Ethos in Girl's Engineering Advertisement
It is safe to say that very few of the 111 million viewers had heard of the small company GoldieBlox. Founded just over a year ago, this is a company with very few existing fans, and very little extrinsic ethos. The founder is a female Stanford-educated engineer, but this is likely not well known to the audience. Some celebrity ethos is established by airing during the Superbowl, but most of the ethos is established in the commercial itself. The video shows confident young girls defiantly getting rid of their "traditional" toys, and replacing them with GoldieBlox. The ethos is established through symbolism and a clear message of empowerment. The girls in the commercial are staging a toy revolution demanding that rather than "pink, [they] want to think." Their strong body language and inspiring message are the main techniques that allow this company with very little extrinsic ethos to establish a strong message and create an effective commercial.
Well composed. I wonder if you could think about the media hype for GoldieBlox in more liberal news sources or blogs before the Superbowl. Of course, the Superbowl broadens the audience and relies on mostly intrinsic ethos. But did they have any extrinsic ethos from previous publicity?
ReplyDeleteI myself was unfamiliar with the GoldieBlox company, but when I watched the advertisement, I noticed that the music also contributed in establishing the idea of innovative and independent young women. Even though the company is not well known, I agree that most of the ethos is established within the ad during the Superbowl, one of the most materialistic and critiqued games of the year.
ReplyDeleteThis was an interesting point. GoldieBlox has done a great way of establishing ethos outside, which is probably a very hard thing to do. If it were not for what was going on in the commercial, I do not think the company would have been able to gain such a following.
ReplyDelete