Media/Brands

I've been paying extra close attention to commercials and looking at the subconscious elements that brands use to sell more of their product. The 2013 Toyota Avalon commercial is one that really caught my eye. My notes of what happens in the commercial followed by my evaluation of the commercial is as follows:

The commercial starts off with some type of faucet/sink/spout that drips a black substance (one can assume it's ink) into a large body of water. The ink swirls and moves gracefully (all while graceful, calm music plays). The ink blots form Rorschach tests (leaving the viewer to interpret images on their own). The ink then drips down and slowly forms into the car...from top to bottom. A soothing man's voice then says "let's take every drop of courage. every ounce of inspiration. every bit of determination. and go where we've never gone before." The music then starts to speed up while the water in the "tank" drains and everything seems to get more intense. This is all happening in a blank, concrete room and there's not much detail in the background or the floor. There are close up shots of the car, and the headlight goes on. The shots are really intense. After some close ups of the car and the water drains, the car drives away towards a random beam of light. The commercial then zooms out to a picture of the car driving, which is surrounded by other photos of wholesome things (such as a girls soccer team, a happy family, etc). The photos morph into a globe shape and then transform into the toyota logo. "Toyota, let's go places"

The whole commercial sets the mood from the very beginning. They play calming music that then turns intense and "cool" to emphasize the feeling that they want the car to give off. The commercial in itself oozes "cool" and hints that if you get this car you will be "the coolest person ever." There are barely any references to the car itself. There are also no references to pros and cons of buying the car. All the audience gets from the viewing is that they will be cool if they buy this car.