Bose Billboard Advertisement

Product:  The product advertised is the high fidelity Bose headphone, the QC 15.

Time Period:  This ad was most likely released during 2009.

Purpose:  The purpose of this ad is to express how great sounding the headphones are, and that they will make the audience feel like they are next to the producer, hearing the music.

Target Audience: 

·         Audiophiles, or people who enjoy listening to their music in the highest quality possible, are the main audience of this advertisement.

·         The advertisers assume that the audience wants the highest quality headphones to enjoy their music.

o   Gender assumptions are not present in this ad. This is probably done to keep both men and women interested in this product, since they want as many people as possible to buy their product.

o   Race assumptions are also over-looked in this advertisement with the final purpose of keeping as many people interested in buying their product as they can.

o   The biggest class assumption that Bose tries to make in this ad benefits both Bose and the targeted audience. The man that is listening to music is wearing casual clothes, perhaps too casual. It is noticeable that the man is not from a wealthy class, therefore the assumption that any social class can afford great quality music benefits and encourages people to buy this Bose product.

Type of Claim:

Weasel words are used in the main quote because it suggest that you “think” you are there. Once you look at the sentence in detail you can tell that the headphones do not really guarantee such a thing. Transfer is also used because the picture of the guy listening to music shows that he is happy and enjoys using the product. Touching back on the class assumption, the man in the ad is just a regular person that is enjoying his music, therefore the advertisement uses the Plain Folk technique. At the end of the sentence in the ad, the reader can be left with an unfinished claim, wanting to know more of what the advertiser is trying to get across. At last, the vague claim is used because the information about the headphones is not giving any keep concepts about the product.

Persuasive Appeals:

The ad uses pathos because it expresses tranquility and a state of happiness by showing the man listening to music in a very relaxed manner. Other than this, the ad lacks any statistic or a credible source that can convince the targeted audience that the information about the product is factual. Therefore, ethos and logos are not seen in this advertisement.

Possible Consequences: 

·         Immediate consequences can be that the targeted audience buys the product after seeing this ad. On the other side, long-term consequences can be that the company sales increase over time.

·         The message the ad is trying to express is that the headphones have such high quality that the listener will feel like they are at a live concert. This is very hard to achieve, especially with headphones that are as old as these, therefore the message sets surprisingly high expectation that will fall short.

·         Since the advertisement is not preventing anyone from achieving their goals and is not provoking anyone from changing their lifestyle, the ad is neither countering nor undermining social change.

·         The advertisement is not socially responsible because it is not directly or indirectly promoting social change.