Alberto Garcia

Emily Litle

ENG 121

12 September, 2019

Visual Literacy Gatorade Ad

I choose an image that an advertising agency , from Dubai, released in 2009 for

“Gatorade”. Gatorade is world wide known sports drink for athletes, they promote that their

drink provides the energy, carbohydrates, replaces fluids and sodium, that athletes loose after

exercises or workouts. Although it may look like not much is going on in the image, the use of

rhetorical elements are chosen very well and do an amazing job of pumping out the message it is

trying to get across to its audience.

The ad’s theme is a “boxing match” and to paint you a picture, a very tall, bright yellow

Gatorade bottle is placed in the middle of a boxing ring with boxing gloves on. In front of the

Gatorade bottle lays an unscrewed spilled water bottle signifying its defeat and failure towards

the Gatorade bottle. On top of this gesture of complete dominance and authority, the image

shows the words “GATORADE ALWAYS WINS” in large white “slamming in your face” font.

The background is layered around with a dark tone as well as shading, surrounded with camera

flashes and dim lighting, sort of like a true boxing match experience. The whole image is

revolved around the tall, broad, bright Gatorade bottle. The Gatorade bottle and logo is ethos

rhetorical aspect of the image because of how well known and trusted the brand is by many

professional athletes and people.

 The ad was made to grab the attention of athletes, but was mostly biased towards boxing

to show the “authority” and complete “dominance” Gatorade has over water, showing why

Gatorade “knocks out” water and it should be the better choice that you should make. Assuming

from the feedback and response the ad stirred up in 2009, it did really well grabbing the

consumers attention.

I chose this advertisement or image because me, myself is a Gatorade supporter and lover

and i felt that this ad did a really good job of keeping it simple and memorable, but at the same

time giving depth into the image to promote the brand itself as well as a bigger message to its

audience. The way this ad uses the setting and the use of words as well as its reputation, it’s just

remarkable.

One of the settings this Gatorade ad uses is well the most obvious, a boxing ring with

multiple supporters watching the fight. This setting adds suspense and excitement to the meaning

of the image. The role in the words “Gatorade always wins!” is a great example of how words

can rub off as a Pathos type of mood. Strength, authority, aggression, and dominance are the ad’s

chosen tones to rub off towards its audience to give them a memorable feel after looking at the

ad.

The overall idea, graphic, color, size and design of the ad has been very well thought

through and made perfectly. The use of shading really pops and does the Gatorade justice, it is

pretty much the very first thing you see when you look at the ad. The use of the Gatorade's bright

yellow also helps out in this aspect to reach out to the naked eye. The choice of “size” of objects

such as, the very huge broad Gatorade bottle versus the small ,weak, and empty water bottle
lying on the ground, helped greatly to set the tone of the ad. Thus leading into the size of the

words chosen for this ad creating even more depth for the audience to see and take in.

In conclusion this ad was made and ​created by DDB, United Arab Emirates for Gatorade,

within the category: Non-Alcoholic Drinks. The senior art director for this ad is Issam Al Bouini

and as for the Executive creative director: Adam Obied. The illustrator for the ad is 6B E-Studio.

As stated the ad targeted athletes and the boxing word to promote Gatorade and its dominance

over other drinks. Gatorade did this by using two types of rhetorical methods, ethos and pathos.

Gatorade also used the theme of the boxing to support this idea of “Dominance”. Lastly Gatorade

used the overall setting of flashy lights bringing the whole image to life to create the real feel and

emotion a real boxing match would bring to the table. You are probably thinking i'm quite crazy

for bringing such a simple ad for gatorade into such depth but I mean it should be self

explanatory on why I did. Gatorade always wins!