Wonderful
Pistachio, Wonderful Branding
The major purpose of advertisement is to
let viewer recognize the merchandize and indoctrinate them to buy it. Hence,
usually ads impress in three ways: Logos, Ethos and Pathos. One the of Super
Bowl commercials from 2014, an advertisement of Wonderful Pistachio, also moves
people chasing the three methods of persuasion.
The commercial is divided into two parts
having thirty second interval. In the first part Stephen Colbert and an eagle
wear formal suits sitting in an antique room. After some thirty seconds, they come
out with changed clothes in a changed room which were bright green.
To start with, both parts of the
commercial don’t have any rigid logic. Stephen Colbert, the main character of
the ad, doesn’t suggest the reason why people should buy the pistachio. He only
says “They’re wonderful, I’m wonderful.” He emphasizes that it is useless to
repeat the advantages of pistachios, however, it is not sufficient to move
people’s minds. The second part is not different from the first one. There is
no logical relation between splitting his head into two pieces and “branding.”
However, if the commercial fails in
appealing by logic, it still appeals by authority. Stephen Colbert, the main
character and who splits his own head, is the host of Comedy Central’s “The
Colbert Report”, and he was named one
of Time's 100 most influential people in 2006(Wikipedia). In the first
part, Stephen Colbert, with a neat suit in a calm room, enhances the
credibility. In the second part, he wears strange fancy clothes, but still he
is friendly to the viewers. Beside him, there is no reason to feel nervous
about the product.
The advertisement impresses by shocking
the audience. After a short interval, the first shock shakes viewers a little.
Previously, there wasn’t any object related to pistachio on the desk except a
bowl and a pack of pistachios; but everything else, such as telephone, books,
globe, and lantern were turned into pistachios in the following part. Not only
objects on the desk were switched, but also the paintings have changed from
Colbert’s portraits into pistachio pictures.
Although the object has changed, there
is no alternation in composition or structure. The main color turned from black
to green, which are both symbolic to the product and which already coexisted. On
the one hand, this makes the viewer feel a bit familiar to the second part but
small differences make them more confused.
The second big shock comes is the last
few seconds. A small green head growls inside the real head which is somewhat
grotesque and frightening. It is surprising, strange, weird and novel and the
impact doubles because of the prior part which was quite boring and featured nothing
very special.
Although the advertisement lacked firm
logic, it caught people’s eye among the flow of Super Bowl commercials. Perhaps
many people would search it on the internet only to watch the enjoyable ad
again. Finally, it reached its major goal: branding.
