Nissan’s goal: Everyone drives a Maxima.
For the purposes of this writing, I am going to use the following definition of rhetorical/audience response as posited by Dr. Beach: “analysis through the lens of how texts seek to gain an audience identification to a brand, idea, cause, etc., through the use of images and equations.”
With that in mind, I took a look at a couple different ads for the Nissan Maxima. Notice the two main audiences here and how the car is presented as desirable for both.
In the first ad, the Maxima is the fulfillment of a James Bond fantasy (which it assumes, correctly, that all hot-blooded men enjoy nightly): fast cars, beautiful women, the elusion of bad guys, and tuxedos as everyday-wear. Men are asked to connect with the commercial by living out a fantasy, out of which they are jolted by the final seconds of the clip. But the Nissan is presented as a pathway to these dreams.
In the second ad, the Maxima is the fulfillment of BOTH the man’s dream sports car and the man’s need for a family car. In this scenario, the car maintains its cool status but is also big enough to accommodate his needs as a father – and again, he can experience both in style. The visuals of this ad are intelligently designed toward that end: As his Herculean strength allows him to widen the car (all men want to be strong, right?), which doesn’t change in appearance, only in substance. It is also presented as a parallel to him, a new father, because having a baby need not wrench away his “cool.”
With these two ads, Nissan is accounting for a significant chunk of its target audience. It wants single and married men (with or without children) to see the Nissan as the essence of cool. That is the response it wants to draw out of its viewers – who hopefully have the money to afford a Nissan. The price is not discussed in either ad, merely the aesthetic. But the creators of the ads are presumably hoping that viewers will respond first to how enjoyable and functional the car can be. Then they can deal with the financing.
And now, a lesson idea from this ...
Lesson plan: Cars as the fulfillment of self
Objective: Students will be able to better identify the target audience of an advertisement and to recognize the response the advertiser hopes to elicit from the audience. They will be able to give two examples from each commercial that support their assessments.
Materials: Access to YouTube or video copies of car commercials (or any commercials of your choice)
Procedure: Explain to students that you will be asking them to identify the target audience of each ad and what the advertiser wants the audience member to glean from the ad (best to define “glean” for them first). Then, watch the clips as a class. After each, discuss what they saw and ask them to support their answers with textual evidence (might be a good chance to point out that advertisements are also texts for literary purposes).
Also, in intersex small groups, ask the boys in the class and the girls in the class to compare their reactions to the commercials. Are the ads targeting one sex more than the other? Why do they think that is? How could the advertisers better target the other sex?
If possible, have them spend time looking for these clips on YouTube. As an in-class assignment, ask them to find another commercial and identify the following: the target audience (by gender, class, age, or any other specific they deem important), the product or service being offered, and the intended appeal to it. These are all questions that were modeled in the previous class activity.
Time: 30 minutes without additional assignment, 60 minutes with it
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