Exploring Falken's Advertising Strategy in American Culture

American culture is rooted upon the intrinsic desire to win, to the best. It “lures us to achieve social distinction, to rise above the crowd and bask alone in the glory” (Solomon). Falken takes advantage of this human trait in their advertisement for tires. Upon first glance, the eye is immediately drawn to the flashy racecar. Against the subdued gray of the background, the bright blue and green racecar stands out. Though Falken is a tire company, the focus of the picture is on a car rather than tires, reaching a larger audience in that car fanatics exponentially outnumber tire fanatics. In addition, it gives the illusion that owning Falken tires automatically equates to owning the car. Solomon proves the effectiveness of such advertising in his essay;

Americans equate superiority with material goods. The advertisers play to this mentality with the car and because tires don’t symbolize success like cars, the car becomes a better way to advertise. Directly above the car, three semi-transparent words intrude the view; “CONQUER YOUR WORLD.” This display of snob appeal leads people to believe that they are, in fact, conquerors. With this specific brand of tires, they are able to “conquer their world.” The semi-transparency is a clever ploy in attracting just enough attention, not enough to detract from the rest of the advertisement. The viewer is now able to associate winning and conquering with owning Falken tires.
The eye, then, is drawn towards the bottom where the fine print is located.

Despite its small size and lesser location, still there are many tactics used to entice viewers. On the bottom left corner, the advertisement claims that “endurance racing is [their] proving ground. This racing DNA is the core foundation of [their] tires.” Falken is able to create credibility, so the audience can trust that their product lives up to the expectations the advertisement establishes. This allows the viewer to see that Falken is worthy of selling their tires. They expand upon this authority with the text on the right: “2013-2014 Petit Le Mans Winner GTLM Class.” This is an appeal to false authority, as it was not necessarily the Falken tires that won the race; rather, factors like the driver, car model, and race team contributed to their win. However, this is still quite effective, as the reader already associates the tires with the car, and in turn, winning. This prestige identification appeals to the viewer’s ego and desire for superiority. “America’s consumer economy runs on desire, and advertising stokes the engines by transforming common objects...into signs of all the things that Americans covet the most”

(Solomon).
Finally, the eye falls upon the slogan in the bottom left corner, “We get you going.” Falken, after manipulating the audience, they assert that they are the ones who can make this fantasy a reality. This slogan appeals “to our subconscious emotions rather than to our conscious intellects” (Solomon). Logically, viewers know that tires and the cars that they adorn are not gateways to victory; however, this slogan takes advantage of our emotional desires. As a result, the audience is more inclined to invest in Falken Tire in unrealistic hopes of conquering their worlds.