The Snickers TV commercial “You are not you when you are Hungry” featuring Betty White is an interesting and popular commercial that uses the Monroe’s Motivated Sequence pattern. The commercial features a group of young men playing football. In the course of the game appears a confused and lost Betty White (Octogenarian) who ends up being tackled to the ground by one of the players. She takes that as an offence and goes into rage. In this instance, a young girl rushes to her with snickers which transforms the old woman’s figure into a true player’s figure. She looks just like another young man enjoying a game of football.
The commercial can be analyzed using Monroe’s Motivated Sequence pattern that grabs the attention of the audience. It then goes ahead to present a relevant issue to the audience which stimulates the audience to know why they should care about the need. The commercial then provides a good plan to the audience to satisfy their needs. It tries to explain how this particular plan will solve the problem. After this, it tries to describe to viewers how their life will be once the plan is executed. It gives a visual effect on how life will be different. Finally, it leaves the viewer with a message that will stimulate them to take appropriate action.
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First and foremost, the snickers commercial seeks to grab the attention of the viewer by using an out-of-this world scene that features an octogenarian lady in a football pitch. The attention grabber is a comical scene that makes the audience to pay close attention (PSU). It is well-known that comedy and humor has a way of grabbing the attention of people. The commercial, therefore, uses comic effects to make the audience be more attentive to the plot. The comic effect can be seen when a young footballer tackles the old lady to the ground. This is an unacceptable act coming from the young footballer. It has the effect of inviting the wrath of the audience to the footballer for acting in such a dishonorable manner. The audience would want to see what will happen after this disgusting act by the football player. We also see how emotionally worked up the old lady is adding to an already inflamed situation. The commercial has a strong attention grabber which is not only emotional but also comical. It plays into the emotions and minds of the audience to pay attention to what is happening.
Secondly, it presents a relevant issue to viewers and assists them to have a clear understanding about their need and why they should care about it. The need being presented here is that everybody needs to have a snickers irrespective of age. It runs with the assumption that if snickers can transform an old and weak woman into a strong footballer, what it cannot do for you. It gives the impression that having snickers makes you sporty and masculine. It creates a need in the minds of people who wish to be sporty and active. It shows that have snickers is the best way of achieving this goal.
Thirdly, it presents a plan to the audience which can be used to satisfy this need. It explains how this need can be solved. This is evidenced by the fact that the problem is that the old woman is viewed as weak and frail. She is one that can be easily knocked down without any form of resistance. This means that she is not sporty or masculine. However, when the young girl brings her snickers, she transforms herself into a sporty and masculine person. This transformation is caused by her having the snickers. The snickers have, therefore, solved the problem of frailty and weakness and has brought in strength and activeness. The commercial, therefore, is presenting a plan to the audience of how it can solve this particular problem (UNC). It explains how the need can be satisfied through the acquisition of snickers.
Fourthly, the TV commercial offers a vivid description to the audience how their life will be once they have implemented the plan. He plan is to buy snickers. This means that the audience will have a complete transformation once they buy snickers. This is presented by a clear visualization of the transformation of the old lady into a young and energetic football player. It gives a clear distinction of how one can greatly transform oneself after acquiring snickers. It can mean the difference between an old weak octogenarian woman and a young and active football player. The commercial provides a visual effect of who one’s life can greatly change if one gets himself snickers. The old lady is now different from the one that was tackled to the ground. She has become another player enjoying a game of football with other young men. She has now become a part of active people who once thought that she was old, weak and frail.
Finally, the TV commercial leaves viewers with a message which stimulates them to take action. The message is that having snickers can greatly transform your life into an active and enjoyable one. The message clearly shows that the snickers can be worn by anyone irrespective of age or gender. It stimulates the audience to act in a prescribed manner because it has given them the reason why they need to have snickers (Miller, 2016). It has addressed their need of being active and sporty and offered solutions of how the need can be fixed. By doing so the TV commercial calls for action from the audience to have snickers not only because they are enjoyable but also bring activity and sportiness in one’s life.
References
Miller, J. (2016). Case study: How fame made Snickers' 'You're not you when you're hungry' campaign a success. US Campaign. Retrieved from: https://www.campaignlive.com/article/case-study-fame-made-snickers-youre-not-when-youre-hungry-campaign-success/1413554
PSU. (2013). Betty White 2010 Snickers Commercial. Amy’s Rhetoric and Civil Life. Retrieved from: https://sites.psu.edu/rclgulbin/2013/09/11/betty-white-2010-snickers-commercial/
UNC Greensboro. Monroe’s Motivated Sequence. Retrieved from: https://speakingcenter.uncg.edu/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Motivated-Sequence-1.pdf
