Fun in the Sun!

The Rhetoric of a Summer Ad

         As most people are at the moment, I am getting super excited for summer. It is most likely my favorite time of the year for so many reasons, and it is finally almost here. Personally, I grew up in Florida so I absolutely love the long, hot fun-in-the-sun filled summer days. I love spending day after day by the pool or at the beach in my swimsuit. Not to mention, my birthday is also during the summer. What could possibly be better?

         This week I chose an advertisement that pertains to sunny, summer days. The ad I chose is for Nivea Skincare products, particularly their children’s sunblock in this case. There are not many words used in this ad, so a large image is used to function as effective visual rhetoric. The only words used in this ad campaign are the ones that make up the short sentence in the bottom, right corner. It reads, “Let your kids play longer.” This gets the message across that normally, playing in the sun needs to be limited by parents in order to protect their children from getting a bad, painful sunburn that can later turn into skincare. It is saying that with Nivea Sunscreen, that is no longer the case. When it is being used and applied to the children’s skin, they will be protected from the sun for more hours than they ever were before while using other skincare and sunscreen products. But this message is written in very tiny, plain font, so it is not the main focus of this advertisement.

         The main focus of this ad would have to be the grandeur image of a giant kingdom made out of sand on a beautiful beach day. It sets the scene for summer by playing off of nature’s natural beauty, as well as by showcasing a not so ordinary sand castle. The sand castle featured here is an example of hyperbole. It greatly exaggerates and overestimates a child’s ability to form a sand castle while spending a day at the beach. Instead of the average sand castle that we have all built or at least walked by at some point in our lives on the beach, it is an enormous palace. It looks extremely complicated to build and would definitely take an entire day to make, if not several days. In a way, this ad challenges it audience. It basically says we will provide you with the sunscreen and skincare products to be able to spend more time in the sun, now lets see what you can do with that capability.