TOW #5 - Extra Gum Commercial: The Story of Sarah & J

The commercial was created through the Wrigley Jr. Company to promote their gum line "Extra". Currently, the story of "Sarah and Juan" has over a million views on YouTube and has been shared countless times on every social media network.  The purpose for this commercial would be to first off, sell gum, but on a deeper level, the creators want the audience to connect with the characters and find a piece of themselves within the story.  The emotional nature of the story is used to draw the audience in and associate the wonderful love story created with the brand of gum.  The commercial follows a young couple from the first time they meet in high school all the way to the point of proposal many years later.  In each scene, from dates to prom to fights, the Extra wrappers are incorporated into the scene.  In the end (spoiler alert), Juan proposes to Sarah at a little art studio.  As she walks in, all along the wall are pictures he has drawn on Extra wrappers of times they spent together.  The last one on the wall is a drawing off a proposal, and Sarah turns around to find him down on one knee.  The audience would definitely be younger people because they could relate to the characters, the difficulties the characters have, and the love story that is woven through the entire commercial.  The biggest rhetorical device that was used was definitely pathos, and all the other devices used relate back to this one.  The music is "Can't Help Falling in Love" sung by Haley Reinhart, and the raspy soul of her voice is tear inducing and highly effective.  In addition, the creators used a narrative tone to follow the story.  There are no words, other than the song, yet by the end the actors/producers have done such a good job of showing Sarah and Juan's story that the viewer feels as though they were in the story itself.  Another rhetorical device that was used was repetition.  In each scene, the gum wrappers make an appearance.  This repetition subtly brings the product in, and also helps to create a connection between the story and the product itself.  Over all, the creators definitely achieved their purpose.  The commercial was interesting, inviting, well made, sad, happy, and many, many other positive adjectives.