1-800 Contacts

For my blog I chose a commercial for "1-800 Contacts" and using Blitzer's The Rhetorical Situation I determined the exigence, audience, and constraints of this commercial. I concluded that the exigence, or the reason that the speaker is speaking something they want to change, is not only to have their name known but to convince its audience to stop over paying for contact lenses at their doctors offices. The commercial is also trying to show the audience that they have a variety of brands to choose from. The audience, or the specific people they are speaking to, is people who use contact lenses and are looking for a hassle free way to purchase and receive their lenses. The contraints, or things the audience posses like biases, beliefs etc., are that some people would rather buy their lenses at their doctors office because they trust mailed items, and some people even after watching this commercial will still be skeptical about whether 1-800 Contacts will actually have the brand they are comfortable with or not. Some people would also rather purchase contacts in person instead of over the phone or online, something that this commercial tries to appease.

I think this commercial is effective because it uses a mix of drama and comedy to pull in the viewer. The commercial tries to reassure its audience that they have everyones brand of lenses no matter how "special" their eyes may be. By special they mean if a person have sppecial needs that have to be added to their lenses for example for astigmatism. At the end a man states that you actually can purchase the lenses in person at walmart for those who want to buy their lenses in person or over the phone/online and have them mailed for those whom seek convenience when buying lenses.