Superbowl Commercials

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.