Jeffery Jedi Ludwig James Wilson RHET 1312 February 19, 2014

1913, a year of excitement, featuring the ratification of the seventeenth amendment, the creation of the Rockefeller foundation, Death Valley in California setting a new record high at 134:F, the birth of the crossword puzzle, the start of Charlie Chaplins career in film, the end of the Mona Lisas two years abroad after the art-thief Vincenzo Perugia was finally caught and Arthur Pop Momand's creation of the Keep Up With The Joneses comic strip in the New York Globe. In America to be Keeping up with the Joneses entails to strive to match one's neighbors in spending and social standing and is used typically to reference making special efforts to stay in line with the current cutting edge technologies used in the household or maintaining attention to popular trends of the time that an ideal American family would possess or engage in. This phrase fell to the back of the popular cultural mindset and was used throughout time, but received special interest again when the brand Commodore began running its advertisement campaigns in the 1980s with the phrase Whos keeping up with Commodore? One such advertisement can be seen above for their Commodore Executive 64 computer, but how effective was this in conjunction with the rest of the advertisement and how did it help the ad succeed in its goals of persuading a customer to purchase their product? To answer these questions well need to dive right in to get inside the minds of the marketing agents in order to find out if the appeals to Ethos, Pathos, Logos, and Kairos were sufficient to cause their Claim, Backing, and grounds to persuade the viewer through an effective advertisement that wouldnt be debunked with the exposure of any logical fallacies or effective rebuttals.

The advertisement reveals that the following overarching enthymeme: claim; Commodore 64 executive is a computer that you (reader of the ad) should buy, reason; this is because the computer is designed for the movers of the world, grounds; the combination of portability and power help those who wish to make a difference in the world, warrant; to be part of the movers of the world, one would need a computer like the Commodore 64 executive. This enthymeme is not inherently broken, but does fall to the problem that in order for it to be considered correct the reader must be convinced by the content of the advertisement.

The advertisements usage of the appeals seem to be lacking in some categories, but others seem to be strongly supported, which makes this a slanted argument and if you are not swayed in the categories which are best supported youll find little in the other areas to sway you. In their attempts to appeal to pathos they utilize the man, as he is successfully providing nice things for his family to enjoy which evokes to the reader of mans desire to be a caregiver to his family, and causes the viewer to desire to be like the man in the advertisement, or (in the incident of a female viewer) to be provided for and have the ability to live like those in the advertisement. The Advertisements appealing color usage via the setting helps to invoke the idea of a tropical Oceanside retreat, which causes a viewer to associate good times, memories, and dreams with the product. The company seems to have a lack of ethos however in their advertisement, due to the fact that other than the general populists opinion that the commodore brand is reliable. When attempting to appeal to the logos of the customer they seem to have two main appeals, first that the ability to work in more places increases productivity, and secondly that being able to use a single system between work and home allows for consistent high level work to be done. The timeliness of the advertisement, while it doesnt do anything for todays consumer, would

be well placed because at the time of this ads creation this was a powerful computer for a booming computer market. While the advertisement does have seem to be fairly effective overall, the argument could be argued to have some weaknesses, which need to be addressed. An issue may arise that the advertisement never gives specifications outside of having 64k memory, so words like outstanding and astonishing are matters of opinion, and it is possible that the consumer may be unhappy with the actual computational power and graphics of the machine. However in response to this one must be aware that during the 1980s however there was less awareness of the technical terms involved with the actual workings of a computer, so the actual specifications may not have done the consumer any good, and in addition they seemed willing to send out much more substantial information if the customer mails them so that they may receive more information. One also might argue that the poolside scene is not an optimal work environment, so the man advertised may have a portable computer that he can use poolside, but hed be able to accomplish more if he was working in an office with a stationary computer that has a higher computing power due to the manufacturers not having to contend with a project designed to be portable. The advertisers however could probably respond say that while it is not as powerful as a comparable model that is stationary, that has always been the crux of portable computers and owners are aware that there is a tradeoff between portability and power. The strength of this computer is that you can still do high level work on it, whether it is in the office, your home or your home away from home as described in the advertisement. Learning multiple computer languages and systems was much more difficult at the time, so having a computer that can be taken from your office at work to your home office, home away from homes office, or on vacation with you where you already know how to operate and do high level work on is a powerful asset which will allow you to become a mover of the world due to your ability to do effective work wherever you choose to be.

After sorting through a large list of logical fallacies I was unable to find any place in this advertisement where any were committed, save one. A viewer could argue that presenting the man in the way he is portrayed is something akin to an appeal to flatter (also known as the apple polishing fallacy), due to him being implied to be a mover of the world and being seen lounging poolside while using his computer with family/friends behind him on the opposite end of the pool and him seemingly enjoying success to imply that it is possible due to his usage of the product. But the grounds are not expressed concretely enough in my opinion to make this an actual committed case of apple polishing and that it is rather just an appeal to pathos through tapping into the average mans desires to be a successful provider to his household to encourage him that he can enjoy the comfort that this man and his family enjoys by buying the product.

In conclusion, the ad reaches the audience effectively. The argument they utilize features all of the rhetorical appeals and is free of any glaring logical fallacies. In addition to the solid argument that it presents the agency seems to have any possible rebuttals prepared for, which cements this as an excellent example for what one would need to do in order to present an effective argument through a visual medium.