Rhetorical Analysis: Golf GTI Singing in the Rain

Okay. First school assignment: analyze an ad in regards to its rhetoric... audience, intent, methods, etc. I happen to like this particular ad, so that's why I decided to do it. I've been having trouble with the internet, and I wasn't able to get the internal video to work, but at the very least you can Google or YouTube "Golf GTI" and find it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jLOuDbsJNaE

At first glance (or glances, as it is a video :) ) you can't even tell it's an ad. The target audience initially seems to be a younger generation, those interested in breakdance or computer-manipulated images, but cultured enough to be familiar with Gene Kelly's Classic "Singing in the Rain".

This initial attraction relies on the novelty of seeing something and expecting one outcome (the rest of the original clip of "Singing in the Rain"), but being presented with another (the manipulated movements). Presumably, the newness is enjoyable (I know it was for me, so it was at least highly effective there.)

The overt advertising doesn't come until the last five seconds or so of the clip. All of a sudden, Gene comes up abruptly, stopped in his moves by something that's even novel for him. By the slightest tip of his hat, he approves. This is relaying to the audience that a guy who is so cool that he can be a classic movie star, as well as bust a few new moves, should have good taste in cars, and if you want to have good taste, you should buy the same car. (It is here that the ad reveals that it's also targeting people interested in buying cars.) His celebrity status appeals to the sense of Ethos, that you can trust such a nice famous guy who can dance with your choice of wheels.

The novelty is the connection to pathos; it is the feeling of excitement, eagerness. There is basically no appeal to logic, as everything is based on two things: 1) The surprise of his dance moves and new persona, and 2) the catch phrase at the end. The ad cites no smart, economic reasons as to why you should buy the car... not the price, or the gas mileage, or even the different colors you can buy. It relies solely on the tagline: "The original, updated."

The whole gist of the ad is that yes, the old things we knew in our culture were good, but if you update them, they're even cooler. I am assuming that the Golf GTI has been around for a while and they simply tweaked some things, but the message is that you need to be updating along with culture. If you don't, you're good, but not cool.


At the moment, it circulates more as an internet novelty rather than a straightforward advertisement, which to me is actually a decent sign that you made something worth watching. I first saw the clip as a "fun email" my dad sent to me, and to be honest, the personal enjoyment was the novelty and the new technology. Most car commercials try to grab you with "Buy now or you'll never get a car for a deal like this! Sign away your soul AND I'LL ECHO WHAT I JUST SAID SIX TIMES!", but this one was clever. As a member of their target audience, I am impressed and I have to say that it was indeed effective, for me. Heck, I'm writing about it in an English assignment. How much more convincing do you need to be?