Parent’s Sacrifices - Critical Analysis

ad link the analysis is on - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZgmj5ay5Bk

Parent’s Sacrifices

            The commercial My Dad is a Liar is a popular commercial from Hong Kong by an insurance company, MetLife. Meaningful commercials are popularly shared throughout the internet. International commercials from Asian parts of the world are very popular because of the strong stories they carry. In the United States, commercials are popular as well but few that can compete with My Dad is a Liar for example. The most popular commercials in the US are usually the million dollar ads that play during a super bowl for a few seconds. For example, the Old Spice or Doritos commercials seem to be among the most popular and are usually just for humorous purposes. The commercial My Dad is a Liar features a little school girl and her dad. The girl’s mother or any other family member is not presented in the video, so the little girl is perhaps solely dependent on her father. The commercial is about how the little girl describes her father in an assignment. The father is happy to start off reading with positive characteristics his daughter wrote about him. He then stumbles and is shocked to see what she wrote next, his daughter wrote that he is a lair. The little girl revels in her assignment of being aware of the struggles her father goes through. Although the father tries to mask that they are doing alright, the little girl is able to observe that is not the case (My Dad). My Dad is a Liar uses credibility and affects the audience’s emotions by the successful use of camera angles, lighting, and various settings.    

            MetLife decided to use a commercial as the medium to address its audience. The target audience for this commercial were parents or any type of families who have loved ones. In the commercial, MetLife tries to connect with people with emotion as is shown throughout; the video shows love between the girl and the father in hope of relating to the audience that they also possess that same kind of love with their children. MetLife also wants the audience to gain loyalty to the brand and hopes its audience will carry on the idea that the company is just as loving and caring as it is presented in the commercial. The audience MetLife was targeting affected the type of stance, or attitude, they took into the commercial which also projected into the tone. MetLife took a comforting and soothing approach hoping to get into the heads of its audience by using a lot of emotion. MetLife shows its audience that parents will make any type of sacrifices for their children even if that means lying to them. MetLife presents its intended message by the use of valid credibility, persuading audience’s emotions, camera angles, lighting, and various settings.

            Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, or MetLife for short, is an insurance company founded by a group of New York City businessmen in 1863. The company started out by insuring Civil War sailors and soldiers against disabilities resulting from war. The company had a very rough beginning and was operating at a deficit. After a few years, the company dropped the casualty business and decided to focus only on life insurance business. The company followed many policy changes as time went on. After using a successful strategy, in 1909, MetLife became the nation’s largest life insurer that holds the position until today. What started out as a small business in New York City, is now serving 90 million customers in more than 50 countries (MetLife).

            Ethos, Pathos, and Logos are the appeals of persuasion used to convince an audience.  Ethos is an ethical appeal and means to convince an audience by the character of the author. Pathos is an emotional appeal and means to persuade an audience by appealing to their emotions. Logos is an appeal to logic and means to persuade by reasoning and using actual facts and statistics. The commercial My Dad is a Liar uses Ethos and Pathos to persuade its audience.

            The commercial uses Ethos as a way of persuasion. People tend to believe others based on how much respect they have for them. For example, when it comes to any medical treatments, people will be more likely to trust what the doctor has to say more than anyone else. MetLife is a well-known international insurance company so that is attributing to its persuasion of credibility. The commercial is narrated by the little girl all throughout and that is an example of ethos because ethos can mean the type of language used for an audience (My Dad). Children are known for never lying and their sometimes brutal honesty, therefore its use is effective. Then, a low angle camera shot is used, focused on the dad while the little girl is on his shoulders and she is describing him as her superman (My Dad). This scene shows how much the little girl respects her dad and sees him as an authority that’s why a low angle shot is used. This ethos scene was used so the audience can relate as being a hero for their children. A close up shot is then used on the little girl as she receives an award at school; first thing she does is turn to her dad and show him her award (My Dad). This scenes shows one of the reasons for her dad’s sacrifices, so that his daughter can go to school and do well; MetLife wants the audience to relate to their sacrifices and how they want their children to do well at school as well. After, the father tries to land a job at an office but is turned down. The next several scenes show the father performing jobs such as: cleaning windows, washing dishes, handing out advertisements, and performing manual labor. In all of those scenes the father looks very exhausted and performs tiring physical jobs (My Dad). This is ethos because it shows what a hardworking and loving father he is. MetLife used this so that the audience can realize that they are working hard for their children. MetLife successfully incorporates ethos into the ads scenes.   

            The commercial uses Pathos as a way of persuading the audience. Many scenes use different settings and lightings, which as a result evoke an emotional appeal to the audience. The use of the little girl narrating also has a huge appeal to the audience’s emotions. Not only is it only the girl’s pleasing voice, but also the violin and piano sounds played throughout the commercial making it more emotional. The opening scene has the camera rolling down the little girl’s essay with a characteristic children hand writing (My Dad). The little girl’s voice appeals to the audience’s emotion because of the innocence that it possesses. The father performing various types of jobs also appeals to the audience’s emotion; some of the audience can relate because they perform those same types of manual labor jobs that require a lot of physical work. When the ad begins, the girl and the father are walking through a park with a lot of sun light across their faces. The camera also switches between other dads with their children walking through the park to the school (My Dad). This scene is Pathos because of the joy that is presented on the girl’s and the dad’s face while walking together. A park was also chosen as the setting because although parents might not walk their children to school, most do take their children to the park, creating a wider relatable audience. Other settings include the places the father works in and during those scenes the lighting as well as the background music tends to be darker and dull (My Dad). The transition of the music is synchronized with the narration of the little girl when she says “he lies” which brings a lot of emotion to the audience. The little girl praises her dad in her essay saying he is “the sweetest daddy in the world...the smartest…the most clever… the kindest” (My Dad). This appeals to the audience’s emotion because it shows how the little girl views her parent. MetLife successfully captured the audience’s emotion through the use of different types of film techniques.

            Although in order to successfully persuade an audience all three modes have to be present, the outstanding and overwhelming use of pathos in this commercial made it successful in its own way. The commercial uses pathos and ethos in order to persuade its audience. The use of different types of settings, lightings, camera angles, and sounds made it more persuasive and reinforced ethos and pathos. The commercial brings a tear to the eye, especially if you are re-watching the ad several times.      

Works Cited

"MetLife Begins." MetLife. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Apr. 2015.
     <https://www.metlife.com/about/corporate-profile/metlife-history/
     metlife-begins/index.html>.

My Dad is a Liar - Emotional Commercial. Youtube.
     N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Apr. 2015. <https://www.youtube.com/
     watch?v=EZgmj5ay5Bk>.