Trace Analysis of Xbox Commercial
This text is a commercial text. This commercial is sponsored by Microsoft's Xbox that shows a baby popping out of his mother like a champagne cork and speeds rapidly through life then as an old man is sadly dumped in a grave, showing across a span of time a person is born to death. The commercial is arguing that life really just races by and lots of people don't play enough before they are very old and then dead. The message here is you can play no matter what age you are, and it's never too. This commercial is appropriate because it really captures the essence of how fast live goes by without you realizing, it since everyone is busy schooling or working and one has to make that effort to play often. However I think this commercial might be offensive to people who are bereaved, because to see a commercial make a mockery of death will not sit well with a lot of people especially if you just lost a loved one. The commercial would have been more appropriate and effective if they had ended it with an old wrinkled man sitting in a chair wandering how life just flushed by him.
This commercial was shown on television in the United Kingdom thus reaching a large number off target audience probably from boyhood all through manhood and even men at the later stages of life. Microsoft adapted its advertising campaign by trying to reach the male population of all ages. However the female population is not excluded entirely, but certainly directed more towards the male gene. This commercial came out in 2002 when Microsoft was employing very aggressive methods of TV marketing to make the most impact within the shortest time to increase awareness that you don't always have to go to the park or outside to play, you can play right in the comfort of your home. After watching this commercial anyone can relate to this, however the boys and men would have a stronger reaction when they just imagine their live flushing before them just as depicted in the advertisements than a female viewer would. I think males are more drawn naturally to games and how rewarding it feels than women that why this commercial will cause more of a stir for the males than the females. This commercial certainly is more for the western world because they can afford these gaming consoles as compared to developing countries, such as India, Africa etc.
The creator of this argument is an advertising company who sat down with their client Microsoft and was given the vision that Microsoft had in mind about who their target audiences were. However the creator who birthed this commercial might be someone who probably had spent most of his live schooling and working and missed out a lot in his life and thus he is able to channel all that frustration and regrets into this message so that others may not have to make the same mistake. He is probably an older man who has a lot of accomplishment but it was at the expense of his childhood and playing or having fun. This message truly comes across in the argument.
Constraining circumstances for this commercial might be the fact that at the time this commercial was aired in 2002 society was still used to the old fashioned way of playing for example, riding your bicycle outside, playing in the park, going for walks was the normal way to play and have fun. Till now lots of parents do not want their children playing video games, since some people have argued that it does not promote family time and can lead to obesity and cause other health issues. The author may have experienced a different challenge in developing this text, but I think the main constraint would be the ability to sell as many consoles through the power of the text/commercial for Microsoft in order to get their message across to the target population or the fact that he did not have much chance to play and life flew by him and he wanted everyone to have that chance to relax and play no matter where they were, at home in office or stuck in a hotel you can still play. Whatever the reason, the main constraint is to increase sale of Xbox consoles and games.
This argument is caused by the fact that there was and still is a market out for gaming consoles and there was a need to break through to the target audience in the most dramatic way that was acceptable at the time to get the message across and make people aware that you can play no matter your age. This issue is a reoccurring one, most people say that it promotes obesity, health issue etc. even though not presented in such a dramatic way as in 2002, but still very important as a lot of households started to redefine what play is and the demand for gaming consoles has indeed gone up, how they have incorporated it so that everyone boys, girls, men and women can play, exercise, run, walk dance etc. using a gaming console or more specifically the Xbox.
References:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-YV1ZlTFaY
1) First Year Writing: Perspectives on Argument. UTA 3rd Custom Edition
2) Irwin, A. Roland, & Gross, Alan M. (1995) Cognitive tempo, violent video games, and aggressive behavior in young boys. Journal of Family Violence, 10(3), 337-350.
3) BBC News Web site in UK.
4) http://www.questia.com/library/1P2-34677803/the-xbox-one-meet-microsoft-s-new-gaming-console