Tripping the Life, or Not

John Droescher

Engl 11000

April 20, 2015

Tripping the Life, or Not

            Of the three main rhetorical arguments Aristotle defined, pathos – the appeal to the viewer’s emotion – is the argument most often used by advertisers to engage their target demographic. Based on research showing consumer purchases are most often emotionally driven, Aristotle’s other methods of argument – logos, the appeal to the viewer’s logic, and ethos, the appeal to the presenter’s expertise and knowledge – are used primarily to mask the less subtle aspects of the pivotal appeal to emotion. 

            Over the course of multiple generations Land Rover has become nearly synonymous with adventure, wildlife documentaries, humanitarian aid workers, and global exploration. Exploiting this history with those who grew up reading National Geographic magazines and watching documentaries on The Discovery Channel, a Land Rover advertisement from the late 2000s is a prime example of the use of adventure to generate an emotional attachment to its brand (smm602). This primarily emotional attachment is often referred to within the marketing industry as “brand loyalty” and is fostered with the direct intent of driving current and future sales while increasing current customer satisfaction – which coincidentally drives future sales.

            Opening with a combination of the beginning bars of what will turn into an epic-worthy instrumental audio track and the depiction of an early model Land Rover conquering an off-road obstacle (smm602 0:00), the depictions of the vehicles as rugged and capable of surviving extreme hardships is thereafter indelibly aligned with the association to the brand’s historical significance. This alignment sets the stage for developing the marketing team’s desired visceral reaction in the mind of the consumer:  “Even if you personally use the vehicle for nothing more than driving around Manhattan, you can be connected to these epic adventures of the past and present by owning a Land Rover. The potential exists.”

            Launched from the assertion of their expertise, the first images of a Land Rover are in a film shot sometime in the 1930s and 1940s (smm602 0:00). Images designed to invoke nostalgia, to extricate from the subconscious any tidbit of historical significance lurking there – specifically in reference to British use in expeditions in the African continent. Don Draper, from the television series Mad Men, would say: “this is not an advertisement, it is a documentary.” Intermingled with these historic images are clips of the, at the time, latest line up of Land Rovers engaged in similar adventurous expeditions (smm602 0:12)

            As the advertisement progresses the video segments included become those shot of and by what appears to be the average adventurer mixed in with more shots of professional adventurers and aid workers (smm602 0:27). Subtly the advertisement has shifted from “here are the epic adventures our vehicles have been engaged in” to “here are the epic adventures you could be engaged in with a Land Rover.” Regular people, just like those watching the advertisement, have had wild adventures in their Land Rovers.

            Interspersed within the advertisement are brief copy. Their purpose is to more directly build the brand’s reputation as well as further cement the emotional attachment to the epic nature of the Land Rover brand. The first of these points out how long Land Rover has been building their vehicles (smm602 0:17) followed by the declaration that their expertise therefore lies in building superior all-terrain vehicles (smm602 0:26). The advertisement later lists all manner of expeditions and adventures that their brand vehicle has been used for (smm602 0:52-. Each one featured in the video clips and, so as to obfuscate the growing emotional bond with truthiness, plenty of large numbers (smm602 1:36) and meaningful accomplishments (smm602 0:52-1:40). The copy thus serves to provide credibility to Land Rover’s claims of superiority and the videos of Land Rovers being used in extreme conditions.

            Tied closely together in obtaining the ultimate goal of the advertisement, the copy and images presented broaden and reinforce the credibility of the Land Rover brand. Brand credibility thus becomes ingrained within the imagery of humanitarians and explorers in action. Transferring, by way of juxtaposition, credence to the idea, purposefully generated through these images and copy, that the viewer or consumer may be, in some non-insignificant way, a part of those adventures. Attached esoterically to those explorers and humanitarians actively changing the world, both past and present. Thus the design and content of the copy is found to be useful in not just creating a sense of credibility regarding Land Rover as a brand but also to deepen the emotional connection between the potential consumer and the brand using ethos as a distraction.

            As the advertisement nears its conclusion, the music becomes ever more grandiose as the clips grow shorter. The imagery, copy, and music combine to create the feeling within the consumer that he or she has witnessed something great and that ownership of a Land Rover is an invitation for adventure. And while many of the clips have shown Land Rovers navigating what many would consider innavigable roads and conditions, almost at the very end the clips of Land Rover after Land Rover passing signs indicating the impassibility of the road (smm602 1:39) present the viewer with yet more subtle, almost subliminal, reminders of Land Rover capabilities.

            It is of note that at no point in this advertisement are any specific features of any model mentioned or shown. This advertisement is not selling heated leather seats, nor lane departure warning systems, nor the air suspension, nor any of the plethora of actual options and features. Rather, this advertisement is presenting itself as being primarily about the rugged, adventurous nature of the vehicles while actually serving to develop in the viewer an emotional connection between current models and those citizens of the world who have used Land Rovers to better the world, whether through exploration or humanitarian aid.

            Also of note is the near total lack of military content, even though Land Rover has a long and storied history of being used by the British military, including Special Forces units. Restricting the advertisement from the potentially negative connotations of military service further reinforces the positive connotations associated with humanitarian aid and global exploration while depicting the brand as rugged and dependable, as service members and their equipment are expected to be (smm602 0:41).

            Adventure. A life less traveled. Rugged durability. Capabilities that the majority of Land Rover consumers will never actually find opportunity to make use of. Yet all are instrumental in providing the consumer with the illusion of a logical basis for what is actually an emotionally driven decision to purchase this brand vehicle over its competitors. Sociological and psychological masterpieces of rhetorical devices, television ads approach the consumer with the same goal – invoke a positive emotional response to the images and ideas presented thereby driving the purchase of the proffered goods. It behooves the consumer to beware the emotional attachment viewing advertisements is intended to engender.

Works Cited

smm602. “Land Rover commercial.” Online video clip. YouTube. YouTube, 27 Jul. 2008. Web.     30 Mar. 2015.