Air Jordan

The image that I have posted is undoubtedly known by most of America and much of the known world today. Now whether that image, that I referred to in the prior sentence, is the super star Michael Jordan or the equally praised Gatorade symbol is up to debate. This ad is used, by Gatorade, to capture the viewer’s attention through ethos, logos, pathos, and kairos. All of which magnify the products symbol, which is seen directly to the right of Jordan.

The fact that Michael Jordan is extremely well known and proven himself time and again on the basketball court gains the superstar plenty of ethical support and makes the superstar himself the ethos aspect of the ad. Michael Jordan has won many national championships and is considered to be the greatest basketball player to live and play in the NBA. Gatorade has strategically placed their symbol beside Michael in mid-flight to show that there product is of equal stature. To the public eye this gives Gatorade equal credit for Michael’s athletic ability and public view.

The Logos aspect of this ad is that Michael has not always been the icon that he is today. This snapshot is a picture of him at his prime and obviously inferred, by the picture, is that Gatorade has pushed him to this new level of stardom.  Logically the viewer thinks that “If this product worked so well for him then why would it not work just as well for me?”.  This ad works very well for logos because there is not a single word on the page, leaving all the selling pitch, for the ad, to be strictly based on the reader’s imagination (and motivated by Jordan flying through the air).

The Pathos aspect of this image is that everybody has had a very successful point in their life, or prime of their life, when they could not be in a better position. In this ad Jordan is at the prime of his life. He’s obviously playing for the Chicago Bulls, a very successful, NBA team at the time. He is also about to dunk which will surly send the crowd into eruptions of applause. This ad makes the reader connect with the prime of his or her own life and connect the product Gatorade with those successful points of their lives.

Along with Pathos, Kairos could also be taken into consideration, in the last argument. Considering the viewer is in a successful state or point in their lives. In which they would associate themselves with Jordan and the product at that moment. Or the consumer could be in a very bad state of constant failures in their life. This would cause the consumer to once again associate Gatorade with success and crave that success in their own lives at that moment. Gatorade is seen as the immediate answer to whatever failure they may be going through and, in a sense, must be purchased for their happiness. This ad was very well done sending such a strong message without printing one word to persuade the viewer. Making the salesman innocent to any false advertising accusations and the viewer captive to his/her own imaginations.