Man's Last Commercial
Nicholas Jens Sorensen
Man’s Last Commercial
“Man’s Last Stand” was a commercial advert that first aired in 2010 during the Super Bowl. This advert was released by Dodge to promote their newest model of Dodge Chargers. By targeting such a small, select audience – which is thankfully getting smaller and smaller by the day – Dodge ended up having to make apologies instead of selling cars. This commercial ended up becoming so controversial, that it could be said to be “visual rhetoric gone wrong”. A majority of this commercial is auditory messages. While zoomed in on the faces of miserable-looking men, Michael C. Hall’s voice sounds, acting as the inner voices of these miserable husbands. The inner voice is listing a series of “I will’s” to the wives of these miserable husbands. The “I Will’s” include the following: “I will get up and walk the dog at 6:30 A.M… I will say yes when you want me to say yes… I will listen to your opinions of my friends… I will be civil to your mother… I will put the seat down… and because I do this, I will drive the car I want to drive.” As soon as he says this, the music picks up speed, and there is a short montage of a Dodge Charger recklessly stunt driving on the highway. This commercial attempted to target men and convince them that they deserve a Dodge Charger because of all the things that they do for their wives. And because of all the things that she asks him to do on a regular basis, he deserves to do something for himself and buy a sports car. Now, this advert can be broken up into three main targeting schemes: The generalization of the Male and Female sex, Males’ primal instincts to be dominant/independent, and Males’ need to be empowered. By generalizing the male sex as they did in this commercial, the target audience suddenly becomes middle-aged, working-class, married men. Not only that, but the target audience becomes middle-aged-working-class-married-men who do not appreciate/respect their wives like they
Man’s Last Commercial
“Man’s Last Stand” was a commercial advert that first aired in 2010 during the Super Bowl. This advert was released by Dodge to promote their newest model of Dodge Chargers. By targeting such a small, select audience – which is thankfully getting smaller and smaller by the day – Dodge ended up having to make apologies instead of selling cars. This commercial ended up becoming so controversial, that it could be said to be “visual rhetoric gone wrong”. A majority of this commercial is auditory messages. While zoomed in on the faces of miserable-looking men, Michael C. Hall’s voice sounds, acting as the inner voices of these miserable husbands. The inner voice is listing a series of “I will’s” to the wives of these miserable husbands. The “I Will’s” include the following: “I will get up and walk the dog at 6:30 A.M… I will say yes when you want me to say yes… I will listen to your opinions of my friends… I will be civil to your mother… I will put the seat down… and because I do this, I will drive the car I want to drive.” As soon as he says this, the music picks up speed, and there is a short montage of a Dodge Charger recklessly stunt driving on the highway. This commercial attempted to target men and convince them that they deserve a Dodge Charger because of all the things that they do for their wives. And because of all the things that she asks him to do on a regular basis, he deserves to do something for himself and buy a sports car. Now, this advert can be broken up into three main targeting schemes: The generalization of the Male and Female sex, Males’ primal instincts to be dominant/independent, and Males’ need to be empowered. By generalizing the male sex as they did in this commercial, the target audience suddenly becomes middle-aged, working-class, married men. Not only that, but the target audience becomes middle-aged-working-class-married-men who do not appreciate/respect their wives like they