This commercial tells the story of the Knapp family, who took a road trip in their all-electric Tesla Model S. Not only that, but they used free, solar-powered charging stations to recharge their vehicle. This advertisement was created by Jordan Bloch who has also created commercials viewed over 20 million times on Facebook and YouTube. The subject of the commercial was Tesla’s Model S. Tesla was experiencing one of the most prolonged and significant rises in stock value in recent history and their new solar-powered public charging stations had just begun construction around the country.
The most obvious intended audience for this commercial is drivers concerned about the environment. This is shown through the emphasis on “all electric” and how the narrator descries the road trip as being “sponsored by the power of the sun.” An interesting piece of rhetoric that is easy to miss is the license plate of the car which says “4GET OIL” (obviously meaning “forget oil”). This message appeals further to customers concerned about the environment. The “4GET IL” can be seen as hopeful thinking that humans’ dependency on a limited resource for transportation may soon be ending. It may also perhaps be viewed as condescending, someone driving a Tesla can ride smugly over those whose lives are at the mercy of gasoline.
Other subtle forms of rhetoric include the young boy looking out the window at a pump jack with a look of curiosity. The pump jack, a machine used to suck oil out of the ground, may never be a significant part of the boy’s life. It certainly doesn’t mean much to him at the time. Overall, the rhetoric conveys an optimistic attitude. In addition to selling the revolutionary car, the commercial induces a new sense of hopefulness and motivation to fix the environment that I believe is the true goal of Tesla.
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