Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Persuasion
The commercial that I chose to analyze is the Pepsi commercial with Cardi B, Lil Jon,
and Steve Carrell. There are two ways that this commercial can be analyzed. One way is the
elaboration likelihood model, and the second is the heuristic-systematic model. According to the
understanding the effects of a host of a source, message and receiver factors on persuasion”
processing when people opt to expend relatively little effort and devote few resources to the
Under the elaboration likelihood model, there are two routes; the central route and the
(Perloff, 232). The central route uses reason and evaluation to help interpret a persuasive
message, and it also sticks with your long-term memory. The peripheral route is when “people
examine the message quickly or focus on simple cues to help them decide whether to accept the
position advocated in the message” (Perloff, 232-233). The peripheral route has an appeal of
emotion, and an appeal to a celebrity to process a persuasive message. This route involves your
short-term memory. I think the Pepsi commercial falls under the peripheral route for the
elaboration likelihood model. I think this because there is an appeal of emotion and an appeal of
celebrities. It appeals to emotions because the commercial is funny, especially at the end where
Steve Carrell is saying Cardi B’s and Lil Jon’s catch phrases, then says he needs to get his own.
There is also an appeal to celebrities because there are three different celebrities in it, and if the
person processing this message likes Lil Jon, Cardi B, or Steve Carrell, they might buy Pepsi
since they are promoting it and saying that it is the best soda.
The heuristic-systematic model is different. This model looks at information and opinions
without a lot of effort. There are three different fallacies that are in this model. The bandwagon
fallacy, which is where someone will accept or reject a message based on what other people are
saying about it, the expert fallacy, which is saying that something is true or false just because
someone who is an expert on the says its either true or false, and the length of the message which
means that the longer the message is the more strength it has. I think that the Pepsi commercial is
part of the bandwagon fallacy. I think this because if people see their favorite artists on
television, and they actually believe what they are saying and that Pepsi is the best soda, that
they will jump on board with them and they will start to drink Pepsi.
The Pepsi commercial was my favorite commercial this year during the Superbowl. I
wish I liked soda so I could try Pepsi to see if it’s good or not, but I think if I saw this
commercial and I liked soda, I would start drinking Pepsi. All of the actors they used in the
commercial and relevant to most of the viewers, so that has definitely made some people jump
Perloff, Richard M. The Dynamics of Persuasion: Communication and Attitudes in the 21st