The Purpose, Ethos, Pathos, and Logos of the Very Funny Pepsi Commercial
Commercials are an effective way of communicating advertising messages to the
audience. A good example of an educative and persuasive commercial is Very Funny Pepsi Commercial, in which a non-Chinese boy enrolls with the Chinese monks for martial arts training (Blink967). The boy gets a lot of challenges in coping with the training but gets accustomed to it after a series of training, in which they drank Pepsi for refreshments. Although the boy is depicted as being a well-trained martial artist at the end of the commercial, he lacks the forehead sign, which he gains only after drinking the Pepsi. This is a show that only Pepsi could help the boy to be branded like the other monks and not even the training exercise (Blink967).
The purpose of the commercial is evident from the clip. The commercial was designed to influence martial artists and any other person who engages in exercises to use Pepsi for refreshments between and after their training (Blink967). Pepsi is also depicted as a tool that can be used in training purposes. The monks had to hold the cans in a strategic position before drinking and also used them for imprinting a forehead mark. This is a show that the cans are not only designed for carrying the Pepsi drinks, but can also be used for other useful purposes. The audience of the commercial includes martial artists, individuals who play other games, individuals who engage in training exercises and any other person.
In regard to the ethos of the commercial, the commercial uses a non-Chinese boy in the training to show that he has little or no knowledge in martial arts. This also attracts viewers’ attention and creates curiosity to know how the boy will progress with training (Blink967). The boy is also depicted to be walking alone in the woods and through canyons in his search for the monk camp. This draws empathy from the viewer because the boy is still very young to walk
alone in the woods and canyons (Blink967). The boy is also shaved immediately after entry into
the monk camp as a sign of preparedness and sacrifice for the training.
In regard to the pathos employed in the commercial, the director of the commercial wanted viewers to empathize with the boy when he was shaved at the start of the commercial. In addition to this, the commercial shows how hard the training became for the boy, leading to stress and seclusion from the training colleagues (Blink967). This draws viewers’ empathy and pity for the young boy. The boy is also depicted as being confused and not familiar with the customs and activities of the monk camp. This was also included in the commercial to draw viewers’ empathy and pity for the boy.
Logos is also employed in the commercial when the Pepsi can symbol is imprinted on the monk’s gate and doors. It shows that Pepsi forms the foundation on which the monk’s training is built. In addition to this, all the monks in the camp have the Pepsi can imprint on their foreheads. This is a show that Pepsi forms an integral part of their training and life (Blink967). The boy also used logic to imprint the can’s top shape on his forehead after realizing that it was the same shape that was imprinted on their training flag and on all other monk’s foreheads.
