Grace Wallerstedt, English 103, Visual Rhetoric Assignment

Jockey Beauty
The world we live in today, of cosmetic procedures, clever new fad diets, young models and actresses with eating disorders, and 50 year old women looking 30, it is apparent that the media has a huge role in society’s perception of beauty. Normal, everyday people feel tied down to conform to this view. We witness all around us people spending hours each week running like a gerbil on the treadmill, or buying expensive designer labels to keep up with the current style. One would think then, that a persuasive advertisement for underwear would focus solely on sex appeal; a mentality that if you buy our product you can be as good looking as us. However jockey takes almost the opposite approach in their commercial. When the two young adults run out of the line, they are overcoming the societal ideal of being sexy and deciding to just be comfortable and happy with who they are. This commercial successfully grabs your attention through a non conventional approach to underwear advertising, and sells their name by creatively appealing to ethos and pathos, comparing and contrasting, and adding an element of interest, intrigue, and uncertainty.
This commercial (found at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qyUOeYO79Oo) features a group of young average looking people dressed only in undergarments moving on a dark, ominous manufacturing line. A feeling of concern is conveyed with the noise of the conveyor belt and a large machine opening and closing. As each person moves through the machine, they emerge as a flawless looking new person; a perfect body, face, muscles, assets, and smile to accompany their new, more form-fitting, sexy undergarments. One male and female makes eye contact, attempting to make a plan, and suddenly rebelliously jump out of line to avoid the transformation. As they escape, more optimistic music begins playing and the screen flashes “dare to be you” “jockey”.
There are many aspects of the commercial that make it so convincing. The message of happiness through non-conformity is made evident through four different types of visual rhetoric.
Its appeal to pathos puts the audience in a particular emotional state to be more receptive to the message. As a viewer of the commercial, you are put through a lot of emotion because the vibe changes multiple times. First you’re confused; Questions like why are these people on a conveyor belt? Why almost naked? Where are they going? Run through your head. It takes almost 10 seconds into the commercial until you realize exactly what is going on, and then your emotions get angrier, wondering why everyone is blindly conforming. Why are they actually having their whole physique changed from this machine? The happy ending comes when two escape their plastic Barbie doll fate. By putting viewers in this emotional state, you become more connected to the characters, more excited with their triumph, and more interested in their product. Jockey uses this to their advantage because the emotion stays with you and makes the message more memorable.
Jockey also uses an appeal to ethos in their commercial. By appealing to someone’s character, they make the two main characters of the commercial more likable. In many advertisements, a company will use a celebrity to gain recognition and reliability of their name. Here instead, you are drawn to the characters because you want them to succeed and break free. You can trust that these two people who followed their gut, didn’t conform, and stuck with their comfortable jockey underwear, that they know what’s best. The two characters are portrayed as very noble, and an audience will be very receptive to that.
Jockey is able to strengthen their advertisement through comparing and contrasting elements of their products and what’s perceived of competitor’s products. We see the transformation made from the average looking people in line before the machine, to the superficial, perfect people that come out on the other end. By putting the two against each other, the superficial and the comfortable, viewers can conceptualize which is more appealing to them. On a larger scale, you could analyze this as, for instance, a jockey commercial compared to a Victoria Secret commercial. In your average Victoria Secret ad, the beautiful women flaunt their assets just enough that you are interested in attaining that same sex appeal. In the jockey commercial, the same assets are shown after the woman goes through the machine and her breasts are enlarged. But here, it looks silly and fake. Jockey successfully makes those same traits unattractive. By comparing the two groups of people, it also puts into perspective how society should not blindly conform, rather choose which group you would like to be a part of. This radical example of people being put through machines to change their appearance makes the real situation a little lighter.
Lastly, the commercial is extremely catchy and attention-grabbing. They use an element of confusion and intrigue to draw you in. It is unclear what is going on for almost half of the commercial, and the second half you are waiting anxiously to see what they do. At the beginning, the colors are grays, the lighting is dark, and the shots are vague. Even if you have no interest in jockey products at all, you can still be drawn into this commercial. Also, never before has there been a tv show, ad, movie, or commercial that uses this idea of a body changing machine, so naturally it’s an interesting plot.
Jockey uses all the things to make their commercial stand out as one that viewers won’t forget. Using the rhetorical appeals ethos and pathos make the viewers responsive to the emotion and the reliability of the characters. Using contrast in the commercial gives reader a direct means of comparison to make it clear jockey is the right way to go. Finally, the mystery and the suspense of the commercial keep viewers especially interested. By selectively choosing how to incorporate visual rhetoric into their commercial, jockey successfully dared to step outside the advertising world of beauty and fashion to make a memorable commercial.