Free Critical Thinking About Rhetorical Analysis: Pepsi Commercial

Almost every day, consumers are exposed to visual materials and advertisements that deploy rhetorical devises, language, and symbols in order to create meaning and draw people into the products being shown. Advertisements bombard consumers in newspapers and magazines as well as on the television and on the internet. While many people become irked by the ubiquity of these advertisements, the ads nonetheless retain a didactic function for those studying rhetorical strategies and elements. Indeed, advertisements themselves visually articulate an argument, as they contain assumptions, logical fallacies, certain kinds of appeals, and of course, claims (Effinger). Written text combined with certain symbols and visual elements are woven together in order to construct a meaningful and persuasive argument. Moreover, advertising appeals to the ethos, logos, an pathos in a synergistic manner (Tom and Eves). Unique and creative in content and strategy, this Pepsi advertisement depicts a young American boy who seeks to immerse himself in a serene, calm, historical setting located in an Asian community, seemingly a Chinese monk community. It provides a compelling argument in order to convince the viewer that purchasing Pepsi will gain a foreigner acceptance in a foreign land while also paradoxically boosting the health of the consumer. Although rife with logical fallacies, this commercial nonetheless is a provocative yet prime example of how advertisers utilize elements of rhetoric in order to persuade the consumer to buy the product regardless of their preconceptions of Pepsi being an unhealthy and westernized beverage.
This advertisement depicts Pepsi as an international brand that forges together a sense of an imagined community between members of unequivocally disparate cultures and societies. The young American boy/teenager acculturates himself into a Chinese monk community because Pepsi empowers him and facilitates his acceptance into this society in which he clearly does not naturally belong to. Moreover, it addresses the current obesity epidemic that has forced soda companies such as Pepsi to alter their marketing strategy and highlight its potential of facilitating the elimination of childhood obesity, which has wracked an already strained healthcare system in the United States. This commercial projects Pepsi as a product that is not harmful to human health, so people should continue drinking it. Marketers infused comedy into this commercial in order to further appeal to a general audience, especially the younger generations. Monks are renowned for embracing an austere and nutritious, and strenuous lifestyle that is seemingly antithetical to an American diet where the consumption of calorie-filled drinks such as Pepsi is commonplace. Thus, the marketers deploy monks in order to show that people can remain fit while also consuming Pepsi and whose quotidian activities are governed by an unhealthy product, which the symbol imprinted on their foreheads reinforces. They also depict Pepsi as a drink consumed during celebration rather than alcohol as the prototypical celebratory beverage. Ultimately, the advertisement targets and manipulates an international audience comprised of people of different religious and ethnic backgrounds in order to convince them to purchase and consume a beverage that adversely affects their health.

Works Cited

Effinger, Sandra. "Rhetoric for Beginners: Using Advertisements to Introduce Rhetoric." Web. 26 Jan. 2015. <http://mseffie.com/AP/Advertising Rhetoric.pdf>.
Funny Pepsi Commercial. In Pepsi. America. YouTube. 2014.
Effinger, Sandra. "Rhetoric for Beginners: Using Advertisements to Introduce Rhetoric." Web. 26 Jan. 2015. <http://mseffie.com/AP/Advertising Rhetoric.pdf>.