Vazquez 1

Ariana Vazquez

Ms.Granillo

English 103

26 February, 2019

Alexa’s Impact To The World

How much does one know about commercials? Some people may know a lot and some

may know nothing. Drastically over time commercials have been evolving into more persuasive

visual aids; however, what the audience does not realize is the key factors that each commercial

uses. For instance, Amazon’s Alexa refers to the rhetorical triangle and several fallacies. Alexa is

a virtual assistant device that can follow any command given. In “Alexa Loses Her Voice”,

Amazon supports the commercial by using pathos, logos, ethos and ad holmian fallacy to

manipulate the viewers into buying that electronic device.

Electronic devices today are evolving faster than we think; therefore, today we have been

introduced to Alexa. Alexa is a highly moderned piece of technology that has been developed to

follow any command given. In the commercial, “Alexa Loses Her Voice”, Amazon advertises

Alexa to increase the sales for the device. The commercial targets both teenagers and adults of

the ages 13 and on by purposely involving various famous artists as an attention grabber. The ad

shows a woman, in her mid 30’s who is brushing her teeth and asking Alexa about the weather;

however alexa had lost her voice (“Alexa Loses Her Voice 00:00:01-00:00:10”). We are then

introduced to Rebel Wilson, Cardi B, and Anthony Hopkins who impact the commercial by their

humorous personalities. These famous people have a reputation in the field of theater, famous

cooking shows and rapping. While the commercial is manipulating the audience to buy the

product, the ad also had some step backs. The commercial fails to fully explain the logic behind
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the commercial. However, the commercial with the step backs follows and presuts its purpose to

willing convince the audience to purchase the item. Throughout the commercial Amazon

subjects the product, Alexa as a device that can follow any command given to her and help

others by utilizing several techniques Amazon creates to the viewers point of view.

For instance, the first and strongest technique that Amazon applies is pathos; in other

words this commercial is a way to appeal sense of humor by using entertaining celebrities. For

example, when Gordon Ramsay was asked to give a recipe for a grilled cheese sandwich; his

response was very whimsical and had a strong impact to the audience. (“Alexa Loses Her Voice”

00:00:19-00:00:29). The humour towards the response from Gordon Ramsay were very specific

and caught the viewers sense of happiness which appeals to emotions. Moreover, Gordon’s

personality also helps persuade the hilarious role in the commercial.

In addition, pathos was also shown when another famous artist Rebel Wilson was

commanded to “set the mood”. In the ad, Rebel Wilson made a quiet and calm get together and

turned it into a very intimate scene. Rebel Wilson was asked to “set the mood” and her response

was very passionate and sensual. She replied, “putting it in the mood, your in the bush just so

dirty and so nasty…” (“Alexa Loses Her Voice” 00:00:45-00:00:50).To the audience it was very

humorous because it was supposed to be a setting of a get together (“Alexa Loses Her Voice”

00:00:40-00:00:52). Therefore, this commercial targeted the audience by using mainly pathos,

the appeal to emotions.

Moreover, the use of logos also supports the commercial; logos is the logic behind the

commercial. Throughout the ad, logos was applied for each question that was asked to Alexa

where it would appear logical to any person watching the video. For example, one of the

questions asked was, “How far is Mars”, (“Alex Loses Her Voice” 00:00:29-00:00:33) the logic
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behind that question is not rocket science and can easily be explained as shown in the

commercial on how easily it is to ask Alexa. The response to that question was answered by

Cardi B, a famous rapper. She said, “How far is Mars well how am I supposed to know I never

been there. There’s not even oxygen there” (“Alexa Loses Her Voice” 00:00:33-00:00:39). Cardi

B’s response was also very logical and humours at the same time. “There’s not even oxygen

there”, is one of the most logical and explicit responses because in Mars there really is no

Oxygen.

However, the commercial fails in logic as well; therefore the ad uses non logical

scenarios throughout the ad. In the beginning of the commercial, a woman was brushing her

teeth and asked this electronic device about the weather; however, the device lost the voice

(“Alexa Loses Her Voice” 00:00:01-00:00:05). An electronic device is built to have a voice

because it’s a piece of technology and not a human being. It is not logical for an electronic

device to lose her/his voice because it’s technology; therefore, are manufactured to have a voice

and work all the time.

Additionally, the commercial also emphasizes in the use of ethos. The use of ethos is

what makes the commercial trustworthy and credible. Amazon overall has been a company that

is known to do many great things like Alexa because over time the company has made quite an

impact in technology. However, in the commercial credibility is shown by putting

famous comedians that the audience looks up to or already know of (“Alexa Loses Her Voice”).

The celebrities have a huge impact for the viewers because it makes the ad look trustworthy; the

celebrities are well known to people all over the world through television and movies. In the

commercial, not 2 but 4 famous figures were used to target the audience's trust. Cardi B and

Rebel Wilson are two famous artists that are looked up too for being powerful women. Anthony
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Hopkins and Gordon Ramsay are also two men that have a monumental impact towards the

commercial because they are too well known men who have much respect.

Nevertheless, the commercial also values the use of ethos by showing the audience about

asking for help whenever one needs too. Throughout the commercial people asked the simplest

questions and were answered explicitly every time. In particular, towards the end of the ad, a

woman asked Alexa to call Brandon; however, Anthony Hopkins answered and said “I’m afraid

Brandon is a little tied up, but do let me know there’s anything I can help you with Jessica”

(“Alexa Loses Her Voice” 00:01:10-00:01:23). The commercials credibility is shown by telling

the audience that Alexa can be asked anything and can answer partially everything as well.

Another fallacy that was used is ad hominem fallacy. The ad hominem fallacy was used

in the begging of the commercial where Gordon Ramsay yelled at the young guy for not

knowing how to make a grilled cheese sandwich. (“Alexa Loses Her Voice” 00:00:25-00:00:29).

Gordon Ramsay assumes that just because he knows the recipe, that the young male knows it as

well. The ad hominem fallacy was used towards the young male because he did not how to make

the grilled cheese sandwich but Gordon Ramsay did not stop to think just a second but said a

fallacy without even noticing.

In conclusion, the commercial “Alexa Loses Her Voice” has impacted many viewers to

buying the product. The commercial has formed various ways to show the product Alexa;

therefore leaving the audience no choice but to purchase the item. By using pathos, logos, ethos

and a fallacies the commercial was put together in a certain way that the audience could have an

appeal to. Throughout the visuals of the commercial and the techniques that were used, the

commercial “Alexa Loss Her Voice” by Amazon came to a great way to sell the technology

device Alexa.
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Works Cited

Amazon. “Alexa Loses Her Voice – Amazon Super Bowl LII Commercial.” YouTube,
YouTube,
31 Jan. 2018
Merriam-Webster. Merriam-Webster.com. 2011
hhtps://www.merriam-webster.com (8 May 2011)
Silverman, Jonathan. “The World Is a Text”, Canada: Juliet Sutcliffe,2018