Audi Ethos Pathos Logos

While Audi is a well-known luxury automobile manufacturer, ironically, it is also the Latin word for “listen”, as the company attempts to get the audience’s attention with its advertisements. Audi made the bold choice to present their message to support equal pay for women during the Super Bowl, just weeks after the Women’s March on Washington. The commercial featured a young girl participating in a go-cart race, competing against boys her age. Her father watches from the sidelines and asks the audience what he should tell his daughter about gender inequality in the world today. The advertisement encompasses various forms of rhetoric, and is able to communicate Audi’s messages affectively during a time when the subject of equal pay is exceedingly

The commercial attempts to appeal to the audience’s emotions by creating an underdog and putting her in an intimidating position where she is the only girl and the boys make a point of trying to scare her prior to racing. Despite their gender, everyone knows what it is like to be teased or made to feel inferior, and having the boys taunt and attempt to intimidate the girl has the audience empathize with her before they are given the general message of the commercial. Likewise, many audience members will relate to the father as they are asked how he should explain to his daughter that regardless of her drive and education she will be undervalued and underpaid because she is a woman. Parents and being the target audience for this commercial, would be able to imagine themselves in the fathers’ position, attempting to explain gender inequality to their own daughters. This allows the content of the ad to become more personal, and thus, convince people that gender inequality is affecting them on a more personal level. Also, the visual aspects are used to have the audience identify with each character at different points in the ad. The camera angle frequently switches from behind the father’s shoulder to the daughter’s face and go-cart during the race. By positioning the camera in these ways, the audience will identify with the father as he watches the race and the daughter as she perseveres though the challenges of the race course. Asking the audience to empathize with both characters makes it much more likely that viewers will associate themselves with at least one of the two and are more probable to recall Audi’s commercial as they feel they can relate to the situation