The position that this Old Spice commercial is arguing us to take is woman who seek out a male wearing this product will be apart of his lavish and elaborate lifestyle of traveling and sight-seeing. He will be able to take her to a tropical island, a mountain peak, or to his fancy bachelor pad for a romantic night with chocolate fondu all because he chooses this type of antiperspirant. Right. While describing these luxurious places him and his woman will go, he uses keywords like "friendship" and "trust," which implies to the viewer that not only is he wealthy and established, but he is a worthwhile partner as well. So basically, if he smells good, he will be good for you too. This concept plays off of the social construction that implies money will buy your happiness and satisfaction in a relationship, and even life. Also, the rhetoric in this ad is fairly convincing. The actor is very excited and confident when talking about Old Spice, which is a great technique when try to be persuasive. His voice gets higher and louder when he is talking about going on top of a mountain with him and then slower and quieter, seductive like, when talking about staying in for the night. So ladies, don't forget to ask him what type of deodorant he wears before you let him take you out on a date.
Here, in 'the most interesting man in the world,' and in lots of other ads, the controlling 'trope' is irony. 'Hey, we know all about cheesy, overstated ads, and we're so cool we can make fun of them.'
ReplyDeleteOK, BUT YOU'RE WATCHING IT! How's this 'position us'?