Direct TV Commercial Analysis

The Direct TV commercial “Roadside” focuses on the quality of customer service of cable comparison of Direct TV. The commercial features a middle aged white male that goes through a comically exaggerated slippery slope. In the commercial it is implied that cable has bad service, causing customers to be on hold waiting for someone to fix it. This triggers a chain of events, resulting in being face down in a ditch. Although the claim is unbelievable and unrealistic, the audience is exposed to a sense of humor that makes the claim effectively.
The commercial starts with an average man at home sitting in front of his TV on hold with his cable company. This situation applies to a majority of the audience watching the commercial. They use this quote “When your cable company keeps you on hold, you get angry!” to give the audience

the idea that cable service is bad and doesn’t work. This appeals to the audience in a more ethical way by giving direct credibility that regular cable doesn’t have. As claimed, when someone gets angry, they have to let off steam “When you go blow off steam accidents happen” which is demonstrated in the commercial as getting hit in the face by a ball causing the man to get an eye patch. This starts the downhill spiral while making the audiences laugh because of the dramatic fall that is done after the ball hits his face.
In the next scene, the man is on the bus being started at by a group of thugs that think he is tough because of the eye patch.

the commercial quickly goes to a camera shot that is zoomed in on his face and then his shoes while he is running in terror. there are two different feelings that are being portrayed in this part of the commercial because he is afraid and running for his life the commercial portrays a more worried feeling while also making the scene funny because the use of the slippery slope and the narrator. the narrator enhances the humor of the commercial by narrating in a more monotone voice.
The commercial ends with the man passed out in a ditch, being woken up by a passing train. When starting this scene the camera uses several tricks to get the feeling of being lost. at the start they use a far short of the man's face up in the dirt then slowly bring it down to draw attention to the confused/dazed look on the man's face. Then the cameras cut out, to show that DirecTV is a great service and affordable. These small tricks with the camera make the commercial flow tricking the audience into subconsciously believing the claim being

made.
The commercial is pushing the claim that DirecTV is better than cable by using slippery slope, scare tactics, overstatement and false cause and effect to appeal to the viewer's emotions and to discredit cable. The commercial is very successful in doing this because they used the fallacies to appeal to similar emotions in the viewers. While they use an average single man in dull clothing at the focus point which appeals to most viewers because they want a good service but want to be able to afford it too. They use the downhill spiral in his life to scare the viewer into considering them for service instead of cable. They use an unlikely chain of events that cause the audience to laugh because the events are not likely going to be caused because they were stuck on hold.