Tylenol's Diverse 'How We Family' Campaign

How We Family

The makers of Tylenol have served society for 60 years. This past summer, Tylenol set forth on a campaign about a larger message other than selling their product. As seen on networks such as ABC and CBS the advertisement “How We Family,” produced Tylenol, sells the idea that individuals are different and that all should be accepted. This commercial represents family in many ways such as multiracial, same sex, ethnic, and many others. The ad became a topic of controversy because of the representations of such diverse relations. The advertisements character, values, and logic appeal to the younger generations of families who demand more tolerances for differences. Tylenol changing with society makes their ad successful in various

ways.
“How We Family” is an extension of a campaign set forth in December of 2014 by Tylenol called “For what Matter Most.” In this commercial Tylenol compares Norman Rockwell’s “Freedom from Want,” painting to what families look like today.

(Wong) Tylenol furthered this concept in “How We Family” because it does not just show the atypical American family, but how over the years the definition of has changed. Before releasing “How We Family” Tylenol began a three month effort. During those three months the corporation conducted a national survey. Some of the results from the survey uncovered that “41 percent of families say no TV family represents them, 84 percent surveyed say their family is “traditional” regardless of structure, and 82 percent wouldn’t change a thing to fit the norm.” (Celebrating) In addition to the survey they produced 10 in-depth videos on families around the U.S. The commercial shows us a glimpse of what families look like, but Tylenol uses YouTube to make known the stories of real life people. One of these stories showcases actress Gabrielle Unions relatives. The company obtained Gail Saltz, a psychiatrist and psychoanalyst, as spokeswomen for the platform.

(Wong)
In addition to utilization of Union and Saltz in the campaign as ethos persuasion, Tylenol used ethos in every way they possibly could to create this commercial as well. They had Susan Sarandon perform the voice over and had Academy Award winner Dustin Lance Black direct. (Wong) Black influenced the creation of this magnificent advertisement. He starts with a close up on hands intertwined and the image goes from blurred to clear to shows affect. He additionally uses this time to place an important question in the ad asking, “When were you first considered a family?” The blurred image and question appear on the screen to make the viewer focus on the question first and then the image. This makes the viewers attention go to the question and gives them a chance to answer it for themselves. After this question Black cuts to clips of families that fit the social pigment of what one should look like. This occurs later in the commercial as well, but with an image of a blurry photographer to a clear image of two people holding hands. A new more serious question emerges, “When did you first fight to be a considered a family?” This question the more serious of the two questions because of the clips that ensue after. When the first question was asked, Black cut to families that fit the social pigment of what society is used to, a man and a woman. However after the second question he and Tylenol made the bold decision to include new types of families such as; same sex couples, multi-racial, adoptive parents, and single parents. Tylenol took a great risk when incorporating all types of people and not staying with the cookie cutter image of what a family should look like.
While Tylenol exercises ethos significantly in ad, its rhetoric relies heavily on the pathos of the video. As stated earlier, Susan Sarandon voice as the narrator persuades the audience further. Sarandon, an accomplished actress, is recognized for playing multiple roles as a matriarchal figure in films such as Stepmom. Sarandon’s status as a celebrity adds to the ethos as well as the pathos of this advertisement. Her warm, soft tone, and clear voice constructs the audience to feel a sense of trust toward her and the product. At one point in the ad Sarandon puts an emphasis on the word “Fight.” This creates a sense of awareness, which makes the viewer realize that family is all about love and that you are willing to do anything, no matter what, for the ones you love. The music selection used for this ad sends the viewer on an emotion roller coaster in just thirty-seconds. The music begins soft and upbeat and then in the middle it becomes darker and more serious and towards the end it returns to soft and upbeat. The sensation of the upbeat music in the beginning gives off the feeling of joy and then it turns dark and as the viewer begins to feel all the pain involved with the struggles of life. However, the ad does not end with this feeling it turns back to the soft light feelings we felt in the beginning, but this time new emotions arise like hope for the future and pride. Pride in the sense that you or your loved ones have gone through ups and downs but will be forever confident and optimistic.
Tylenol did its best to pull on your heartstrings in this commercial even with the choice of its cast. They selected families with young children, mainly cute, cuddly babies and adolescent children. Besides reigning in on the cuteness factor of kids, they used cliché live events that everyone could relate to. They depicted prom night and weddings that gave the audience a sensation of nostalgia for these events and the feeling surrounding them. This allows Tylenol to reach more people in different stages of their life, but all can understand the same message. Tylenol reached Brandy Black, a mother, a lesbian and the founder of the website thenextfamily.com. Her site supplies diverse families with a place where they can meet and start dialogs. Tylenols work as affected Brandy so greatly that she wrote an entry about their work on her site. She stated, “Tylenol, by including all types of families, you have shown the rest of the world that families like mine are not invisible. You are helping to forever re-define “family” and therefore deserve a continued place in the homes and medicine cabinets of this country.” (Black) Tylenol hit the mark with this ad. Through people like Brandy, Tylenol grew their customer base. Tylenol has persisted for a while, but through the statement they made with this ad the company can keep their old customers while gaining new and diverse ones.
The “How We Family” commercial had a clear; logical message even though it did not reference any of the information collected in Tylenols three-month research survey.

Tylenol did not use the mundane stats that most often used in commercials surrounding these types of companies. In Advil’s commercial “Tough on Joint Pain,” it bashes fellow competitor such as Tylenol and throws statistics down the audience’s throat. This type of adverting remains ineffective; people with different beliefs will automatically tune out the ad just because they do not like the brand presented. Tylenol chose to do the opposite of what Advil did. To keep the attention of viewers for longer they did not market Tylenols name until the very end of the commercial. Through this the audience can watch the commercial without bias they can choose to form a new opinion about Tylenol as a company. This allows Tylenol to gain new customers because of the larger audience it reaches with this technique. The simplistic way the ending reveals the company and their slogan ”For what matters the most,” draws the audience, back in to realize that it was just an ad trying to sell

something.
Tylenols took a great risk in incorporating such diverse individuals, but beneficial in the end. Tylenol chose to focus on a larger issue than just selling their products. They opened their company up to new possible customers through their controversial advertisement. The commercial persuades through strong credibility, but mainly through its convincing use of emotional attraction.