Rhetorical Analysis For Reese's

Reese’s is one of the most iconic brands of candy, beloved by Americans and known for chocolate and peanut butter treats. Yet, even the most beloved brands most advertise to maintain their presence, which is what Reese’s did in early 2009 when they released an advertisement that utilized a renewed awareness of global warming in the public. This came on the heels of the 2008 election, when President Obama won in a landslide with one of the main tenets of his platform being a focus on global warming. The purpose of this Reese’s advertisement is to to encourage their target audience, educated and liberal individuals, to purchase their Reese’s cups candy. Through the use of attention grabbing language, appealing imagery, and masterful ethos, Reese's appeals to an educated and liberal audience by relating its food brand with the

controversial issue of global warming in a tasteful way.
The ad presents a vibrant yellow-orange background that immediately attracts the audience’s attention. On top of this background two Reese’s cups rest on top of one another. With the top one in the center of the advertisement with a rough bite taken out of it, displaying the fluffy peanut-butter guts of the candy. Then resting over the Reese’s cup, in the middle of the advertisement, there is hazy yellow text in all capital letters. The first two lines, in a large font state “stop global warming now.” Then just below those two lines a phrase in a smaller font states “or all the Reese’s will melt.” Finally, at the bottom of the advertisement in peanut-butter orange-brown text with a thick black outline the word “Reese’s” is printed, followed by the word “perfect” in cursive black text. It is important to note that the “Reese’s” portion of the text at the bottom of the advertisement is the logo for Reese’s (York). Primarily as a result of the text, this advertisement is targeted at liberal and educated individuals. Although today global warming is not an issue that is clearly partisain, following President Obama’s first election the topic was highly partisan. Though the text is mostly meant to be humorous, it does implicitly acknowledge that the Reese’s brand believed that global warming was real as of early 2009, which is why the advertisement targets this particular group.
The element of the advertisement that beckons the audience the most is the hazy yellow text that overlays the center and states “stop global warming now or all the Reese’s will melt.” This element of the advertisement seeks to draw the attention of the target audience through a combination of playful diction and impactful font style. This element of the advertisement also highlights the target audience since this is the most targeted element within the advertisement. The word “stop” immediately compels a viewer to look at the advertisement by commanding them to quit doing whatever action they may have been doing. This effect is compounded by the choice of the hazy yellow font color that stands apart from the cocoa brown and the vibrant orange of the background, which consciously draws the audience in. Furthermore, the font for the entire phrase is blocky and all capitals, which invokes a sense of urgency in the audience to read the text (York). The word “stop” is then followed by “global warming,” which due to political climate around the phrase in early 2009 invokes a sense of teamship between the Reese’s brand and the audience. This simple phrase is able to do so by appealing to the political opinions of the target audience, which is younger, educated, and liberal. This is amplified by the fact that in the 2008 election the Democratic party achieved a series of major political victories over the Republican party (Burns).
By appealing to a recently hyped up liberal audience and associating with their beliefs the Reese’s brand is able to encourage a liberal target audience to buy Reese’s products out of a spirit of teamship.

The phrase “global warming” is then followed by the word “now” which serves to appeal to the same sense of urgency that the first word, “stop,” appeals to. Finally, the phase “or all the Reese’s will melt,” appeals to the audience through playful diction. The target audience, due to their political beliefs, likely associates the concept of global warming with warmer weather. The diction is playful as it attempts to be humorous by playing on the what-if scenario for global warming in the context of Reese's cups. Since Reese's cups are primarily made of chocolate in the event global warming does occur it is likely the chocolate would melt, and making that the primary issue with global warming could be seen as humourous to the target audience. Also, the text with the punchline is written in a smaller font to underscore that that portion of the text is secondary and meant for after the advertisement has the audience’s attention

(York).
After the audience is done reading the text, the next element of the advertisement their eyes drift towards is the visually appealing Reese’s cups depicted in the advertisement itself. The two Reese’s cups shown in the advertisement, overlap one another, and are a deep cocoa brown color, indicative of a higher quality of chocolate. The brown color is also highlighted by the vibrant orange background by providing a contrast which allows the Reese's cups to stand out. Also, the Reese's cups are perfectly concentric circles. Finally, the foremost Reese's cup has a sizable bite taken out of it, exposing the peanut-butter guts of the candy. These factors contribute to the visual appeal of the advertisement which is designed to induce hunger in the target audience. By bringing the Reese's cups to the forefront and contrasting them with the background the Reese's cups are the first non-textual element the the viewer of the advertisement will see (York). These visual appeals attempt to make the audience hungry, by showing them perfectly pictured food. Also, the audience of this advertisement as likely already eaten a Reese’s cup before (as most Americans have) so the audience is already aware of the taste. Theses factors combined could create a craving feeling in the audience, particularly for Reese’s cups. Ultimately, this would lead the audience to buy Reese’s cups, thus making the ad effective.
The final element of the advertisement that the audience notices is the phrase “Reese’s perfect” placed at the bottom of the advertisement which plays into the advertisement’s masterful use of ethos to influence the audience. The text at the bottom stands out from the rest of the advertisement, especially the phrase “Reese’s,” which is outlined in black and filled with a peanut-butter orange brown color, written in a cursive hand writing style. This element is specifically designed to stand out from the rest of the advertisement in terms of style to utilize the ethos of the Reese’s brand. By letting the logo stand out from the rest of the advertisement the audience is able to easily perceive the difference between the two (York). This allows the Reese’s logo to act as a rubber stamp for the advertisement, as if Reese’s not only approves, but endorses the content of the advertisement. This element will particularly appeal to audience members who are already fans of the Reese’s brand. The other element is the word “perfect,” written in all black and in a cursive font style (York). This word appeals to audience by associating with Reese’s brand and its ethos with the idea of perfection. This results in a two fold effect in the audience. The first effect is that the audience becomes more convinced to buy Reese’s products since they must be perfect as suggested by the advertisement. The second effect is that the Reese’s brand becomes more influential as now the audience begins to associate the authoritative brand with the idea of perfection, adding to the credibility of the brand. Ultimately, the usage of ethos by the advertisement not only influences its audience to buy Reese’s products, but also enhances the credibility of the brand in the audience’s mind.
In conclusion, Reese’s advertisement appeals to an educated and liberal audience by utilizing a renewed awareness of global warming to attract their attention. The advertisement uses humorous and eye-catching language to grab the audience and appeal to their political affiliation. Furthermore, the advertisement takes advantage of alluring imagery that makes the audience crave a Reese’s as well as using the ethos of the Reese’s brand in a commanding way. Overall, that advertisement is unique in its ability to both effectively encourage its audience to purchase Reese’s products and make a political statement in a tasteful way during a charged political climate, paving the way for similar advertisements in the future.