Red Bull is a company that consistently looks to appeal to a certain type of customer. It is looking, principally, to appeal to people who want energy. With that in mind, many of its advertisements focus on the ability of the company to provide energy and power to people who need it the most. One of its recent advertisements features Albert Einstein, and in this ad, the uses ethos and logos to craft a convincing message while asking the consumer to bring considerable knowledge and information to the table in understanding the ad.
Red Bull uses ethos in a considerable way in trying to connect to its customers. According to Aristotle’s principles of rhetoric, ethos refers to the credibility of the advertisement and the connection that it has with an audience. In short, ethos refers to the reasons why the audience should believe the advertisement. In a very obvious way, the advertisement seeks to establish its ethos by associating Red Bull’s method with very smart people. Albert Einstein is one of the smartest men to ever walk the earth. While most people would probably not be able to identify a modern scientist, the majority of people who view this advertisement will have some idea of who Einstein was. Even if they do not know what he did, they will associate him and his work with intelligence. The ad explicitly says, “Einstein agrees,” in order to establish the concept that very smart people agree that Red Bull can help to provide its drinkers with the kind of energy that they are looking for. In doing so, it hopes to build a sort of credibility that will help consumers trust that Red Bull is going to do what it says it is going to do.
Use your promo and get a custom paper on
"Advertisement Analysis".
In addition, the ad uses logos in a very important way. Logos refers to appeals to logic that can make a consumer think. The advertisement provides its argument in a very simple way. It starts with the implicit proposition that people drinking Red Bull are looking for more energy. It then communicates that Red Bull is the kind of thing that produces energy. The conclusion to be drawn from those premises is that a people should drink Red Bull. If it is true that they want energy, and it is also true that Red Bull provides energy, then it is true that consumers should buy into their product. This meshes quite well with the appeal to ethos, as incorporating logic while presenting a picture of Einstein solving an equation is a natural fit in the ad.
One of the interesting things about the advertisement is that it asks the consumer to bring a tremendous amount of knowledge to the table. For one, the consumer needs to know who Einstein is. Without the understanding and information that Einstein is a smart man, why would it matter if the consumer disagreed with him? In addition, it assumed that there is an implicit desire of individuals to get energy by drinking Red Bull. In addition, part of the ad is visual. The ad uses the equation, “E=MC2” in order to appeal to the idea that Einstein is an authority on energy. While one does not need to be a physics major in order to get the implication there, it is exceedingly helpful if a person knows that this particular equation has something to do with energy. Without these sub-texts of knowledge, it is difficult for the consumer to grasp the totality of the message, and the message loses a major portion of its effectiveness.
