Rhetorical Analysis 1

Rhetorical Analysis

Nike Mercurial Vapor 8

Aubree D. Appel

Nightingale College
 Rhetorical Analysis 2

Nike Mercurial Vapor 8

Nike’s newest shoes, the Vapor 8’s, launch on March 28th, for their new year campaign of

soccer cleats. Nike uses ethos, pathos, and logos in their ad to show the credibility of the

company, to express relatable emotions and physical expressions to their viewers. They show off

their new product in their ad to show how much the famous celebrities and athletes like their

products and continue to use them. They have the athletes in their ads positioned in a way that

heightens their products in the way they want their viewers to see it. The athletes also give their

emotional impersonations in the ads to show and give the viewers something that they can relate

to based off the impression they give.

The company doesn’t exactly emphasize the use of ethos in this ad. They give credibility to

their athletes that they choose to have in their ads and then enforce them on the actual ad itself.

By allowing those athletes to be in their ads, that gives Nike the advantage for their viewers to

make their views and sales go up. Such as in this newest ad where they have a famous soccer

player promoting the speed and durability of the new Vapor 8’s soccer cleats. Nike often

promotes their newest products with just the product itself and is then taken on by such school

and sports teams to buy and promote their support of the equipment. With the new Vapor 8’s

many sports teams or schools will buy these cleats in bulk and the whole team will wear the

same shoes.

Nike expressing the example of pathos in their ad by having the soccer player in their ad

express how fast he is going in the cleats by his facial and physical expressions. The guy has his

arms and legs in the positioning he would have them when playing soccer, dribbling the ball
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down the field. He expresses from the ad he is breathing hard as he looks like he is about to

inhale a breath of air and is sweating showing his face and arms are glistening as an effect of

running. This triggered an emotional effect because it allows the viewer to connect and relate to

the guy in the picture as to the emotional and physical expressions he is putting off.

An example of logos in this Nike ad is the shoes showing how fast they’re supposed to go

and the durability they are supposed to hold up to. Such as in the picture the cleats show sparks

and dirt flying up in the air as an explosive reaction to the player running in them. Showing those

physical features allow the veiwers to think and possibly believe that the shoes allow that force.

The ad also shows smoke in the background as an effect of dirt flying up in the air from the

player running.

In the ad of the new Vapor 8’s, Nike’s promotion of the cleats was effective. The set up

around the cleats accentuated them to the views in the way that made them stand out and show

that they have the strength and durability Nike says they do. By having the famous soccer player

in their ad, gave the viewers with a close connection to soccer, have a relatable emotional

connection to the cleats. I think that because the viewers with a personal connection to the ad,

will give them a better reason to buy that product. Also, by having a famous athlete in the ad, the

viewers will see that if the famous athletes like the cleats, they should also.

Nike has advertised their product in many different areas worldwide. As many of their

ads contain famous people and athletes that are big in the world at that time, they don’t use any

other sources. The use of pathos in their ad gives the viewers an insight on what the people that

use their products feel about the product. In their ad the use of logos represents everything

around their product that allow the product to be accented.

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References

Byrne, B. (2012, March 19). Nike Mercurial Vapor 8 Released – Explosive Speed.

Retrieved from: www.soccercleats101.com/2012/03/19/nike-mercurial-vapor-8-released-

explosive-speed/

Football Fashion Staff. (2012, March 19). Nike Mercurial Vapor 8 Soccer Boot.

Retrieved from: https://s-media-cache-

ak0.pinimg.com/originals/87/8d/56/878d560a405672d784842981eda8e7a9.jpg