The 2005 P Diddy's Use Of Celebrities In Advertising

After analyzing the 2005 P Diddy Pepsi commercial, I found it to be incredibly persuasive in many ways. The commercial aired during the thirty ninth super bowl during half time. The commercial starts off with famous hip hop artist P Diddy, sometimes referred to Puff Daddy, stranded in a tuxedo on a very desert like road. His car looks like it overheated, which leads P Diddy to call for help. Unfortunately for Puff Daddy, there is no service in the middle of no where. P Diddy throws his phone in frustration across the sand, but luckily for him a Diet Pepsi truck comes to his rescue. P Diddy asks the Pepsi truck driver if he could catch a ride, explaining how he is late for an award show. The Pepsi truck driver generously accepts and tells him

to “hop in.” The Pepsi trucks rides off and the scene cuts to the truck arriving to the award show. P Diddy jumps out of the Pepsi truck, onto the red carpet. Two men discus P Diddy arriving in a Pepsi truck, saying “I didn’t know he drove a Pepsi truck.” After this, award show announcer Cason Daly says P Diddy has arrived in a Pepsi truck in a very inquisitive way. Following this, the commercial cuts the scene to a car dealership that has a Diet Pepsi truck on display. Kids are running to see this truck as if it was a Lamborghini or Maserati. The next scene cuts to a very rich man who owns a mansion, this man is showcasing his multiple Diet Pepsi trucks, which he says is his favorite to drive. The scene then cuts to two Diet Pepsi truck drivers, that appear to be normal people who have chosen to drive a Pepsi truck, casually nodding to each other in an intersection. The next scene shows famous TV actress, Eva Longoria, handing her Pepsi truck keys to a valet driver. She tells him to not scratch it, emphasizing its importance and value. The next scene cuts to famous rapper and MTV star of ‘Pimp My Ride’, Xzibit, ‘pimping’ a Diet Pepsi truck. He lifts up the Pepsi truck doors to show a group of people partying in the truck. The next scene cuts to a variety of people driving Pepsi trucks. These people include young adult males, young adult females, business men, and an elderly couple. The next scene cuts to famous television star from ‘That 70’s Show’, Wilmer Valderrama, backing into a trash can in his Pepsi truck with an apologetic look on his face. The next scene cuts to P Diddy walking down the street when he is told “look at my ride” by famous host Carson Daly. He is shown driving a Pepsi truck. When P Diddy realizes this, a confused and horrified look comes across his face. The next scene shows Carson Daly’s Pepsi truck driving off, showing the giant tires he has added. The words “light, crisp, and refreshing” come across the screen as the commercial ends.
After analyzing this commercial, I have concluded that it is very persuasive. The rhetoric appeals of pathos and ethos are used heavily in the commercial which ultimately makes it appealing. The use of celebrities is the ethos rhetoric and the comedy displayed in this commercial is the pathos rhetoric. This commercial uses both pathos and ethos to successfully persuade its audience.
The rhetor of this commercial is the Pepsi company. Pepsi is known for having A list celebrities in their super bowl commercials. Many people look forward to Pepsi commercials because they are almost guaranteed to have a star studded cast. This history of A list celebrities in Pepsi commercials include, Michael Jackson, Jennifer Lopez, David Beckham, Beyoncé, Britney Spears, and Cindy Crawford (just to name a few). Having celebrities appear regularly in Pepsi commercials holds Pepsi to a sort of high standard than other companies which ultimately appeals to the audience.
The audience of this commercial would be people watching the super bowl. More specifically it would appeal towards teens and adults who find celebrities of high power. Children would not find this commercial appealing simply because it is adult celebrities who they have probably never heard of. This commercial is specifically made for a society who give celebrities a great power and value in a culture, such as the United States does. The commercial is targeted to an audience that either finds this type of celebrity culture and bandwagoning to be foolish. But this commercial can also appeal to the people who participate in the celebrity culture and bandwagoners because its poking fun of these types of people, not directly slandering them.
The text of this commercial is very satirical. The commercial is taking this celebrity culture we have in our society and making fun of it through Pepsi trucks. This type of approach to advertise a soda is very clever because usually commercials are trying to get you to drink their products because celebrities drink them so you should too. The text presented in this commercial is a comedic text. This commercial not only pokes fun if our society but also their own advertising approaches. This type of satirical advertising style is very effective when done right. The text “light, crisp, refreshing” are also displayed at the end of the commercial. Pepsi wants these words to be associated with their soda products. In my opinion this commercial is effective because it is not too harsh and only has an underlying theme of the celebrity culture concept. It is very subtle because they get celebrities and regular people to participate in the Pepsi truck fad. If it was just regular people copying P Diddy, the commercial might have had a negative reception.
The context of this ad is during the 2005 super bowl. Super bowl XXXIX had 86,072,000 viewers. A 30 second ad cost $2,400,000. The Pepsi commercial ran for 1:30 which meant they spent $7,200,000 to advertise Diet Pepsi. This shows how far advertisers will go to try to persuade a large group of people to buy their products. During this time, celebrities were very prevalent and important to culture. This might be why Pepsi decided to put many celebrities in their commercial, to appeal to our society.
The ethical appeal in this commercial largely has to do with celebrities.

Celebrities are a common ethical appeal in commercials and specifically Pepsi commercials. The use of celebrities in commercials to advertise a product can be very effective to the audience the rhetor is trying to convince. When celebrities are shown advertising a product, it gives that product more credibility. The more celebrities seen using a product, its more likely that we will use those products because our society looks up to celebrities. Pepsi has used this appeal in many of their ads through out the years, and it has been effective. The celebrities depicted were common house hold names at this time. The star of the commercial, P Diddy, was recently named one of Time’s top 100 most influential people of 2005. P Diddy was a widely known hip hop artist by adults and young teens. Another celebrity depicted, Eva Longoria, was starring in the hit show ‘Desperate House Wives” the show was premiered in 2004 and continued until 2012. The show was very popular among adults, old and young. Wilmer Valderrama who was also featured in this commercial was apart of the hit series that 70’s show. That 70’s show was a comedy sitcom that ran for eight seasons until 2006. Carson Daley was also shown in this commercial. Carson Daly is a well known television and radio host. He was most known for hosting the NBC New Years Eve special. The last celebrity depicted in this advertisement was famous rapper and television host, Xzibit. In 2005, Xzibit was most famous for hosting this hit MTV show ‘Pimp My Ride.’ This show premiered on MTV and was a popular among young teens and adults. Showing many celebrities to advertise a product is very effective because the variety of celebrities can appeal to many different age groups. This is why this commercial works so well because the audience has a good chance at seeing a celebrity they know or look up to. This allows the audience to relate a certain celebrity to a

specific product, making the audience more likely to buy the product. This marketing strategy is very effective and has been used by companies for many years. Making a connection between a celebrity and a product is ultimately Pepsi’s goal.
The pathos appeal in this commercial has to do with the satire and comedy within the commercial. The commercial pokes fun at both celebrities and the people who look up to celebrities. Pepsi does this through a Diet Pepsi truck that is the most sought out vehicle after P Diddy arrives in an award show in one. I believe this satirical approach is effective because its not too harsh but does show the ridiculousness of our society holding celebrities to such a high standard. Celebrities, for the most part are the biggest trend setters in our society. When a celebrity starts wearing a piece of clothing or a certain brand, everyday people start jumping on board and buying the same clothes and brand. This celebrity culture we have has to do with trying to fit in and be accepted by society. Pepsi decided to make fun of this idea that when a celebrity starts a trend, no matter how ridiculous, people follow it. This commercial appeals to a wide audience because almost everybody is guilty of this ‘bandwagoning.’ People are often aware that they are following trends that celebrities have created, but still do it anyways. Both people who bandwagon and people who might not follow these trends but are aware of this bandwagoning can find this commercial appealing.
The logical appeal in not as prevalent in this commercial as ethos and pathos. I tried to look for any logical appeal but did not find any. There was not a celebrity even saying that Pepsi was good or better than another product. There were not any facts given through out the commercial. This commercial relied on pathos and ethos to appeal to their audience.
In conclusion, I found this article to be very persuasive. Even while analyzing this commercial I found it pretty hilarious, which is hard to do when you are analyzing and breaking a commercial down. This commercial can overall appeal to a very large audience due to the relatability and wide variety of celebrities. The humor in this commercial is satirical which for me, makes it more appealing. It does not take critical thinking skills or thought provoking thinking to understand this commercial. The use of a wide variety of celebrities was an effective way to persuade audiences to buy Diet Pepsi. The pathetic and ethical appeals in this commercial are very strong. The logical appeal is not represented in this commercial. The use of celebrities is the ethos rhetoric and the comedy displayed in this commercial is the pathos rhetoric. This commercial uses both pathos and ethos to successfully persuade its audience.