GESTURE, HEAD MOVEMENT AND GAZE

The three modes gesture, head movement and gaze will be illustrated simultaneously because they are
closely connected during the advert and displayed in the same still images.

The image of the first row shows that a female singer performs a heartfelt ballad about KFC’s Smoky
Mountain BBQ chicken with a music band. She starts singing out with feeing and moving her arms to the
music. The next image of the first row reveals the preparation phase of her gesture. She shakes her head
slowly along with the music and sometimes closes her eyes to feel the beat.

In the image of the second row, she motions the band to stop playing the music. The next image of the
second row indicates the stroke of her gesture. She takes off her wig and then throws it to the male
musical playing the violin. This action is so surprising to him.

The first image of the third row indicates the retraction phase of the gesture when the female singer
gets back to be a salesman with a completely different appearance. The salesman decks him out with a
white suite, white wig and facial hair. He thought that dressing up as a country music singer would help
him sell the Smoky Mountain BBQ chicken, but he’s just not cut out for country music life. In the last
image of the figure, he takes a piece of the BBQ fried chicken from the basket and brings it up close to
his mouth as a way to replace the micro. He continues to lift up his voices in song until the end.

As examined in the figure, communicating by gesture plays a main role in expressing the perceptions
and feelings of the participant. In this situation, it could be interpreted that the pairing of a universally
country music legend with a universally appealing flavor like Smoky Mountain BBQ makes the stuff of
legend. Therefore, this advert has successfully made the use of gesture as embodied mode, the primary
communication tool in the interaction.