Jessica Kisner
Engl 191 – 17
Jack Hennes
Oct. 01, 2012
Welcome to Proactiv Now Faster
and Gentler Than Ever Before
For as far back as the media goes
there has always been tactics used by big companies of all sizes in
order to attract consumers and to sell their products so they can
make a large profit. No matter if it’s a television commercial, a
billboard, a magazine article, etc.;
advertisers will do all
they can in order to get people to buy their products, whether those
products actually work or not. A great example of this method is a
product that millions of people know about, are familiar with, and
may even use on a daily basis. The product is Proactiv, the most
popular skin care method on the market today. When visiting the home
page of this very large company a person can see this first hand. The
Proactiv home page is very effective in getting people to buy their
product by appealing to the consumer's logic, winning them over with
the authority of the experts and finally making them feel something
by targeting their emotions. It uses a combination of words, pictures
and videos as well in order to prove what a wonderful product it is.
Proactiv’s tactics have thus far proven successful in drawing in
millions of customers, and the website’s multimodal homepage has a
great deal to do with it.
When it comes to the process of
buying something, people tend to listen to those who appeal to our
logic, the "experts" in other words. Affecting a person's
logical appeal is defined by the term logos, this means persuading
someone by the art of reasoning. Logos tend to look at the claim that
is made, in this case if you use Proactiv then your acne will go
away, then it evaluates the accuracy of said claim. Logos will also
assess the effectiveness of any supporting evidence such as facts and
statistics. Because of these experts targeting our logic we are told
to invest our time listening to them and then eventually invest our
money in their product. Millions of people fall for this tactic every
day. To them, ordering this product seems the smart and logical thing
to do. In the specific example of the Proactiv homepage logic is
being used very obviously. If you type in "www.Proactiv.com"
in either the search bar or Google you will be taken directly to the
homepage of the website. Your eyes are greeted by friendly looking
faces playing on a slideshow that alternates with quotes from popular
beauty magazines such as Seventeen, Teen Vogue, or Allure. The
slideshow is almost enchanting, or could be described as such to
someone with acne. The faces are beautiful and clear, an ideal image
of the skin that every teenage girl or boy would want. What's even
more captivating however is the words and quotes presented on the
page. The way the website presents its product through words that
target our logic is quite impressive. For example, the quotes as
mentioned before that play in the slideshow say things such as "Best
Acne Product", by Seventeen, "Best of Beauty" by
Allure, and "Best Acne System" by Teen Vogue. It is clear
that the website thinks Proactiv is "the best" and uses
quotes from these articles to prove this and to get deep into our
minds, brainwash us in a sense. Although logic is a very large part
of the advertisement it would hold no credibility without the sources
they used.
Proactiv's website has the
amazing ability to win its customers over with the authority of the
experts that have dedicated so much of their time to creating this
product. On the multimodal home page you will see a specific tab just
for looking more in depth at the history of the product and the
people behind it. In doing this we tend to gain the feeling that
these two dermatologists have a great amount of credibility and can
be trusted. This is Proactiv attempting to hit home with our ethos.
The part of rhetoric that has to do with the ethical aspect of
persuading people, the legitimacy of the speaker, how credible they
are, and how much authority they have. For example on the bottom left
of the homepage, the website viewer is shown a kind face of a woman
who is obviously a dermatologist. It has a heading titled ‘Expert
Skin Care Advisors 242/7’. Then next to her photograph is a few
snippets of sayings with things such as ‘Our experts want to help
you achieve the best skin possible’, ‘NEW Proactiv 365. Care and
support: Every Minute Every Day’ and ‘for more benefits’.
Seeing this makes a person feel as though the dermatologists and
experts that vouch for the company are legitimate and have the
maximum credibility possible. It is possible when analyzing the
Proactiv Homepage to research the Founders of the product in order to
find out what they’re all about
Guthy|Renker is one of the
largest and most respected direct marketing companies in the world,
with distribution in 68 countries. Since 1988, Guthy|Renker has
discovered and developed dozens of well-loved, high quality consumer
products in the beauty, skincare, entertainment and wellness
categories. (“About Guthy|Renker”)
It was over 15 years ago now that
two men Bill Guthy and Greg Renker set industry standard and produced
Proactiv Solution. It has now become a bestselling acne treatment not
just here in the US, but all over the world. It has achieved its main
goal of helping millions of people reach their ideal clear skin.
Without this multimodal homepage consumers would know none of this
and be kept in the dark. Being able to learn about the people who
created their favorite product appeals to their ethics and justifies
them spending their hard earned money on it. However, in addition to
logos and ethos, the role that pathos play is also significant.
In rhetorical writing pathos is
the term used to represent an appeal to the reader’s emotion.
Humans have dozens of emotions so it’s not hard to believe that
pathos are the most commonly used and easiest to point out in any
form of writing. When it comes to Proactiv, specifically the
homepage, it is clear that this is most likely the main focus in
order to make customers buy their products. Recall the slideshow that
was previously mentioned; it is not filled with just any ordinary
friendly faces; they are celebrities. For example the beautiful face
of Naya Rivera is shown. Her name is in bold letters, then also in
bold letters below her name and pictures are the words “Proactiv
Customer” then in fine print underneath that is her status
“Actress, Glee”. This tells us that this beautiful girl with
perfect skin, an actress from the hit TV series, Glee, is just like
the rest of us and uses Proactiv. Also shown is Melissa Claire Egan,
also an actress, and Julianne Hugh, a very well known singer, dancer,
and actress. These three women’s pictures alternating with the
magazine review quotes are the very first things you see when opening
the page. This company knew how large of an impact they would have.
Teenage girls see their favorite actresses, singers, dancers, etc and
see that they use Proactiv. It not only makes them feel better about
having acne, but it is also incredibly gratifying to know you’re
using the same product as these people. This fact is almost
irresistible and continues to draw millions of customers in. However,
the viewer’s emotions are not finished being targeted; on the
bottom right of the screen is a video. If you click on it, the first
thing you will notice is the very dejected and sorrowful music. The
music fades to the background and an average girl, plain and simple
looking, begins to tell her story. She tells of how she struggled her
entire teenage years with unclear, and not so pretty skin. It made
her constantly self-conscious and was beginning to ruin her life:
until she got Proactiv. As a person struggling with acne watches
this, they can easily relate and feel as if this girl is speaking
directly to them. It makes them feel as if they are not alone and
finishes with giving them a silver lining, that glimmer of hope that
their skin can look like the beautiful women that flash before their
eyes on the very same screen. If one continues to explore the
homepage after watching the video, various links can be found at the
top as well. The very last tab is one titled “Success Stories”.
People are drawn to these sort of things, if they can be presented
with valid evidence that this product works for average people
everywhere as well as celebrities, it gives them that very strong
hopeful feeling that it will work for them as well. Proactiv has the
amazing ability to target those emotions deep in our core, it can
make us envious of those beautiful actresses and in the same minute
make us hopeful that we could have the clear skin they have.
Logos, Ethos and Pathos can be
found at the base of almost every multimodal aspect we come across,
and even some that are not multimodal. These three themes are
constantly being targeted and there is no exception with Proactiv. We
are drawn in by the logic of it all, held fast by the credibility of
those explaining the logic, then finally convinced after we are
forced to feel something. The combination of words, pictures and
videos plays a huge role in this website’s effectiveness as well.
Each part is crucial and pulls the whole thing together very nicely.
The Proactiv homepage is an ideal example of multimodal rhetoric at
it’s finest. In analyzing it, it becomes very clear that a fair
amount of time and energy is spent in order to sell the product. But
one must take a look for themselves to really understand, so go
ahead, “all you have to lose… is your acne” (Acne Treatment).
Works Cited
"Acne Treatment & Skin
Care | Proactiv® Official Site | Special Offer." Acne
Treatment & Skin Care.
Guthy-Renker LLC, n.d. Web. 09 Oct. 2012. <http://www.proactiv.com/>.
"About Guthy|Renker."
Guthy.
Guthy-Renker LLC, n.d. Web. 09 Oct. 2012.
<http://www.guthy-renker.com/about/>.
No comments:
Post a Comment