Assignment #3

The advertisement I chose was a commercial aired during the baseball playoffs on TBS. It was an under armour commercial and it started by showing many professional athletes training with all of this high tech equipment. They were of course decked out in under armour gear and the camera zoomed in close at the various clothing and equipment they were wearing showing off the under armour logo (i.e. shoes, cleats, skull caps, tight fit under shirts, shorts, etc.). All of the athletes then assembled under a skyscraper and an enormous football player went to the top of the building and gave a speech in his low raspy football player voice. It pumped the rest of the athletes up to do better and his last line was, "we are the best, we are under armour, the fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuture is ours!!!!" Then the congregation jumped up and down and went crazy.

The speaker was the under armour company. The message was to buy under armour gear and equipment.

The target audience was athletes looking to buy sports apparel and equipment and other athletes who are using a different brand of sporting goods and clothing to switch over to under armour. They targeted this audience because the people they used in the commercial are professional athletes themselves and are sponsored by under armour. They made it look appealing because all of the athletes are huge and ripped. They made them look sweaty to enhance their muscles and to show that the best athletes wear and use under armour stuff. The under armour company wouldn't target people who aren't athletes because there is no need for them to use under armour equipment.

Ethos- I think the ethos was done very well in this ad. The person who talked was a very well known professional football player for the Baltimore Ravens named Ray Lewis. Any person who is interested in sports knows of him and when he spoke people recognized that he endorses under armour. Because he is so ripped, the skin tight apparel made him look so sweet. This caught the audiences eye because they would think that if they wear under armour apparel too, they will look like him and be able to show their muscles off. Nike makes similar products but under armour has cool designs on the outside which sets under armour apart from nike. The audience notices this and it looks cool. At the end of the commercial, Ray Lewis gives a speech saying that under armour is the future. If he says it, shouldn't we wear it?

Pathos- Many emotions were felt while watching this advertisement. The music was hard core metal that would pump you up before an athletic event. This emotion of a somewhat adrenaline rush made me want to get up and go do something physical. It got my heart going and kept me interested in what was coming up. When the athletes were training in abnormal ways, such as running with chains attached to tires, doing pull ups on electrical wires, and other ways, an emotion felt was aggresiveness. You wanted to be them and do what they are doing and take what they have. Their opportunities, their body, their job, and all of their equipment.

Logos- Uder armour used simple logic when making this commercial. Some things they used was that if professional athletes use under armour gear, shouldn't the normal athlete? It is obvious that if they are going to use under armour, it makes them better and in order to improve your personal game, it is important to do everything like the pros. One simple thing is to wear what they wear. That is simple logic and it persuades people to buy under armour gear.

This ad was extremely effective for the intended audience. It used quality ethos, pathos, and logos to persuade me to want to purchase under armour products to better my game.