Are You in Good Hands?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtP-S9OS0o0&p=F7311E58999A0576&playnext=1&index=68

Emily Krebs

RA #2: TV Commercial (All-State)

September 17, 2010

Word Count: 402

1. Argument: All-State Insurance cares about you and will protect you from mayhem.
2. Audience: All car drivers who need car insurance, who don’t like their current car insurance, or who are considering changing their car insurance.  The audience is also probably older and concerned about young drivers.
3. Goal: To convince the audience that All-State Insurance is the best car insurance and to get the audience to buy All-State insurance.
4. How:
1. Pathos: The man acting as a young teenage girl (i.e. driving a pink SUV, wearing pink sunglasses, texting on a pink cell phone) appeals to our humor.  Because the commercial makes us laugh we are more likely to continue watching it and to have good feelings about the product that they are selling.  The man is concerned about trivial things (Becky kissing Johnny) while driving, which is something that appeals to our own experiences and to our sense of humor. 
2. Logos: The last line of the commercial is “dollar for dollar, no body protects you like all-state.”  This appeals to our logic because we want to know if they really can protect us better.  The dramatic demonstration of a teenage girl running into us makes us wonder if that would be covered under our own insurance. While it isn’t a strong appeal to logic, it does make us consider other options as opposed to our own “cut-rate insurance.”
3. Sufficient: While this commercial is funny and represents a real situation, it doesn’t provide a lot of evidence for All-state insurance.  While it encourages us to have insurance, the benefits of All-State over other insurance companies are lacking.
4. Relevant: This dramatic representation of what really happens with teen drivers is definitely relevant to the audience.  Most drivers are concerned about young drivers and even new laws have been made about telephone use in cars because of the danger it is.  Thus, appealing to real life situations is very relevant and connects to the audience.
5. Effectiveness: I think this commercial is very effective.  It is short enough and funny enough that it doesn’t annoy us when it comes on.  Also, the humor appeal is a smart one for many products because everyone loves to laugh.  Also, representing a real situation about young drivers appeals to many drivers who have personal experience (through themselves, their children, or their friends) with young drivers doing silly things while driving.