Although Easy on the Eyes and Even Irresistible, Beauty is Only Skin Deep

Mercedes-Benz (2007) recently launched a comedically-entertaining commercial in the United States of America (US), which metaphorically expressed the company's blatant confidence in superiority over other luxury automobile manufacturers. The commercial featured a strict librarian, a large crowd of silent readers, and a beautiful blonde in a large public library. The 35 second skit began with the blonde approaching the busy librarian and startling her by very loudly saying, "Hello... I'd like to order French fries, a burger, and a milkshake!" The drama continued as the insulted librarian offered the blonde a disgusted look and tone, "This is a library!" The naive blonde turned and looked around, realizing her awful mistake, and replied with a whisper, "I'd like to order French fries, a burger, and a milkshake." The confused blonde then smiled sarcastically at the librarian, as if the librarian had been wrongfully rude, while the picture faded away; next, the sales pitch appeared as a romantic piano played in the background... "Beauty is nothing without brains." Another screen replaced that message with, "Mercedes-Benz, Intelligent."

It would be easy for Americans to overlook the underlying context which made this rewarding advertisement possible, but the understanding of this opportunity could actually be quite interesting. The following scholarly examination was conducted on a commercial for Mercedes-Benz which broadcasted throughout the United States of America and made a number of appearances therein, on a wide variety of televised networks. What knowledge can be gained by a rhetorical analysis of the Mercedes-Benz advertising campaign?

Methodology
The subjective purpose of the commercial was rhetorically investigated in an attempt to interpret the persuasive strategy used for its success and the subjective nature of its context which significantly influenced its production (Frey, Botan, & Kreps, 2000). The essay took form under philosopher Kenneth Burke's (1969) view of dramatic criticism and all conclusions were drawn according to his 5 pertinent elements of communication. The elements of dramatic criticism include act, agent, agency, scene, and purpose.

Results
Act. The subject under investigation was the commercial, itself. The message claimed Mercedes-Benz is more than just another beautiful vehicle, and it stated that the automobiles manufactured by Mercedes-Benz were made intelligently - maximum performance should be expected of their products.

Agent. The marketing experts hired by Mercedes-Benz were responsible for the creation of this commercial. These experts have researched marketing strategies and worked hard to produce advertisements, such as this one. Mercedes-Benz was responsible for the approval of the advertisement; furthermore, all networks that chose to air it were also responsible for the approval of the ad.

Agency. The message was simple and relayed itself to the audience through use of a metaphor. The stereotypical blonde with little intelligence represented other luxury automobile manufacturers.

Scene. The commercial was broadcasted via national television on several networks in the US. The ad was visible to a wide range of consumers but was directed toward the luxury-automobile consumer market.

Purpose. The single most, important purpose of the commercial was obviously aimed at promoting sales within the Mercedes-Benz lineup.
Discussion

Consumers can be sold on companies without even knowing important information about the advocated product; on the other hand, marketing strategies are used to take advantage of this because companies would rather not bear the burden of proving their superiority. Marketing strategies can often be disguised by the use of humor or other means; moreover, companies have frequently failed to properly inform consumers of important information. This Mercedes-Benz advertising campaign used a stereotype to create doubt in the reliability of other automobile manufacturers and avoided a valid description of its product. The humor of the situation was creatively designed in attempt to build a loose association between the stereotype and other manufacturers.

Consumers have learned to allow influence to do just that. They would not like to feel overwhelmed with constant decision-making, besides keeping up with technology and products has been becoming a somewhat impossible task. They would like for decision making processes to be easy and to the point; consequently, they have often never even been accurately informed. This situation has worked out well for marketers and may have what seems to be a promising future for their careers. Companies would rather not bear the burden of proving their superiority simply because they do not necessarily have to do so in order to generate sales.

References

Burke, K. (1969). A grammar of motives. University of California Press. Frey, L.R., Botan, C.H., & Kreps, G.L. (2000). Investigating communication: An introduction to research methods (2nd ed.). Needham Heights, MA: Allyn & Bacon. Mercedes-Benz. (2007, January). Beauty is nothing without brains. You Tube. Retrieved September 9, 2007, from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GHX2mvFVQMs