Blog 7 (Week 3) (Visual.. Commercial) 10-24-11

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YK2VZgJ4AoM
(Link to Brooke Shields Calvin Klein Jeans commercial from 1981)


          In journalism class sophomore year we were learning about controversy in the media, especially in the involvement of commercials.  I chose to do my AOW on this commercial in particular because it really stood out to me and I thought it would be a good commercial to analyze.  
         The focus point of it is to promote the product of Calvin Klein Jeans.  Brooke Shields is only 15 years old in this commercial, yet she holds herself in a way that makes her seem as if she was in her early twenties.  The context of this commercial was that the 80s was an era of fashion and new trends.  Calvin Klein saw her youngness as a variable they could play with in a commercial. Although she is young, they have her sitting in a stance that almost alludes to sexuality or seduction.  Since the company's target market in this case was the younger population they used her in the commercial to reel in customers.
      The purpose of the commercial was for Calvin Klein to gain more customers who were in their early twenties and their teen years... which is also their target market (or main audience in this case).  The goal was to have more juveniles see the commercial even though the audience is still everyone who watched TV back in the 1980s.   I believe the commercial is not credible because the company created the commercial just to sway the minds of anyone watching it.  They want as many customers as possible, whether the jeans are as amazing as Brooke Shields claims they are or not, the commercial does not prove either way.  Therefore it is not a credible source of information regarding Calvin Klein jeans. 
    The creators of the commercial did achieve their purpose because this commercial went viral, it caused years of controversy, and is still well known today... even though it is 30 years later.  The commercial became famous and it DID bring in customers for Calvin Klein.


Rhetorical devices used:
        - logos.. The commercial uses logos to express the "logical" act of buying Calvin Klein jeans, "Brooke Shields is wearing them, so obviously YOU need to buy them as well"
        - exaggeration - when shields says her line in the commercial she exaggerates how much her jeans mean to her by saying nothing comes between her and the jeans  (this also coincides with her seductive tone she uses when expressing her love for CK jeans)
        - simplicity - the commercial is simple, short, has one line, and then it ends.  It draws enough attention to it for a viewer to watch it and understand the point of the commercial without waiting for a big introduction to end or for the "plot" of the commercial to hit the screen.