Sleek and elegant, sharp and attractive-this is a car one sees and only dreams of having. What kind of power is hiding under the hood? What would people think if they saw me in a car like this? There it stands in the spotlight in a warehouse made just for it; no other car would serve as an equal substitute. It's waiting in all its purity just for that one ambitious person who will say, "I'm going to drive you someday!" But then one must wonder, how to get his hands on it, how can I make it mine. The following commercial is about a young boy who catches a glimpse of his dream car and takes the first steps to make it real; it establishes the character and quality of Porsche through the use rhetorical situations, ethos, and pathos.
The ethos of Porsche is illustrated throughout the narration of this commercial in a variety of ways. For Porsche, a car represents who you are or who you will be someday; therefore, they manufacture their vehicles in such a way as to best represent their customers. Young William happens to be distracted in class one day and is looking out the classroom window when this dream car slowly passes by like a glimpse of heaven. He goes through all the trouble of searching in the library for the make of the car, bicycling all the way to the Porsche dealership to check the car out, and in the end tells the dealer that he’ll be back in 20 years to buy his dream car. William is a intelligent and ambitious kid; he intends to reach his goals in life, and one of those dreams is to own a 911 Carera. From this, the ethos of the boy has been established. He has chosen to represent part of himself through this car and company. Therefore, he must be trusting Porsche when it comes to this representation. Porsche’s ethos is described and defined through the dealer. He has good posture, a clean presses suit, straight tie, and a encouraging attitude. Today’s connotation of a dealer is heavy set, pushy, selfish, and hard to work with. Porsche is trying to show through the dealer that they are the opposite of this and wish to best represent themselves and their customers. The second way Porsche defines itself is through the 911 Carera in the statement "and now again it is poised to redefine what is possible... it is quite simply the purest expression of who we are.” The car itself has become a recognizable logo for Porsche and any connotation of Porsche is in this car. This, however, is only a few of the ways Porsche has demonstrated its ethos in the commercial.
Another appeal used in the commercial is that of pathos. The above Porsche commercial explicitly states the false need observed in the first commercial. “It’s the car you own before you ever really been inside one. The car you feel before you ever even driven one.” Then it goes on to say how it is irresistible to avoid this youthful desire to drive a Porsche. William shows this false need after seeing the car drive by and has this overwhelming emotion to find the car himself. Then the commercial states “We’ll be expecting your call.“ This is exactly what happens to William. After class, he is found studying in the library but it isn’t his homework he‘s studying. Rather the sight of the car earlier has drove his emotions to where he has found in magazines which car he saw for sure and proceeds to draw it in his notebook. Soon the bell rings. He runs down the hall and outside, hops on his bicycle and rides to the dealership with great urgency and speed. This false need for the car has been instilled in the boys mind that he will own the car someday. The car was so magnificent and glorious that he had to find it for himself. Towards the end of the first commercial William goes on to confidently say “I’ll see you in about twenty years.” One can only surmise that he seriously intends to come back someday and buy that car. The commercial continues with this voice over saying “There’s the moment you know you want one, there’s moment you first own one, and for the truly afflicted there’s the decade or two that passes in between.” If a false need such as this can be that powerful it must be for a reason. The following commercial helps to illustrate just why this false need is created through ethos.
Porsche for forty years and even before then has been working to make the best of the best of cars so their consumers are defined in this way. “We believed any car that merely got you from here to there just didn’t go far enough. That belief, a little imagination, and a lot of hard work led us to build cars that set new speed records, set new design standard, set new expectations of what a car ought to be.” In the first commercial, the specifics of the 911 Carera and 911 Carera S are defined with examples like how much horsepower it has, top track speed, and acceleration rate. This shows that they are still following these ideals and are still making the best of the best of cars today even further establishing ethos. “From its first days on the road forty year ago, the 911 eleven has ignited the kind of passion in drivers that only a Porsche can.” Porsche first must define its character before this passion can come about, and the company has rightly done so even now with the 911 Carera and 911 Carera S. This passion is what leads to the false need of wanting to own a Porsche!
All of the commercials end with the logo of Porsche. This creates an analogy between a symbol and the connotation of the symbol. All the ethos of Porsche is to be represented by this badge with a horse in the middle and the company name lining the top. The fact that humans remember what they saw last the best, it is easy for them to relate all of the ethos of Porsche to this symbol. In the first commercial the male voice says “Porsche, there is no substitute,” while the logo comes up. In this case, the commercial is trying to provide the desired connotation of the symbol. That is, if you want to best represent yourself with a car, the only one that does so the best is Porsche. Based on the fact that Porsche has properly established its ethos, this is a logical argument in that sense. However, who is to say that a Chevy Nova won’t represent the person better, even though, in Spanish “No va” mean no go. It is a misuse of ethos by authority over evidence. Porsche has tried very hard to establish its ethos but by doing so, they have overemphasized the authority of their ethos rather than focusing on the small evidence provided by the commercial. In the end though, who is to say that from this I now don’t dream to own a Porsche.
Another appeal used in the commercial is that of pathos. The above Porsche commercial explicitly states the false need observed in the first commercial. “It’s the car you own before you ever really been inside one. The car you feel before you ever even driven one.” Then it goes on to say how it is irresistible to avoid this youthful desire to drive a Porsche. William shows this false need after seeing the car drive by and has this overwhelming emotion to find the car himself. Then the commercial states “We’ll be expecting your call.“ This is exactly what happens to William. After class, he is found studying in the library but it isn’t his homework he‘s studying. Rather the sight of the car earlier has drove his emotions to where he has found in magazines which car he saw for sure and proceeds to draw it in his notebook. Soon the bell rings. He runs down the hall and outside, hops on his bicycle and rides to the dealership with great urgency and speed. This false need for the car has been instilled in the boys mind that he will own the car someday. The car was so magnificent and glorious that he had to find it for himself. Towards the end of the first commercial William goes on to confidently say “I’ll see you in about twenty years.” One can only surmise that he seriously intends to come back someday and buy that car. The commercial continues with this voice over saying “There’s the moment you know you want one, there’s moment you first own one, and for the truly afflicted there’s the decade or two that passes in between.” If a false need such as this can be that powerful it must be for a reason. The following commercial helps to illustrate just why this false need is created through ethos.
Porsche for forty years and even before then has been working to make the best of the best of cars so their consumers are defined in this way. “We believed any car that merely got you from here to there just didn’t go far enough. That belief, a little imagination, and a lot of hard work led us to build cars that set new speed records, set new design standard, set new expectations of what a car ought to be.” In the first commercial, the specifics of the 911 Carera and 911 Carera S are defined with examples like how much horsepower it has, top track speed, and acceleration rate. This shows that they are still following these ideals and are still making the best of the best of cars today even further establishing ethos. “From its first days on the road forty year ago, the 911 eleven has ignited the kind of passion in drivers that only a Porsche can.” Porsche first must define its character before this passion can come about, and the company has rightly done so even now with the 911 Carera and 911 Carera S. This passion is what leads to the false need of wanting to own a Porsche!
All of the commercials end with the logo of Porsche. This creates an analogy between a symbol and the connotation of the symbol. All the ethos of Porsche is to be represented by this badge with a horse in the middle and the company name lining the top. The fact that humans remember what they saw last the best, it is easy for them to relate all of the ethos of Porsche to this symbol. In the first commercial the male voice says “Porsche, there is no substitute,” while the logo comes up. In this case, the commercial is trying to provide the desired connotation of the symbol. That is, if you want to best represent yourself with a car, the only one that does so the best is Porsche. Based on the fact that Porsche has properly established its ethos, this is a logical argument in that sense. However, who is to say that a Chevy Nova won’t represent the person better, even though, in Spanish “No va” mean no go. It is a misuse of ethos by authority over evidence. Porsche has tried very hard to establish its ethos but by doing so, they have overemphasized the authority of their ethos rather than focusing on the small evidence provided by the commercial. In the end though, who is to say that from this I now don’t dream to own a Porsche.
