Rhetorical Analysis of IPad Air TV Advertisement
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Apple is globally renowned for its innovativeness and approach in developing technological systems that suit the needs of their customers. Nevertheless, this innovativeness does not end with the companys business model, but also stretches to the way the company engages with its customers through commercials or advertisements. Apples commercial, dubbed Your Verse, is one of the most innovative television commercials ever. The video is short and brief, but manages to capture the imaginations of the viewers while also selling the benefits of iPad Air. Furthermore, while Apple is a technological company based on scientific principles, this advert proves that the company takes a human approach very seriously in developing its products, hence the uniqueness that its products have achieved in the market. Apple uses the commercial to illustrate the significance of the arts and humanities in its business model, by focusing on poetry to portray iPad Air as a product for every professional. The main theme of the video is on the poetic verses, by asking viewers what their verses would be once they used the iPad Air. In this rhetorical analysis, the paper will focus on analyzing the commercial, examining some of its high points and low points as well as determining whether it was able to achieve its objective.
A good commercial should be able to showcase the product, its qualities and benefits as well as showing the companys objectives and main agenda. Also, a good ad must be creative original, and engaging (Burgchardt, 21). It must be appealing to the emotions of the viewers for it to be meaningful in persuading or convincing viewers to purchase the product. A rhetorical analysis of an ad helps to understand the significance of the ad and evaluate whether the ad achieved its main objectives (West and Turner, 20).
In the video, your verse, Apple Inc. uses the TV advertisement to continue its campaign to promote iPad Air after its launch. The advertisement profiles how different people use Apple tablets in different aspects of their lives ranging from medicine, music, scientific exploration, sports and filmmaking. The ad features a narration by Robin Williams, who recites a monologue taken from the film Dead Poets Society. The main objective of the advertisement is to bring together elements of romance, beauty, poetry and various other things that humans live for and to which everybody contributes for the wellbeing of the society. The video is a continuation of an earlier promotional campaign by Apple dubbed life on iPad and continues the same theme of the intersection between technology and the arts in promoting and sustaining the wellbeing of the human race. The advertisement uses emotional appeal and real life stories to show how the iPad enhances human life in various realms.
The video takes off from where the Life on iPad promotional campaign ended by referencing the giant mills before Robbin Williams voiceover sets in. The video then rapidly shifts to different scenes depicting mountain explorers, climatologists, Bollywood filmmakers, worshipers in the Gaudis La Sagrada Familia cathedral followed by scene of a makeup artist. The ad then shows how the iPad is used in sports when the LA Kings analyze their performance using the tablet. It is the followed by a scene of a music band practicing choreography and finally by a group of musicians performing to a live audience. As Robin Williams voice begins, it becomes apparent that all the different short clips are different use cases for iPad tablets.The video becomes clearer as the identities of the different characters are revealed. The man tapping on the screenplay is a parking lot attendant who also works as a storyteller at his free time. The people who were chasing the storm were using an app on the tablet to track the storm, while the boys in the forest are trying to identify a praying mantis using an app on the iPad. There is also a scene where a father helps his daughter to build an interactive robot while the scene of the cathedral was an artistic impression of a womans art.
The video advert has been beautifully shot and edited to represent the values that Apple identifies with such as innovation. Through the different scenes, viewers cannot help wondering how powerful the iPad tablet is and how it has affected different aspects of human lives. The tablet has influenced many professions and improved creativity in the arts as well as facilitating the scientific research. The video manages to illustrate the global nature of the iPad by using real people who are users of Apple products around the world. The videos have been short in different locations around the world, painting a perfect picture of the huge customer base of the iPad.
The advert goes beyond technological aspects of the iPad by using a provocative, bold jargon and inspirational messages to appeal to the people and drive their attention towards the usefulness of the iPad. Robin Williams voce is emotional and manages to bring out the inspirational aspects of the advertisement. Finally, the advert provokes viewers to join the rest of the people using the tablet by adding a verse to their life. This poetic theme has been used to draw the attention of people towards using the iPad to enhance their lives regardless of the way they love their lives.
The ad is a production masterpiece that embodies the core values of Apple Inc. the video is full of bold inspiring and provocative images, which helps to take Apples advertising to a higher level. While the ad may be viewed as a follow-up to the earlier campaigns by Apple such as "Think different" and "here's to the crazy ones" that were used to promote Apple 2, Your Verse stands out as a very unique due to its portrayal of Apples core values as well as illustrating the interaction between technology and the humanities. Besides, the ad is very involving as it tries to get viewers involves in the process by adding their verses to the poem after using the iPad Air.
In conclusion, Your Verse television commercial brings to light several issues in advertising as well as in the business model adopted by Apple Inc. Apple prides itself for manufacturing products that are of high quality, innovative and those that meet the needs and preferences of its customers. As a technology based company, one would expect its TV ads to contain all tech jargon and huge systems that the company has developed. On the other hand, Apple used the ad to show its customers that it cares about humanity and arts by focusing on poetry and illustrating how different professionals are using the iPad Air in different field such as religion, and sports as well as in scientific fields such as meteorology. Therefore, the ad achieves the main objective of illustrating the core values of Apple as well as forming the intersection between technology and the arts.
SELF-EVALUATION
Rhetorical analysis is a very important discourse in comprehending rhetorical situations. Rhetorical situations include texts, commercials, audiences, authors, and settings among others. Consequently a rhetorical analysis provides us with an opportunity to understand various elements of literature and their significance. From a personal perspective, I find rhetorical analyses very useful in demystifying some of the issues that one can easily take for granted. For example, rhetorical analysis can help one analyze a television commercial, which others only take for granted. However, through the rhetorical lenses, one can understand the ad from a very different perspective.
While conducting a rhetorical analysis for the iPad Air ad, Your Verse created by Apple Inc. I tried to incorporate several elements of rhetorical analysis. For example, one key element was summary. I developed a brief summary of the ad indicating what it sought out to achieve as well as describing the major scenes in the motion picture. I also addressed the other major elements of rhetorical analysis such as act, scene, agent, and purpose in discussing the iPad air ad (Campbell and Huxman, 21). Like any other form of rhetorical analysis, it had to be conducted in a very structured and logical manner that allows the arguments to flow from ne to the next, culminating in a strong conclusion.
As such, I believe rhetorical analysis is very important in understanding contemporary arts and literature from a metalinguistic point of view that will enable us to appreciate the creativity that artists and authors put in when developing their products.
Works Cited
Apple.iPad Air - TV Ad - Your Verse. Web.http://youtu.be/jiyIcz7wUH0
Burgchardt, C. R., ed. (2010). Readings in Rhetorical Criticism. State College, PA: Strata Publishing.
Campbell, Karlyn K, and Susan S. Huxman.The Rhetorical Act: Thinking, Speaking and Writing Critically. Belmont, Calif: Wadsworth Pub. Co, 2009. Print.
West and Turner (2010).Introducing Communication Theory: Analysis and Application 4th ed. McGraw-Hill.
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