Shoemaker 1 Katy Shoemaker Writing for the Internet 10-3-2013 Anthropomorphism and the Advantageous Advertising Market The

usage of emotion in writing usually has an effect on the reader to which the reader creates a connection to the written word. Likewise, the usage of emotion in image can also have a similar effect on the onlooker. There is this little known secret in the advertisement industry that if there is some type of emotional connection given to the consumer, they are then more likely to consume or purchase the product because, the consumer feels their own individual connection with that product or company. What most do not realize though is that these advertisement companies are really just employing the accurate usage of rhetoric in both their written word and their visual image. They are creating these irrevocable connections to their consumers that is effectively communicating words and connecting those words with images. This, in turn, connects that product with words and image in the consumers mindset. This emotional and visual connection can be seen specifically in commercials and advertisements of the like, with the usage of live or still (photographed) animal images. The advertisement industry employs the usage of live and cartoon animals, whether it is through still photographs or moving image (video), to create an emotional connection with its consumers. Not only does the image create the connection but then, the advisement shows its name or logo and instantly there is a connection between animal image and word that the consumer will never forget. From a larger standpoint, the American pop culture influence in advertising has always been to connect a product or service with something from popular culture that relates to peoples lives. In this case, it is creating singing, talking and dancing animals that often have the tendency to embody the purpose of the product or service and provide cultural connotation to the product

Shoemaker 2 as well (Phillips, 354). When using animals in advertising or even trade characters, one of the goals of the advertiser is to create a memorable connection between the image and the company advertising their product. These characters and animals tend to be popular with consumers and thus become an effective marketing strategy. This strategy of connecting a word to an animal to eventually create a cultural meaning through image is not unheard of by any means. Advertisers have a specific technique that they tend to use when it comes down to choosing pictures or images that represent a specific product or service. Images are expected to have a type of illustrative element and are chosen from a specific grouping or portfolio that is then coincidently linked to consumer responses (Phillips and McQuarrie, 114). This is the onedimensional way that advertisers have the ability to link images with their consumers. By having the ability to choose certain pictures or images that invoke extremely unambiguous emotional responses, advertisers have the ability to know what images make the consumer feel the need to purchase the product. Rather than focusing on the written word first, the strategy is to focus on rhetorical figures constructed from visual rather than verbal elements (Phillips and McQuarrie, 114). This is the proof that the connection to the consumer will be in the images first and noticed in the words second. This approach in advertising is seen as being the contemporary way to advertise for a company. This technique is known as the objective correlative which in essence is the ability of advertising companies to link its products and services to more desirable states, traits, and emotions (Witkoski, 1). This is why numerous companies such as AFLACK, Budweiser, Tidy Cats, Taco Bell, Geico, and many more use the benefit of animals in their commercials or logos, in order to invoke a type of connection to their consumers. AFLACK or also known as American Family Life Insurance Company, found that employing the usage of the duck in their advertising

Shoemaker 3 campaign, that they would invoke more members to join their insurance company as opposed to other insurance companies (Witkoski, 4). Looking back upon insurance company commercials, most tend to use the technique of an image of a happy family, laughing and gathering together, and children playing and this is known as the standard in financial advertising (Witkoski, 4). AFLACK tried to use this technique but to much avail, it did not give their consumers or potential consumers the emotional connection to their insurance company as much as they would have liked. In contrary, they then employed the duck campaign, which tried to link the rhetorical factors of their company to their audience through a common image of the duck. This is a true example of linking image to word and its connection that is binding to the consumer. The connection between consumer and an image does not always have to be an emotional appeal. However, emotion is one technique that can be used to connect image and word and have an accurately portrayed rhetorical situation that works well for a company trying to advertise. Budweiser, as many know, is a company that sells an alcoholic beverage product, Budweiser Beer. Budweiser is also known for the usage of brand animals in their advertisement campaigns. Some of these animals are the Clydesdale horses and Dalmatian dogs. They play on this aspect of bringing animals closer to humanity in order to create emotional connections that tie the emotional connection with the animal to Budweiser Beer and in turn, the animals endorse Budweiser beer rather than embodying it (Brown, 218). This can be seen explicitly in the Super Bowl 2013 commercial by Budweiser, in which a young foal grows up to be a great Clydesdale horse. This commercial invoked many emotions amongst viewers and portrayed themes such as hope, prosperity, strength, optimism and spirit (USA Today). This is a prime example of image and word connecting. The rhetoric situation here is extremely prevalent. The irony of this commercial is that not a single word is spoken apart from the Stevie Nix song, Landslide playing

Shoemaker 4 in the background. This commercial is entirely based upon the animal images connecting with the male caretaker of the horse and linking it back to Budweiser beer logo at the end of the commercial. Budweiser is using a mixing method of both anthropomorphizing animals and branding a product without the animal actually embodying the product (Brown, 218). Without the emotional appeal that the Clydesdale portrays to its owner all throughout the commercial and the influence of the song Landslide, there would be absolutely no connection of the animal to the product of beer. The linkage between word and image here clearly identifies Budweiser only at the end of the commercial with their logo being presented; otherwise, it would just be a commercial about a man and his horse. Another visual rhetorical strategy that has been around for decades is the concept of spokescritters. This is another form of anthropomorphism but, it involves using fictional cartoon characters of animals to connect to the consumer audience such as the usage of Tony the Tiger from Frosted Flakes or Toucan Sam from Foot Loops cereal (Brown, 211). This rhetorical strategy can be seen as sort of postmodern in a sense, as well as childish but, it most definitely works. This is a way of using visual rhetoric to enable consumers to connect a cultural meaning to a spoken or written word and in this case it is the logo or trademark brand name of a company. By using the visual tactic of anthropomorphism, companies are creating brand characters for their consumers so that they have a visual representation of what their companies look like, which links back to the name of their company in their minds (Brown, 215). It is without doubt that after seeing a television commercial about Frosted Flakes, and taking a two year old down the cereal aisle, they are going to make that visual connection that that food product means Tony the Tiger and thus when they see that brand character they want that product. Even the youngest

Shoemaker 5 of consumers will be able to make this visual image connection with the products word and that is what sells in the consumer economy. It is without doubt that the American way of advertising exploits on the usage of visual rhetoric. Consumers and produces alike know this and it has become an important part of the way companies advertise today. The usage of animals in advertising is just one example of this concept. This tactic will always be employed in the usage of advertising because it is the one way that large companies are able to connect its product with the individual consumer. Thinking back, who really would not want to eat a box of cereal with a friendly tiger on the front telling the consumer, Its greeatttt!? This appeal of using animals in advertising will always connect the consumer in some emotional way to its product through the usage of visual rhetoric.

Shoemaker 6 Works Cited "Baby Clydesdale in Budweiser Ad Has Name: Hope." USA Today. Gannett, Feb. 2013. Web. 02 Oct. 2013. Barbara J. Phillips (1996) ,"Advertising and the Cultural Meaning of Animals", in NA Advances in Consumer Research Volume 23, eds. Kim P. Corfman and John G. Lynch Jr., Provo, UT : Association for Consumer Research, Pages: 354-360. Brown, Stephen. "Where The Wild Brands Are: Some Thoughts On Anthropomorphic Marketing." Marketing Review 10.3 (2010): 209-224. Business Source Premier. Web. 2 Oct. 2013. Phillips, Barbara J., and Edward F. McQuarrie. "Beyond Visual Metaphor: A New Typology of Visual Rhetoric in Advertising." Marketing Theory 4.1 (2004): 113-36. Print. Witkoski, Michael. "The Bottle That Isnt There and the Duck That Cant Be Heard: The "Subjective Correlative" in Commerical Messages." Studies in Media & Information Literacy Education 3.3 (2003): 1-11. Googlescholar. Web.