A Rhetorical Analysis Of Stouffer's Advertising

The ad created by Stouffer’s us the pathos rhetorical appeal to evoke strong emotions in the consumer. By its visual components combined with print to play to a social stereotype of the supermom persuade the consumer that buying their product will create a positive dinner experience for the buyer. Stouffer’s is rely on genders roles that exist in society and a perpetuated by the media that it women play a center role in family structure and its foundational happiness.

By using the image of the mother (adult female), with a plate in one hand, a pitcher of milk actively pouring milk into a glass, and all with her eyes on her daughter (female youth), the ad is playing into a common belief that many women have; women can and should be able to

accomplish multiple things to keep their families running smoothly and happy. In the image, the father (adult male) does not have a plate of food in front of him, so it’s not a stretch of the imagination to believe that the mother is plating food for him. Everyone in the picture is smiling and the ad uses words such as “magical, stories, dinnertime experience, and meaningful conversation,” by using this combination of imagery and text, the idea that happy, well adjusted, openly communicative families can be created if their products are used.
Regarding gender roles, it’s important to note that only the two female characters are standing. The little girl is in a butterfly costume. The body language of the male characters present more passive postures by sitting, so two arguments could be made. Either the person looking at the ad could glean the idea that the men are being served by the mother and entertained by the daughter, or they could subconsciously see the adult woman as having a position of authority over the men. In some social structures, standing is considered to be a posture of respect and attentiveness (Hastings, 2014), so this would this would give credibility to the pathos rhetorical appeal which could be targeted at audiences who long for the “good old days” of when the family was a nuclear structure of two parental units and always sat down to eat dinner, appealing to their feelings of sentimentality. The image of mom cooking and serving dinner, and the children, including the teenagers is not typical of families today, who often eat in front of televisions, or on the go.
The use of larger white font and the context of the text give clear meaning to the marketing strategy of the ad’s creators.

“Every family dinner is a great story waiting to happen” is direct and unambiguous; family dinners can be positive experiences with nice people who actually like each other. By making the font white, the implication seems to be that this is a plain fact, not an opinion. White is actually no color, so this would support the theory that the slogan formatting intentionally means to make the statement appear as fact, rather than suggestion. The smaller black text gives the impression of seriousness and authority, much like “reading the fine print” of the contract. The idea being that the “great story” waiting to happen will only likely happen if the person utilizes the product being offered in the

advertisement.
While the direct product being advertised is a web series, indirectly, the advertisement is selling an idyllic family experience. The use of milk is an imagery of wholesomeness and a foundational product that almost every all American kid grew up on. By using green on the plates, and on the wand, the central message is supported. Green is thought by many to symbolize life and vibrancy. The image of the butterfly also supports the message of a good family which is full of life. For many, butterflies represent new beginnings, resurrection, and change. This could support the emphasis of the creation of a new, better family. In other words, the message is presented as “if you participate in our web series, you can change your family into a newer, better family.”
By positioning the father beside the mother instead of at the traditional position of the head of the table, the mother is clearly being presented as the authority in this message.

She is the one providing the wholesomeness of the milk, and the healthiness of the life bringing salad. The children are not making eye contact with the mother or the father; everyone is looking at the little girl. This appeal is to the new dynamics of the family, where most parents are child centric. Modern families lead busy lives, and most women and men want the traditional, sentimental idyllic family, but in reality know that most lives are hectic and chaotic. Most married men want the tradition values of the typical “old” family they grew up in, where mom cooked and everyone sat down at a table together, but the expectation falls on the female family head to develop the family structure. Because women have entered the workplace and now contribute to the economics of the family, the idea of a woman who can do many tasks at once is seemingly fleeting, and they experience guilt for not being able to achieve the status of

“supermom”.
By using the ad of the nuclear family as characters, the colors of green and white, and the warm tones of the table and brown bread, as well as the font type, Stouffers’ advertisement achieves its goal of getting the person who wants a happy, modern family. While using the pervasive message on the importance of mothers as the center of achieving this goal, Stouffer’s advertisement is careful not to cross the line of making women the ad targets feel the societal tradition that is forced on many women. Stouffer’s also successfully used the positioning of the characters in the advertisement to avoid overt gender stereotyping but still implied the stereotypical gender roles of females within the family unit.