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First Date Car Finder

During 2016’s Super Bowl, a Hyundai commercial featuring Kevin Hart came on about a new feature on the Hyundai Genesis called Car Finder. The feature allows the owner of the car to receive information about the location of his car through his phone. In this commercial, an overprotective dad is shown to be able to track his daughter and her boyfriend while they are on their date using the feature. The dad is able to follow them around and make sure that they are not doing anything that he would not want them to. Only the daughter’s boyfriend notice’s the dad in the different locations and begins to become scared of him so much so that he immediately drives her back to her house to avoid seeing her father anymore.

This commercial tries to use logos for its new Car Finder feature. The main function of this feature would be to help you to find your car when you’re in a crowded parking lot and do not remember where you parked. It could also be used to track your car if it has been stolen and you would be able to reclaim your car. These functions are not depicted in the commercial, but the one that is a very silly and impractical for most people.

This commercial showed pathos because many parents may feel protective of their children when they go out on a date. Many parents may have wanted to follow their children around when they leave the house, but never had a way to without the Car Finder feature. This appeals to a select group of parents whose emotion would be similar to the parent’s depicted in the commercial. The main emotion that this commercial was intended for the audience to feel humorous and to laugh at the extreme lengths that the dad goes through to check up on his daughter.

This commercial also fails in the area of ethos because the actor, Kevin Hart, is not a father in real life and he would not know what it is like to worry about his daughter going on a date. Kevin is not a car salesmen either and would not be considered a legitimate authority on cars and their features. If someone were to claim that the only purpose of this commercial was to be humorous, then Kevin Hart could be an excellent authority because he is a professional comedian.


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Comments

  1. AnonymousDecember 13, 2016 at 1:07 PM

    I completely agree with this analysis. I do believe that the commercial was meant to be humorous but the logos is still not there. I do not believe that Kevin Hart is claiming to be a car salesman but he isn't a father either. If he were truly a father then this commercial would be more logical, but since he's not it is more funny than persuasive.

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  2. AnonymousDecember 13, 2016 at 4:25 PM

    The humor of the advertisement makes it entertaining enough, but I agree that it lacks any form of ethos or logos. The scenario is highly unrealistic, and the main figure of the ad has no real authority on matters that the ad may concern. It relies solely on humor, trying to be memorable, which is a valid tactic, but is lacking in actual credibility.

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousDecember 13, 2016 at 5:55 PM

    Excellent post. I agree that the pathos of the commercial does seem to make it more relate-able and makes you want to have it.

    ReplyDelete
  4. AnonymousDecember 13, 2016 at 6:06 PM

    This commercial, as Christian explained, does use all three kinds of pathos. Using a big name actor like Kevin Hart definitely is a big tool to use, and showing off the car's new feature is also a good thing in the commercial.

    ReplyDelete
  5. AnonymousDecember 19, 2016 at 7:45 AM

    This ad uses humor which makes it attention grabbing. It uses Kevin Hart to help feature this car because he is well known.

    ReplyDelete

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