What’s Really in Your Wallet?

Capital One masterfully uses of humor in all of their commercials. Their use of the Vikings in each of their commercials provides an iconic group for the viewers to immediately recognize. Therefore, viewers are more likely to focus on the logistics the company provides throughout each commercial. Each commercial is in a different location – Hawaii, the Grand Canyon, a ski resort, etc. As usual, the commercial set in Los Angeles provides the same antics that are usually displayed by the Vikings – something getting broken, someone doing something wrong, earning double miles on everything twice as fast. However, a tone of irony comes into play when the Vikings are “behind the scenes” at a Hollywood movie set and they see a few Roman soldiers standing together, looking over what appears to be a script. Immediately, the Vikings charge and a chase ensues that lasts until the end of the commercial. Of course, from taking history classes, everyone knows about the Vikings’ tendency to be brute-like and start a fight easily. But the baffling part of this commercial is what do the Vikings have against the Romans? They lived in completely different times and places, therefore having no knowledge of each other. Since there is a grudge being portrayed between them, it makes sense that a viewer would just say that it’s in their nature to pick a fight. But why with the Romans in particular? This gives the argument a red herring, or logical fallacy designed to distract the viewer from the real argument – would the viewer really purchase the card from the facts given in the rest of the commercial? These days, no one really seems to pay attention to commercials, so it comes as no surprise that companies rely so heavily on humor. But when is it too much or not enough? Though this commercial does a good job of amusing its viewers, it still leaves me wondering if anyone would use a Venture Card just from watching this commercial; the same thought can be applied to almost any other commercial ever produced. However, the since the commercial is just a filler for a TV show or movie on TV, the companies only have enough time to spark their viewers’ interest. That being said, I would say that Capital One does spark my interest, but enough to go online to look at their logistics and plans. This part of the argument deals with who their target audience is. Since their target audience appears to be people older than college students, I am not particularly interested in what the commercial therefore has to say. Oppositely, Capital One’s intention may not have been to spark the interest of anyone except parents wishing to go on a vacation with their families. Either way the argument is analyzed, Capital One only wishes to give their viewers enough humor-and distraction-to want to get on the computer and visit their website to learn more. After all, isn’t that the whole point of commercials in general?

Link for actual commercial: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mp0YQsPpUb4&feature=channel