Old Spice

I chose an Old Spice commercial because everyone has seen these commercials. Having been on television for years, these commercials continue to bring laughter and interest into the homes of Americans. The exigence, or event that spurs the speaker to act, is the creation of the Old Spice product. Old Spice is a body wash that can supposedly make your man turn into the man you had hoped he would be. This commercial’s audience is to both men and women. It directly speaks to men because the product is made for them; however, the speaker in the commercial directs his speech towards women and intrigues them because Old Spice wants women to be spurred into action to buy the product for their boyfriend/husbands. Constraints are things that the audience possesses that might prohibit them from taking action. In this case, some constraints might be that the man or woman simply does not care what the man smells like and, therefore, does not find it necessary to buy Old Spice. Another constraint might be that the audience does not have a sense of humor. Old Spice commercials are designed to appear ridiculous and goofy. The reasons the speaker gives for using Old Spice are always humorous and outrageous; consequently, if the audience does not have a good sense of humor then they will find the commercials annoying and disregard them.

I think this commercial is a straightforward representation of the rhetorical situation consisting of the exigence, audience, and constraints. The Old Spice commercial uses humor to appeal to its audience of both men and women in hopes of prompting them to buy the Old Spice body wash.