Entry #5: You're in Good Hands!

          Insurance is something everyone needs to help protect themselves from financial burdens. We transfer large potential losses over to an insurance company in exchange for regular installments called "premiums". This acts as a safety net, ensuring that a single catastrophic event doesn't lead to financial ruin. If you need insurance, the best way you find a company is through the media. Advertisements for insurance firms come in many different forms, but the most common nowadays...is a commercial. Commercials are a way for these companies to try their best to promote a product, service, or brand to hopefully drive up sales. To achieve this goal, the author of these advertisements will often use rhetoric. In today's blog, I want us all to be able to identify the rhetoric in commercials! It may sound boring, but hear me out, the commercial is definitely funny.

          Allstate is one of the largest personal lines of insurance companies in the United States, and the video above is the advertisement by them that we will be analyzing today! Before we begin, let me ask... What is rhetoric? Well, it's the art of using language to persuade, inform, or motivate an audience through effective speaking and writing. This is done in several ways. This Beauty Blogger | Allstate Mayhem commercial entices the viewer into partnering with their insurance company by creating a funny scenario related to actual accidents that could happen. 

          This commercial depicts Dean Winters acting as an "aspiring beauty blogger." It opens to see Winters sitting at what appears to be a vanity, judging by the makeup brushes at the bottom of the screen, as well as the fact that he's getting ready, curling his hair, and wearing under-eye masks. He talks about how this "mermaid hair how-to" he's demonstrating is going to get him a ton of likes on his beauty blog. As the commercial goes on, we see him put the hot flat iron on a towel in front of him. This is, as he described, a "thumbs down emoji," and it unfortunately happens very commonly. It is so common that beauty products, such as flat irons, are listed as house fire risks. A flat iron can get up to 450 degrees Fahrenheit in temperature. Read this blog to learn more about fire hazards in your home.

          Allstate Mayhem also uses the juxtaposition of visuals and dialogue to create a funny, memorable commercial. We can clearly see that Winters is not, in fact, a beauty blogger. Even though he looks like he'd do a great job in that industry. This is classified as pathos because it appeals to the viewers' emotions, such as humor. Anyone who knows who Dean Winters is will find this commercial especially hilarious due to the fact that he usually plays serious characters when he acts. Examples of this are as follows:

• Detective Keith "The Vulture" Pembroke - Brooklyn Nine-Nine
• Detective Brian Cassidy - Law & Order: SVU
• Ryan O'Reiley (most famous role) - Oz
• Avi - John Wick

The dialogue of this advertisement also contributes to the funny, memorable atmosphere of this ad. Winters says a lot of things that don't align with his looks. Things like "aspiring beauty blogger," "mermaid hair how-to," "a ton of likes," and "that's a thumbs down emoji" are all words you would never expect to hear from a 61-year-old man. It obviously aligns with the setting this advertisement takes place in, but the fact that Dean Winters is the one saying it is almost bizarre! This humor ultimately leads to a commercial more likely to be remembered by its viewers. This is because of a cognitive bias called the "humor effect," which shows that funny content is more remembered because it increases focus and interest. Even if you aren't interested in insurance, you'll remember the humor of the commercial. 

         The author hopes that by making this advertisement memorable and demonstrating a very legitimate danger, more people will be willing to partner with the Allstate Insurance Company. Today's day and age is filled with distractions. Who's to tell you won't get side-tracked and accidentally leave a hot flat iron on, or maybe you forgot to turn off the stove top? Luckily, insurance will cover you if something happens. Are you in good hands? Thank you so much for reading my rhetorical analysis of this commercial! Feel free to write a comment down below, do YOU have a favorite commercial? I'd love to hear about what catches your eye when advertisements play. Check back for more Phoenix Times with Jordyn H.