Analysis of The Call of Duty Advertisement in Terms of The Modes of Persuasion

Gunshots, helicopters, explosions, a war-ridden city and an old-timey song from the cold war era are some of the first things been hear or seen in the ad. The ad connects to the targeted audience with status symbols, fears, values, populists and elitist’s views and inspires a feeling that by playing their video game, they will be able to bring out their inner soldier. Even though teenagers and children do play the game, the audience is subjectively more focused on adults because of the graphic content of the game. Having actors who are old (not teenagers or children), different races and genders and dressed in cloth for a plethora of various professions shows that the game has a broad audience. Therefore, these values make the target audience to be more pressed to purchase the game.

The advertisement “Call of Duty There’s a Soldier in All of Us” is a 60 second television spot from Omnicom Group’s TBWA/Chiat/Day, Los Angeles. The advertisement is one for a video game and does not provide anything that has to do with the actual game. What the advertisement does is to use people who star in the ad from different walks of life. Included in the advertisement is a businesswoman, a hotel concierge, a Best Buy worker, a fast food employee and two celebrities NBA star Kobe Bryant and talk-show host Jimmy Kimmel that are all shooting guns while the music of the Rolling Stones is playing. What the producer were trying to achieve was to provide the real life experience of how it would be playing the game. They also use real life people to show it can be played by people of all ages. Instead of showing the game they are showing people playing the game and what it feels like. The commercial does not show groups of people but it shows individual in each segment.

Along with the elitist perspective of Jack Solomon, the ad shows his populist understanding of the American people to the audience targeted. In the ad, this can be seen mostly when the angle of the camera switches to the various actors cooperating together in a group. By cooperating in the group, the actors are alike and equal. This means that they are similar to any person irrespective of their various demographics and backgrounds. When the target audience sees this, they automatically think of their friends and consider themselves to individuals that have fears and values similar to themselves.

The commercial used logos, ethos, and pathos “are modes of persuasion used to convince audiences as they are also referred to as the three artistic proofs and are all represented by Greek words”. The people who made the commercial appeal to logos showing a woman in a purple shirt and the look on her face as she is firing the shotgun. This is appealing to other business women to play the game. This is true with all the different people from the different walks of life including celebrities. The people in the commercial are all dress as normal people which are humorous as they are acting like they are fighting a war. This is incorporating the pathos in a comedic way as the contrast between comedy and violence. At one point the hotel concierge picks up the phone and yells “Concierge” in the middle of the shootout.

The appeal to ethos is because people are able to identify with people in the commercial as they represent similarities to themselves. The ethos shows real people dressed in their day jobs and they are used as an example of people who are viewing the game and can play the game. The two celebrities are used to show it does not matter what social status the person is in they can play the game.

The use of familiar music as in the case of the Rolling Stones song and other classic rock music used for adults that have listened to this music before but also for teenagers who listen to this music. What the music does is to create unity among generations as people all relate to music and give the atmosphere drama. The music gives it a fun vibe as it sets the atmosphere of the commercial. The familiar songs appeal to pathos for many older people.

The commercial is appealing to the people as it state at the end of the commercial “There is a soldier in all of us” and makes the viewers think that they are able to play the game. The commercial is non-violent even though there is allot of gunfire and weapons are shown there is no one shot or hurt in the commercial. The exclusion of anyone shot or hurt has the commercial give a feeling of fun action packed tone. The advertisement is a dramatization of what it would be like to play the game. The creators use examples of real people from different walks of life and social standing as using celebrities shows everyone from any class is able to play the game so they are appealing to all generations, and types of people.

The advertisement was meant to attract all age groups and genders as it showed all different types of people adding variety and humor to keep the people’s attention. The commercial was meant to lure the people and show that the game can be fun and enjoyed by all walks of life.