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Walmart Ad: Appeals to Positive Emotions,

Specific Needs, and Likeability

Comm 1 Paper #2

TA: Valerie Valdez

University of California, Santa Barbara

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This year, Walmart presented a TV commercial aimed to pull at heartstrings during this

challenging and unprecedented time. Several persuasive tactics are implemented through

sentimental and hopeful message strategies paired with likable source qualities. A wide range of

purchases made with the intention of thoughtfulness and the spirit of gift giving stimulate an

appeal to positive emotion, specifically sentimentality and hope. The appeal to specific human

needs is emphasized by the showcasing of items available and their ability to provide an

effortless, contactless shopping experience. A diverse selection of individuals and families are

shown throughout, attempting to gain likeability. Though this source quality doesn’t aim

effectively at their target audience, their message strategies are strong enough to make this

commercial effective, by focusing on getting the target audience to associate the brand with

positive emotions, a fulfillment of specific needs and a sense of belonging.

Walmart chose to represent a large and diverse group of people, showcasing individuals

from different backgrounds and family structures. Because of the breadth of people and products,

the target audience could potentially reach many everyday Americans. However, the ad is geared

towards audiences with families or loved ones who celebrate Christmas. There’s an emphasis on

those who are shopping for the holidays and the togetherness of celebrating with family and

friends. Due to the nature of COVID-19 and new non-contact regulations, this commercial

encourages online shopping as well, narrowing the target audience further to those with internet

access. They understand their key demographic is most likely people online shopping at home

for the holidays, so they also incorporate various products that could cater to a variety of

shoppers. They predict and portray what each shopper will order either for themselves or a loved

one and show their customer’s satisfaction with their purchases.

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Using Aretha Franklin’s “All You Need,” sets a positive tone and promotes the overall

sentimental and hopeful nature of the commercial. Walmart is trying to effectively convince their

audience that the holidays are about sharing with your loved ones and all you need is each other.

According to lecture, appeals to positive emotions are “vivid messages designed to arouse good

feelings,” for example; “amusement, humor, sentimentality or hope” (Mullins, 2020a).

Walmart’s commercial combines the sentimentality of continuing to celebrate a traditional

holiday and hopefulness that the values of family and generosity don’t change despite

COVID-19. They instill the hope that the holidays can still be saved with their convenient,

contactless, online shopping system. Each scene cuts to a new customer thoughtfully ordering

products that vary from sanitary products and groceries, to crafts and Christmas ornaments. A

final message of hope and unity is reiterated at the end of the commercial. A happy family in

front of a Christmas tree with a newborn is shown in the last scene. The message on screen says,

“Let’s end the year with what matters.” The commercial is meant to make the target audience

reflect on what really matters, bringing people closer through this challenging time, and

associating our emotions of closeness, sentimentality, and hope with the brand, Walmart.

Because Walmart is a big corporate brand, they intentionally refocus and emphasize

importance in everyday people and small families. Usually large corporations can be subject to

lots of criticism so they attempt to draw attention away from them and appear to be a people and

family-oriented brand. They also pay attention to the pandemic and the fact that their target

audience is stuck at home, having to rely on technology to get both their essentials and

nonessential items. They use this to deflect any moral objections against their brand and

effectively reframe the pandemic dilemma as a chance to provide a more intimate and positive

experience. A recent study explores a “resilience-oriented, systemic approach” to overcome

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trauma and loss to adapt positively during the time of COVID-19. Based on her findings, Walsh

(2020) suggests that “applying a family resilience framework” to pandemic related issues,

“focuses on the importance of shared belief systems in meaning‐making processes; a positive,

hopeful outlook and active agency..” can contribute to positive growth (pg. 898). Walmart’s

commercial takes advantage of this family approach in order to sway the opinions of a large

demographic in their favor. The subtle yet consistent sprinkling of sentimentality among couples

and families, and highlights of hope using scenes with children, contribute to the brand’s appeal

to positive emotions and overall effectiveness.

Once again, the soundtrack contributes to Walmart’s overall message of being a family

and giving to others during a strange and difficult holiday season. While family is the outward

emphasis of the commercial, “All You Need,” has an underlying message that Walmart is the

source and sole provider that can give you everything you need. The holidays wouldn’t be the

holidays without gift-giving and Walmart wants viewers to choose them. This shows an appeal to

specific human need(s) where the “persuader [Walmart] suggests you can meet needs by doing

what they [the persuader] wants” (Mullins, 2020b). They don’t let COVID-19 put a damper on

the spirit of consumerism and rather use it as a catalyst to encourage it. Right at the beginning,

Walmart acknowledges the unprecedented time with the message: “This year was like any other.

Until it wasn’t.” They display customers shopping for sanitary products and essentials like

groceries to remind customers they have what you need. There’s also funny and lighthearted

scenes ranging from a father in the bathtub eating Cheez-its he ordered, to cheerful children

playing with a bag of flour. They do so to show each purchase as a unique experience that can

fulfill anyone’s needs. Choosing to emphasize the online shopping feature through the sequences,
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also promotes the safety and convenience of meeting one’s needs in the comfort of their own

home.

An important aspect of appeals to specific human needs is the Bandwagon Approach.

This promotes the need for belonging which is more apparent than ever due to the isolating effect

of living in a global pandemic. COVID-19 has threatened our very basic needs such as safety,

which makes it easy for Walmart to target their audience’s needs. With the rapidly changing

nature of our world, Walmart makes the statement that, “What we needed changed this year. But

what’s truly essential didn’t change at all.” According to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs there are

three branches of needs: basic, psychological, and self-fulfillment. (Mullins, 2020b).

Psychological needs can include a need for belonging through intimate relationships and friends

(Mullins, 2020b). Duygen and Sen (2020) based their study off of consumer habits during

COVID-19, directly applying Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. They observed that “In the studies

conducted after the COVID-19 pandemic crisis started, the order and importance of meeting the

needs of the consumers can be seen clearly” (pg. 61. By featuring their products with the

message that we’re all in this together, Walmart effectively uses the Bandwagon Approach to

target these psychological needs and appeal to the consumer's specific needs.

To maximize effectiveness of their commercial, Walmart not only uses message strategies

but tries to use an important source quality: likeability. Not only do they cater to the current

COVID-19 crisis, but they also adjust to the progressive political climate of 2020. They feature a

broad cross-section of people during the commercial, including black families, a gay couple, and

a disabled boy. By casting diversely, they appear more inclusive and aware as a brand. They are

attempting to shift their image in order to gain likeability from a new audience and approval

from demographics that may not have been Walmart patrons before. Walmart has long since been
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a brand that boasts low-prices and affordability to working class Americans. This goes hand in

hand with results found in a Pew Center for the People & the Press “Overall, 69% of those

familiar with Wal-Mart have a favorable opinion of the company” (Pew Research Center, 2005)

However, this reputation comes with a price, as Reich & Bearman (2018) uncovered, “social

change advocates have connect[ed] the Walmart brand with low wages and unjust working

conditions” (pg. 9). In order to move focus away from this negative connotation, Walmart tries to

recover their image as an appealing and likeable source. Including representation of minorities

and marginalized groups can encourage politically aware Americans to look at Walmart in a

different light.

However, the issue is citizens who are aware of social justice issues can easily recognize

this effort as an act of tokenism. It’s clearly a thinly-veiled attempt to lure in a new kind of

progressive customer, and actually may stray away from aiming at their target audience.

Especially those who live in progressive areas might not even be very familiar with Walmart, as

their locations tend to be clustered in Middle America. As of June 18th 2020, a data company

(ScrapeHero) finds that “Out of the top 20 cities that have the highest number of Walmart stores,

5 of them are from Texas” (pg.1). Because their patrons and target audience may be more

focused on traditions and the “feel good” aspect of this commercial, the diverse casting may be

disregarded or even deemed ineffective. By centering their commercial on Christmas, Walmart

has already inadvertently excluded religions that do not celebrate Christmas. Arguably, this

decision may have been made purposefully, to target their traditional target audience, “60%-23%

margin the public does prefer ‘Merry Christmas’ to non-religious welcomes such as “Season’s

Greetings.” (Pew Research, 2005). This commercial does a sufficient job in catering to their

target audience but fails to appeal to the new demographic.

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Through appeals to positive emotion, specifically sentimentality and hope, combined

with appeals to specific needs in the time of COVID-19, Walmart effectively promotes their

product and brand. By emphasizing togetherness and unity during the holiday season they subtly

employ the Bandwagon Approach as well. The cheerful soundtrack and lighthearted scenes

encourage the target audience to associate Walmart as a family friendly company and household

name. Trying to use diversity to increase perceived likeability of the source may have been off

track with their target audience, but the underlying “feel good” message overpowers this choice.

Moreover, the theme of celebrating Christmas caters more directly to their target audience who

lean towards traditional holidays. This shows an understanding of their target audience and a

successful appeal to them to continue receiving their patronage. Effectively establishing two out

of three persuasive strategies makes for a convincing commercial and promises a positive

experience in choosing to shop Walmart.

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References:

Duygun, A., & Şen, E. (2020). Evaluation of Consumer Purchasing Behaviors in the COVID-19

Pandemic Period in the Context of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. PazarlamaTeorisi ve

Uygulamaları Dergisi, 6(1), 45-68.

Mullin, D. (2020a). Public Comm & Persuasion (more message strategies) Part 3. Class lecture

for Communication 1, Department of Communication, University of California, Santa

Barbara.

Mullin, D. (2020b). Public Comm & Persuasion (more message strategies) Part 4. Class lecture

for Communication 1, Department of Communication, University of California, Santa

Barbara.

Number of Walmart Stores and related Store Data - 2020. ScrapeHero. (2020, March 7).

https://www.scrapehero.com/number-of-walmart-stores-and-an-analysis-of-related-store-

data/.

Reich, A., & Bearman, P. (2018). Working for respect: Community and conflict at Walmart.

Columbia University Press.

Wal-Mart a Good Place to Shop But Some Critics Too. (2005, November 19).

https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2005/12/15/wal-mart-a-good-place-to-shop-but-so

me-critics-too/.

Walsh, F. (2020). Loss and resilience in the time of COVID‐19: Meaning making, hope, and

transcendence. Family process, 59(3), 898-911.

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