Advertisement Analysis

Introduction

This essay is a short examination of the rhetorical techniques employed in Apple Computer, Inc.'s recent major television commercial, "Change the World." The spot is the first from Apple since the company reassigned its advertising contract in 1997 to Chiat/Day, the firm responsible for Apple's famous, award-winning "1984," which originally aired during the halftime of the 1984 Super Bowl.

Discussion and Analysis

A viewer used to typical commercials might wonder how this very quiet ad--which doesn't even mention the product--could sell computers. But I think the ad is an example of a genre of ad that is called "brand advertising," which works indirectly, creating an image of the company and its product that a potential customer can identify with. Though the commercial is very modern, it uses an ancient appeal that Aristotle called ethos or credibility (Cunningham, 513).

The commercial, after opening to a momentarily black screen, first shows some footage of Albert Einstein, the great physicist and mathematician. An announcer says:

"Here's to the crazy ones -- the misfits; the rebels; troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They're not fond of rules, and they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can't do is ignoring them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do."

The voiceover is backed by some quiet piano music. As the announcer speaks, images of other great figures in history are flashed on screen: Bob Dylan, Martin Luther King, Jr., John Lennon and Yoko Ono, Buckminster Fuller, Muhammed Ali, Ted Turner, ...