The little Vader makes his way across the house as he attempts to use the force on miscellaneous objects while accompanied by the Star Wars theme music. Failing to elicit a response from a dog, a washing machine, and several lifeless objects, the little Vader sits at the kitchen counter, flustered. As his father pulls into the driveway with a 2012 Volkswagen Passat, little Vader dashes into the driveway while dodging a hug from his father. With all the concentration he can muster, the little Vader directs his arms at the car as he tries to turn it on. Seeing this, the boy’s father starts the car with the touch of a button. Shocked the little Vader staggers back, aghast. Initially, I felt a sense of hilarity while watching this ad. This emotion stuck throughout and does not change even after the ad is over. Most importantly, the use of comedy in this ad resulted in me remembering it, making it an effective advertisement. This Volkswagen Passat commercial uses ethos, pathos, and logos to make it such a successful advertisement. The ad uses these rhetorical strategies with different levels of effectiveness, however. In my opinion, the strongest of the three techniques is the use of pathos. This commercial is a prime example of pathos being utilized to persuade an audience. Pathos is the use of emotion to persuade the audience and this ad evokes a number of different emotions. I feel like the most effective emotion is humor. Watching the little Vader trying to use the force was priceless to watch. I remember seeing this commercial during the super bowl with my friends. We all laughed out loud when we saw the little Vader chasing his dog down the hallway with his hands aimed at the dog. The funniest part of the commercial comes at the end when the father turns the car on. Seeing the little Vader astounded at the car was even more hilarious than the rest of the commercial. Another emotion used in the commercial is adoration. One cannot help but find the little Vader irresistibly endearing. The use of these emotions would most likely appeal to adults with families. It is a car commercial, so it obviously is not tailored toward children since they do not buy cars. The fact that the people featured in the commercial are a family suggests that the intended audience is family oriented people. Personally, I found pathos to be the most effective rhetorical strategy used in this ad. The reason I believe this is, other than the fact the ad is supremely humorous, is that it is simply better than the other two. Ethos, while effective, doesn’t persuade the audience as well. The reason I say this is because the chances are that a portion of the intended audience doesn’t really like Darth Vader or the Star Wars music. Most people, however, have the ability to laugh and this commercial is successful in making most individuals at least chuckle. Due to the fact that the use of humor and adoration are so effectively used, I find pathos to be the most effective technique.
The commercial uses the techniques of ethos in addition to pathos. The use of the exceptionally popular Darth Vader is an example of ethos. By using a well-known character, the ad helps persuade viewers to buy the car. The use of Darth Vader attracts attention because the intended audience is familiar with the character. Additionally, the use of the young child is considered ethos. Using a young Darth Vader as opposed to the regular Darth Vader makes more sense because the younger version represents innocence, as well as ignorance, which is what makes the commercial so amusing. So in a way the ethos makes the pathos more successful. Ethos is most effective in actually strengthening the pathos of the ad by the use of the characters. This use of ethos also helps us understand that the intended audience is adults. Darth Vader was a popular figure that first emerged in the 1970s. This suggests that it is meant to appeal to adults since this a character that they grew up with. While using ethos effectively, pathos is still the most effective in my opinion. With that in mind, I believe the use of ethos in this ad is superior to its use of logos.
The use of logos is not as apparent as the use of pathos and ethos, but does still exist in the advertisement. Logos is the use of reason to persuade the audience. The only use of logos that I was able to identify was when the father uses the button to start the car from a distance. This is logos because it demonstrates a function of the car. Most other cars do not have the ability to start remotely, so this is something that may persuade the audience that this car is better than its competitors. Personally, I found logos to be the weakest of the strategies used. The reason for this is solely because there is a lack of factual evidence used in the commercial. The use of the button to turn the car on from far away is appealing, but ultimately when the commercial concludes, people will remember the humor of the commercial more than anything else.
While this ad utilized all three rhetorical strategies of ethos, pathos, and logos the one that is the most effective in the end is pathos. The reason I feel this way is because the humor of the commercial is unparalleled by anything else in the commercial. Ethos is used effectively by drawing in the audience with the popular icon, Darth Vader, but simply isn’t as persuasive as the comedy within the commercial. These two rhetorical strategies show us that the intended audience is family oriented adults. Logos is visibly the weakest simply because it has little factual evidence. In the end, pathos is the clear winner of the three because it is what the audience will remember the most.