Introduction
The advertisement under study is a Porsche commercial, aired in May 2006 on TV. The commercial starts with portraying a child in a classroom who loses his attention to the teacher as he sights Porsche 911 car passing by outside the window. He is entirely absorbed by the sight of a smart sports car. He is soon distracted by the teacher, but the car does not vanish from his mind and then and there he draws a picture of the car he has fallen in love with on first sight. The boy runs to the Porsche showroom nearby after the school. There he has a sit-in experience and asks for the business card of showroom manager telling him that he would be back in 20 years.
Main body
The ad’s target audience is, unlike a usual sport and luxury cars’ commercials that are for a specific class and niche, very general and universal. Although one might argue that such an ad is only for car lovers, but even not-a-great sports car lover feels a touching inspiration from this ad. The commercial was first aired in Britain and Ireland, where people have a taste for small and smart sized cars. But the emotional appeal in the ad makes it universal as it depicts a child who dreams for it. A 10 year old is not mature enough to be enriched with a culture and mindset where people like small or large cars.
Secondly, this commercial definitely appeals to people who are not very rich currently, who cannot afford a famous sports car, but can dream about it. The commercial does not draw a line between its viewers. It attracts every car lover whether rich or poor. This is vital to note that a foremost audience of this ad is the same man or woman who passes by a Porsche showroom every evening, and dreams to own one. It touches the heart of a person who can only dream about sports cars and his place is filled with such posters on the walls. The ad tells them that there is a considerable time between the moment you want and the moment you own a Porsche.
This is vital to note that the ad does not specifically, unlike usual car ads, portray too much the car, its shiny surface, speedometer and its interior etc. Rather it focuses more on message that is delivered very calmly. The ad lacks the usual rush and speedy sounds of sports cars, their skidding scenes and a rich driving dude. The purpose of the car is definitely to appeal to the charm of Porsche, but behind the scenes a message is intentionally conveyed.
It forces to audience to think that “I can have what I dream”. There are many who dream about something to achieve in life, but for the reason that they cannot have that, they start losing the dream until one day they feel indifferent about it. The ad hits the very audience that is under such trance. The ad tells them that to dream is not unrealistic, and even 20 years is time worth waiting for it to come true.
The commercial relies heavily on emotions. It appeals to emotions, inspires through emotions and influences the thoughts of audience through emotions. Depicting a child conveys a slight sense of innocence, undisturbed passion and simplicity. As the child enters big Porsche showroom one expects that he would be treated with non serious skeptical attitude by the manager. But there it also portrays a very humane and considerate person who asks him to sit inside the car, and then gives him his business card. Behind the scenes there are several messages. The very modest showroom manager on one side where the ad tries to capture the favor for the product alone and a passionate child on the other where ad tries to portray a very appealing beauty of the car.
Although the ad uses emotional appeal heavily, one cannot miss out the logical appeal it has. Children are attracted by beautiful and expensive things they have no idea they can have or not. They dream big and are not shy to hide them. They express their dreams and are very extrovert in that respect. They chase their dreams and want to get they dream. They are not mature enough to think what their effort would result in or how people would perceive their passion. They are not ready to accept that something is unreachable. In parallel, the ad ends on a note that very often there is a considerable time between the moment of dreaming and owning a Porsche. The message is very realistic.
Conclusion
The commercial leaves a longer than usual effect. It forces the viewer to think. There are many commercials, most of them appeal to humorous side of things and they just try to leave an impression about the product. This commercial certainly sticks to a serious tone and engages the viewer like a movie does. But the obvious and underlying message may not be viewed very acceptingly by all the audience.
There may be some skeptical ones will not like this ad due to several reasons. There is always a group of people that is against the idea of casting children in advertisement commercials. According to them children are not mature to make a right decision about products, and portraying them as liking or disliking some product is exploiting their innocence. Secondly, the 20 year time gap may be perceived by some audience as too long for a serious consideration of buying a car.
The ad may only seem to them as mere advertisement in which Porsche is portrayed, then a very trendy and humane employee of the company as showroom manager, and in the end a few statements that are a little exaggerated. But in any way, the ad does help the cause, the purpose behind it; it forces to think, whether positively or critically. And for those against child-casting, the ad depicts very natural thing about children, their love for cars, and their passion to run after dreams.