Celine Ridgway CAS137H Robin Kramer 4 October 2013 Shine On A thought-provoking four-minute rhetorical ad, which was aired

in Thailand in 2012, conveys an emotional story about a deaf girl striving to play the violin from a young age to young adulthood. Until the end of the commercial, one would never guess that the ad represents Pantene, a popular brand of shampoo. In fact, the only time Pantene makes an appearance in the ad is with the quote, You can shine, at the very closing. The commercial seduces young women to use Pantene through the idea of pathos; reinscribing the ideology that in todays world, anything is possible; and highlighting the key purpose of this text, which is empowerment shown from the texts arrangement, style, and relationship between the girl and her mentor. Our emotions are influenced by the rhetorical concept, pathos, during the ad. The most prominent way it does this is by sensationalizing the ever-playing song in the commercial, Canon in D. It was written around 1680 by Johann Pachelbel. To begin, a canon is a piece of music characterized by limitation and repetition (Helander). This particular piece of music was chosen for the commercial because the girl is physically limited by her deafness, but through repetition and practice she becomes an artistic and inspirational violinist. Canon in D and the girl both exemplify the idea of limitation and repetition. The song makes the audience feel a certain way at each point in the story ranging from optimism, to anticipation, to delight. The different tempos of Canon in D

Ridgway 2 add to the emotional appeals of the overall commercial. In the beginning the tempo is soft and hopeful, as to the aspiring future for the young girl. It also emphasizes the sadness she feels. In the middle, the song becomes louder and faster as she works toward her goal of the classical music contest. At the end, the sound of the violin is crisp and the fastest it has ever been. In other words, she reaches her fullest potential and finishes with a huge applause from a stunned audience. Pathos stimulates strong emotions, which verifies the rhetoric of this ad. The piece further utilizes pathos to convince young women that feeling beautiful leads to accomplishments. Throughout the commercial, she feels worthless because one person continuously bullies her. The audience feels sorry and a twinge of pain for the underprivileged girl. The antagonist, who is not clearly identified, says to her, A duck tries to fly, and a deaf tries to play the violinare you crazy? Why dont you learn something else? Youre wasting everyones time. Due to the harshness of these words, the protagonist does not possess confidence or self-worth- on the outside or inside. However, by the end of the commercial, she steps on the stage with shining, gorgeous, and long hair. As she begins to play the violin solo, her world transforms. She no longer stands on a gray stage, but finds herself in a vast, colorful field full of possibilities. Her hair whips around her in all directions and takes her on this journey through all the hindrances that she has faced in her life and proves how none of it matters anymore. Through all of this, the audience feels enlightened, along with a sense of hope that this handicapped girl can achieve more than thought possible. Pantene utilizes pathos so we sympathize for the girl. The ad persuades girls that the protagonists hair helps her build confidence and self-esteem, thus she succeeds at the classical music contest.

Ridgway 3 Not only is pathos utilized to convince young women that feeling beautiful leads to accomplishments, but it also functions in this piece through the girls mentor. The audience feels a sense of trustworthiness and faith in the talent of this young girl through him. As a little girl, she first sees him as a street performer and he smiles at her with a look of knowing grace. The fact that they both suffer from deafness unites thempresenting a maybe desolate relationship, but a strong one nonetheless. This man represents her first inspiration to begin playing the violin. His presence in the commercial essentially validates her gift to the viewers. The ad begins with him playing the violin, so the audience first identifies with the sheer talent of this mysterious man. After she stops playing music for a period of time, she sees him again on the street and they communicate in sign language. He asks, You still play the violin? and she looks distraught. Then, the protagonist asks him why she is different from others, and he replies by asking why she has to be like others. He signs, Music is a visible thingclose your eyes. You will see. Through his constant encouragement and wise words to her, we establish the girls legitimacy as a practiced musician because she, like the audience, trusts and becomes inspired by the man. In addition to portraying rhetorical functions, the piece also seeks to re-inscribe the ideology that one can do whatever they put their heart into. Sometimes in the worlds madness, this ideology loses its importance. However, Pantene reminds us that you can do whatever you want, and of course, to shine on. This girl encounters so much negativity because of her passion. The antagonist in the ad even smashes the violin, but that does not stop the girl from appearing on stage with a somewhat broken violin, but not broken dreams. Additionally, the ad shows a butterfly emerging from its cocoon. It spreads its

Ridgway 4 broad wings and flies away in the expansive sky to a world of opportunities. The young girl does this exact thing during her performance. She breaks free from all of her hardships. She discovers another ideology, which is individuality. She accepts the moral worth of her own individuality through many struggles and opposing forces. Furthermore, the protagonist practices the right to serve her own interests in society. Ideologies are present in the Pantene commercial, but there remains one key point to explore. The indispensable purpose of this text is empowerment. It targets girls and women and empowers them to not only look past their struggles, but to also defeat them. The commercial does this through its arrangement, style, and the relationship between the girl and her mentor. It is arranged as a sad, but rewarding story. From beginning to end the events of this girls experiences play out so we gain a sense of sympathy for her. The arrangement of the ad as a cohesive and touching depiction of someones life adds to the idea of empowerment because the story ended happily. The fact that Pantene only mentions itself at the end of the commercial provides more analysis on the ads arrangement. The brand does not want to be the center of attention because they desire for the audience to only concentrate on the veiled persuasion of their piece. Additionally, the way in which the style of the ad surfaced may have evoked heavy emotion. For example, the style of the music shows empowerment because the song is most powerful when the girl succeeds at the classical music contest, and triumphs over her opposer. Style further shows empowerment through the scriptwriters diction. The girl overcame the ruthless words of the antagonist, even though she could not technically fight back with words. Lastly, she receives empowerment from her mentor. As he lies on his

Ridgway 5 deathbed it seems that she wants to succeed at the competition for not only herself, but for him as well. His devotion has always empowered and strengthened her because he encouraged her to keep playing. Empowerment integrates itself throughout the whole text, which persuades girls and women to use Pantene if they want to feel enabled in this way. The abundant rhetoric hidden in the advertisement persuades the target audience of young women to shine with the assertive quote, You can shine. This reinforces the claim that girls and women achieve more with shiny and healthy hair. The violinist becomes memorable with not only her music, but also beautiful hair. Among the theory of pathos; re-inscribing the ideology that in todays world, anything is possible; and articulating the key purpose of this text, which is empowerment the ad becomes an interrelated story line.

Ridgway 6 Works Cited Helander, Stefan. Johann Pachelbels Canon. pachelbelcanon. WebHotel24.se, 28 Jan. 2013. Web. 30 Sept. 2013. Extraordinary Pantene Commercial. YouTube. 18 Apr. 2013. Web. 30 Sept. 2013. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=06gsnOZ8vQg