Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Collin Wenstrom
Kelly Silvka
English 250
February 3, 2017
Dissecting an Ad
wants to do their part to try to decrease the number of drunk drivers on the road. BMW takes a
serious tone with this ad; a change from their usual ads that strictly showcase their cars. This
advertisement from BMW uses rhetorical appeals such as, emotional appeal, logical appeal, and
The ad catches the viewers attention instantaneously with a vivid picture of a person
with a prosthetic leg and the words, Dont Drink and Drive. (Fig 1) BMW plays off the idea
that the amputee will catch and keep the viewers attention. The ad uses emotional appeals by
making the viewer see the consequences of driving under the influence. A car accident where
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someone is seriously injured, like the person in the ad, invokes many emotions. Most of the
viewers cannot say that this scenario could never happen to them because it could. Think about
all the people that travel on the roads each day; whether they are the passenger or the driver they
can still be involved in a drunk driving crash. The point is, drunk drivers affect much more than
just themselves. The enormous target audience is a strength of this ad. Also, BMW does a great
job of picking colors that appeal to the viewers emotions. The background colors are soft and
plain to really draw the attention to the black prostatic leg. It is also interesting that they chose a
person with only one prosthetic leg rather than two. Again, they did this to make the prosthetic
leg stand out. I also believe they want to show how fast a persons life can change when being
After the viewer sees the ad, they are hooked. Next, they read the text to find out what
the message is. The ad says, Spare parts for humans are not as original as those for cars. Dont
Drink and Drive. (Fig 1) This statement uses a logical appeal by saying that human limbs are
not as easy to replace as a part on a car. Most people in this world know, and agree, that drinking
and driving is dangerous and should be avoided. BMW puts this statement out knowing that
everyone will agree with it. This creates a sense of teamwork with the audience to fight against a
common problem. The design of this ad is also simple and logical with the picture on the left
and words on the right. Wisely, BMW did not try to do anything glamorous or fancy in this ad.
By putting out this ad BMW is conveying that they are a company that cares about the people,
and they are doing their part to prevent drunk driving. This ad indirectly tries to sell cars by
showing the consumer that BMW is a trustworthy and caring company that wants to keep the
population safe. Another thing the viewer recognizes right away is the logo. This induces a
The famous BMW logo puts credibility in this ad. BMW is a German company that was
founded in 1916 (BMW Group). The fact that BMW has been around for more than one hundred
years is all the credit this ad needs. BMW is using their credibility in a good way by trying to
prevent drunk driving. In 2011, BMW also started an ad campaign to combat the problem of
texting and driving (Boeriu). With these types of ad campaigns, BMW shows that they do not
only focus on creating better cars and increasing sales; they also focus on creating a better
society where people are safer on the roads. In turn, these ads have pushed BMW to have record
With the perfect storm of the latest innovations in the automobile industry, and
masterfully crafted advertisements, it is no shock to see BMWs sales sky rocketing. This shows
what using rhetorical appeals in advertisements can do for a companys success, and in this case
help prevent drunk driving. Rhetorical appeals are everywhere - just look around.
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Works Cited
BMW. Don't Drink and Drive. N.d. Mad Over Marketing. Web. <https://www.google.com/url?
sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwi9gczm
r_zRAhXnz4MKHXDCAmgQjhwIBQ&url=https%3A%2F%2Fmadovermarketing.com
%2F2014%2F06%2F14%2Fdont-drink-and-drive-campaign-by-bmw
%2F&psig=AFQjCNEmLNq_f3egBIpKkQJ1gFRIMVGg0w&ust=1486501458019877>.
"BMW Group - Company - History." BMW Group. BMW, n.d. Web. 04 Feb. 2017.
<https://www.bmwgroup.com/en/company/history.html>.
"BMW Group Achieves Fifth Consecutive Record Sales Year." BMW Group. BMW, 1 Nov.
<https://www.press.bmwgroup.com/global/article/detail/T0249765EN/bmw-group-
achieves-fifth-consecutive-record-sales-year?language=en>.
Boeriu, Horatiu. "BMW Launches "Don't Text and Drive" Campaign." BMW BLOG. BMW
launches-don%E2%80%99t-text-and-drive-campaign/>.
<http://www.madd.org/drunk-driving/about/drunk-driving-statistics.html?referrer=https
%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2F>.