Laskey 1

Trenton Laskey

Dr. Stancil

English 101

24 February 2022

“Certain is Better” Analysis

2021 had a reputation to live up to. After, 2020 had left the world immeasurably

disappointed and uncertain in many ways due to the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. The

standard way of living had been turned on its head, masks were to be worn nearly everywhere

that was outside your house, and instead of driving to work many found their new offices in their

home. However, come Superbowl LV there was a resemblance of normalcy: the Tampa Bay

Buccaneers were facing the Kansas City Chiefs in a game that was pretty much the same as

Superbowl games that were played just a couple of years ago. And with the game being

relatively normal the anticipation for the commercials would be as high as ever. This is when the

Rocket Mortgage commercial “Certain is Better'' would be aired to an audience of 112.3 million

viewers. Rocket Mortgage is a company that helps home buyers to pay/customize their mortgage

payments. It involves a family walking through a house that they may purchase and they are

unsure whether they could safely mortgage it. This leads to a surprise appearance by Tracy

Morgan who, in a very drawn out process, shows the family why using Rocket Mortgage will

allow them to be confident in their decision. The commercial upfront, which was made in order

to persuade watchers to use Rocket Mortgage when purchasing a home (for context Rocket

Mortgage is a company that helps home buyers to pay/customize their mortgage payments).

However it can be seen that the deeper meaning of the commercial uses appeals to pathos and

ethos to convey a message that there is danger in uncertainty.

 Laskey 2

The first way in which “Certain is Better'' conveys the message that there is danger in

uncertainty is through an appeal to pathos. The commercial puts the family in bizarre situations

such as being stuck in the woods, having a hornet’s nest dropped on your head, and being put

into some kind of fight club. The way everything is portrayed, although in a joking manner, are

all fairly dangerous. Then every scene involves the phrase “pretty sure” in reference to the

possibility of danger that is present. This is meant to install a sense of caution into the watcher

for if the commercial says being “pretty sure” about something isn’t alway going to pan out the

way you’d expect appealing to one’s pathos (insecurities). Another way in which an appeal to

pathos can be seen is in the humor that is used throughout the commercial. This is portrayed

through brief lines Tracy Morgan says (“I’m pretty sure these berries aren’t poisonous. , I’m

pretty sure this is a parachute.). These are meant to cause the audience to laugh, allowing the

commercials message to show appeal through having connotations of humor. As seen here,

Rocket Mortgage’s commercial utilizes an appeal to pathos in order to send a message that there

is danger in uncertainty.

Next there is an appeal to ethos that is used to convey the message that there is danger in

uncertainty. When one looks at all the examples of the dangerous scenarios that can be found

throughout the commercial we look at them and it is very possible that we’ve all seen this

somewhere else before. The scene where the family and Tracy Morgan are in the woods, Tracy

makes a comment saying he’s pretty sure that the berries he’s holding aren’t poisonous. This

scene is a very prominent point in many movies and tv-shows that focus on survival in the

wilderness. “Will this be the food that kills me?”, and if you haven’t seen a survival film of any

kind this whole ordeal has been spoofed/parodied in many comedies. Another example is a shot

where Tracy Morgan and the aforementioned family are in a sports car making a jump over an
 Laskey 3

rising bridge. This is a popular trope in many action movies such as Mission Impossible, Fast

and Furious, and a number of James Bond films (all of which are heavily ingrained into pop

culture). As seen here, the use of very recognizable dangerous scenarios allows for an appeal to

ethos.

Another way in which the commercial appeals to ethos is to show that there is danger in

uncertainty through the use of celebrity cameos. In the beginning we are shown a family that is

composed of actors/actresses we would not necessarily recognize, and then within the first six

seconds we see Tracy Morgan (from shows such as “Saturday Night Live” and “30 Rock”), and

then 26 seconds into the commercial we see Dave Bautista ( who is most well known for playing

Drax in Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, and portraying

himself under the stage name Bautista where he wrestled in the WWE.). These cameos are able

to instill a feeling of trust within the watcher, for if these larger-than-life people trust Rocket

Mortgage we should do the same. It can easily be seen that the use of familiar dangerous

scenarios and celebrity cameos allows for “Certain is Better” to convey a message that there is

danger in uncertainty.

In conclusion, the Rocket Mortgage commercial “Certain is Better” heavily uses an

appeal to pathos and ethos in order to convey a message that uncertainty is dangerous. Making a

commercial isn’t as easy as one may think. This can be seen in the use of danger and humor

together with the use of familiar scenes and faces within the advertisement. It takes months in

order to poll what is getting people to buy services/items, and then to use that information and

put it all into only a minute in hopes of increasing their bottom line. Although daunting, it is

evident that Rocket Mortgage made a smart move with this commercial seeing how on many

online polls and forums it was regarded as the best superbowl commercial of the year.