Metropolitan Life Insurance Company

My Dad Is a Liar

The aim of most advertisements today is to sell something quite the apparent product. Metropolitan life assurance Company isn’t an exception of the various companies whose intentions transcend the promotion of the particular product. MetLife’s My Dad may be a Liar is tear- jerking commercial ad illustrating the truism of threats of poverty and therefore the uncertainties of life. This advertisement is a few father-daughter relationship, which with little question creates an emotional and a deeper wallop than usual ads do. MetLife has successfully used this commercial as a medium of reaching its audience. This paper explores how the corporate has employed ethos, pathos, and logos to appeal its intended audience.

The target audiences of this commercial ad were any type of families who have their loved ones, more precisely the parents. As shown throughout the commercial, MetLife strives to create some connection of emotions with people; the ad reveals a strong love between the father and the girl with the aim of relating to the audience that they also have the same kind of love with their children. Apparently, the company also wants its audience to carry on the idea that it is caring and loving in order to gain the loyalty of the audience to the brand as presented throughout the video (MetLife 1).

The targeted audience of MetLife affected the type of attitude, or stance, that they carried into the commercial, which also led to the projection of the tone. The company took a soothing and a comforting approach purpose of which is to get into the audiences’ heads by using a lot of emotions. MetLife shows the parents that they can make any kind of sacrifice for their kids and go any mile even if it means lying to them so as to guarantee them a brighter future (MetLife 1).

The use of logos, ethos, and pathos are the basic appeals used in persuasion to convince the audience in this ad. Logos are appeals of persuasion meant to persuade and convince an audience. Ethos is an ethical appeal and intends to convince the audience by the character of the author. Pathos, on the other hand, is an emotional appeal to logics and aims to persuade by reasoning and by the use of statistics and facts.

The commercial use ethos is persuasion. Individuals, by nature tend to believe others based on the extent to which they respect them. MetLife as an internationally well-known insurance company uses this attribute to its persuasion of credibility. The commercial is a narration by a little girl all through the video and this is an example of ethos because ethos also refers to the type of language presented to the audience. Ostensibly, children are known for their brutal honesty and that they never lie, therefore, the use of a child in this commercial, as the narrator is effective. A low angle camera focused on the girl on her father’s shoulder as she describes him as her superman; show the kind of respect the young girl accords her father, and that she views him as an authority (MetLife 1). Also, as the girl receives award in school, she turns to the father and shows him the award. This scene depicts one of the many reasons why her father had made considerable sacrifices for her. At this point, MetLife’s intention to its audience is to try and relate to the sacrifices they make for their children and the performance of their children in academics.

Additionally, the commercial uses pathos as another means of persuading the audience.  Many scenes use different lightings and setting to evoke emotional appeals to the audience. Also, MetLife uses the little girl as the narrator to capture the emotions of the audience. The girl’s voice throughout the video is as appealing as the sound of the violin and the piano played in the commercial. These two attract the attention of the viewers of the video making pleasing it more emotional (MetLife 1). The voice of the little girl captures the emotions of the audience because of the innocence it possesses. The father hustling on different kinds jobs also appeals to the audiences’ emotions because they are not any different with the manual jobs that most of them are engaged in their daily lives. The transition of music in different scenes also synchronizes, especially in the narration when the little says “he lies” brings huge emotions to the audience (MetLife 1). In addition, the praises the girl accords her father ”the sweetest daddy in the world…the cleverest…the kindest…the smartest” appeals to the audience as it shows how the little girl views her parent (MetLife 1).

The use of logos is also prevalent in the commercial. Through watching this ad, an individual is persuaded about their MetLife. Individuals get to understand that death inevitable and in case of a premature one, without a proper method of compensation in place for their children, it would amount to trouble (MetLife 1).

Concisely, by the use of rhetorical analysis, the audience is able to successfully understand the purpose of this advertisement. The combination of the three proves to be an incredibly persuasive trio. Although, they have to be three and work in unison for a success, the use of pathos and ethos to persuade the audience is overwhelming and outstanding making this commercial ad successful in its own way. The use of different settings, camera angles, sounds, and lightings made the ad more persuasive and reinforced pathos and ethos.

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Work cited

MetLIfe. ”My Dad is A Liar!“ YouTube, 6 Feb. 2015, www.youtube.com/watch?v=O15dxrBNuAQ. Accessed 10 Nov. 2017.