Liquid Plumr Ad Analysis

Liquid Plumr “Quickie” commercial is an advertisement for a liquid drain cleaner. The product is called Liquid Plumr, and the main purpose of this product is to unclog blocked drains. In the ad there is a 30-37-year-old woman looking at a drain cleaner product and a 27-34-year-old male that works at the department store the woman is at. The video starts with the woman grabbing a bottle of Liquid Plumr and then slipping into a daydream. The woman day dreams about the man at the department store coming to her house and helping her pour the product into the drain, unclogging it. The scenery in the department store is pretty open. Blue is the main color trend around the store and considering blue is the main color on the product label, it makes

Ads tend to start out with something that grabs attention because “the first trick of advertising is to make people pay attention. Funny ads attract attention.”. Hollis, (2011). Hollis also mentions that “people share funny things all over the Internet.” Hollis, (2011) and commercials are part of that. Using humor is huge for publicity. The simple facial expressions of both the man and the woman in the advertisement were very funny. At one point the woman even choked a little from excitement. The shocked look on the woman’s face when she snaps out of her daydream and sees this “dreamy” man drilling a hole up and down in a very sexual way is hilarious. The ad used many other bits of humor which gave it a comedic feel throughout the

There is a part in the video where they demonstrate the product in use. It is a computer generated video that shows a big clog being completely cleaned away. Now I feel like this was a poor attempt at ethos. To me showing a computer made video of a product in use doesn’t prove that it works, and therefore loses my trust. Some people however will not see it that way. Logos was used in that same video portion of the ad. The company is trying to make the viewer feel that buying Liquid Plumr is a logical decision. This is portrayed by, once again, showing the product working to unclog the drain. But, how you get the full effect of logos is toward the end of the ad when the woman grabs a bunch of the Liquid Plumr bottles. It insinuates that the bottles are not too expensive and worth the money. The most obvious and heavily used method is pathos. This commercial is striving to appeal to the consumer’s emotions almost entirely. The videos intent is to make you feel attracted to the man and women. There is a brief moment where the woman has a silk night robe on. And the use of sexual humor is the entire basis of the ad. Laughing brings you emotionally connecting to whatever it is you’re laughing about. “Culture represents another variable worth discussing.” Batra, R., Seifert, C. M., & Brei, D., (2016). Where your audience is will impact how effective ethos,