Assignment on Critical Analysis of Commercials

Running head: CRITICAL THINKING COMMERCIAL
-
Critical Analysis of Commercials
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author Note:

1
CRITICAL THINKING COMMERCIAL
Part 1:
The persuasive and effective commercial Analysis:
Advertisement Chosen: Axe "Find your magic" campaign
The advertisement begins with a bang on music and man with a pointed nose, a lean physic
and a wicked smile is with a lady in the car and there is a big digital screen in front of them
where a muscular well built man showing on his six pack abs. The narrative begins in the
background with a strong voiceover saying who needs abs when you got the nose? And then
it moves on breaking one after the other age old taboos associated with masculinity, gender
bias and the labels of perfection and beauty. Finally the advertisement reaches it climax when
a man is seen sporting heels, a pink dress and showing some extremely fascinating dance
moves to men making pizza dough expression love for the same gender and most importantly
feeling comfortable in their own skin. Finally the narrative needs with a saying “who needs
the other thing when you got your thing” (Axe, 2016)
Premise-conclusion Approach:
The first and forest striking feature of this ad is that 33 year old brand finally gives up its
notion than “Sex sells” and concentrates on the bigger picture of celebrating the individuality
and finding magic in one’s real self. This radical shift was driven by a simple understanding
that Axe with its stereotypical presentation of men had stopped attracting its consumers.
Hence “find your magic” campaign was an effort to renovate the brand’s image. Be it men
sporting pink dresses, showing attraction towards the same gender, making pizza dough or
dancing in heels the visual does stand out and creates the impact ("Case study: How Axe
redefined masculinity", 2020) “Find your magic” is more of an action campaign rather than
just selling a product because it intends to bring a significant change in the society, convey a
message which is quite necessary to break the stereotype and aims to being a revolution. It is

2
CRITICAL THINKING COMMERCIAL
no doubt related to a product however there is definitely a big picture behind it which tells a
greater story of a positive change.
Identifying the use of ethos, pathos, and logos in the commercial.
The use of ethos which basically surrounds around using popular faces to cater the necessary
audience connect has not been central to this advertisement rather the focus is on using
ordinary faces of the mass to make it more authentic. The use of pathos which basically deals
with the emotional connect is well built in the narrative and works wonders where as the
concept of logo or the presence logic or reasoning is again well attributed with the choice of
the background voice, the placement and angle of each visual shot and the use of an
appropriate music (Toppano & Toppano, 2014).
Suggestion:
 Small visual in-texting in the shots might stand helpful in understanding the narrative
much well as it goes quite fast
 Adding a call-to-action appeal the end of this advertisement might make it more
persuasive for the audience
Part-2:
The Less Persuasive and ineffective Advertisement:
Advertisement Chosen: Heineken 2018 'Lighter is better' advertisement
This 30 seconds commercial begins with a bar tender having a binoculars in his hand and
is looking at a beautiful “white” lady and then spins a beer bottle and slides it to reach her.
Then the bottle is seen sliding through tables, streets, and finally stopping right near the glass
of that lady. There is peppy music playing behind and the commercial ends with the note,
“Lighter is better” (Heineken 2018 'Lighter is better', 2018)