to love and to provide their daughters with positive images of self, the ad is able to gain powerful persuasive force (Newman, 2010; Kenrick, 2012). References DeSteno, D. et al. (2004). Discrete Emotions and Persuasion: The Role of Emotion-Induced Expectancies. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 86 (1). [online]. Available at: http://ecbiz76.inmotionhosting.com/~social39/page5/files/DeSteno.Petty.etal.2004.pdf [accessed 3/12/2014]. Dove United States (2014). Legacy. YouTube. [online]. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pqknd1ohhT4 [accessed 3/12/2014] . Flanagin, A. and Metzger, M. (2008). Digital Media and Youth: Unparalleled Opportunity and Unprecedented Responsibility. MIT. [online]. Available at: http://www.comm.ucsb.edu/faculty/flanagin/CV/FlanaginMetzger2008%28DMYCch1%29.pdf [accessed 3/12/2014]. Griskevicius, V. et al. (2009). Fear and Loving in Las Vegas: Evolution, Emotion and Persuasion. J Mark Res 46 (3). [online]. Available at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2735890/ [accessed 3/12/2014]. Gunelius, S. (2010). 10 Common- and Effective- Emotional Triggers. Entrepreneur. [online]. Available at: http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/205240 [accessed 3/12/2014]. Kemp, E. and Kopp. S. (2011). 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Available at: http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/six-principles-influence.htm [accessed 3/12/2014]. Newman, A. (2010). Using Appeals to Emotion to Sell Paint. The New York Times. [online]. Available at: http://cba.lmu.edu/media/lmucollegeofbusinessadministration/cbafaculty/facultyresearch/The%20Role%20of%20Advertisign.pdf [accessed 3/12/2014]. Purdue University (2014). Using Rhetorical Strategies for Persuasion. OWL Online Writing Lab. [online]. Available at: https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/588/04/ [accessed 3/12/2014]. Seijts, G. and Farrell, G. (2003). Engage the Heart: Appealing to Emotions Facilitates Change. Ivey Business Journal. [online]. Available at: http://iveybusinessjournal.com/topics/leadership/engage-the-heart-appealing-to-the-emotions-facilitates-change#.VIDrVDlnr8M [accessed 3/12/2014]. Writing Commons (2014). Rhetorical Appeals. WritingCommons.org. [online]. Available at: http://writingcommons.org/open-text/information-literacy/rhetorical-analysis/rhetorical-appeals [accessed 3/12/2014]. Read More