TaxACT.com-"Totally Free"

Feels good, totally free

By: Taylor Pytlik 

             Every year in April it is required that all United States citizens complete and submit their Federal Taxes, the tax code is extremely complex and can be very confusing. If your tax forms are incorrectly or fraudulently completed, the I.R.S. will audit you. This is many people’s worst nightmare. Tax-ACT attempts to solve this problem by suggesting that you’ll be “free” of these worries because you’ll know you can get your taxes done on time, helping you avoid the dreaded auditing process. This particular commercial from Tax-ACT uses point of view, as the desired effect is to feel as if “we”, the viewer, experience the series of events taking place the same way the boy experiences them. However the fact that advertising is practically en-avoidable you should think before you cash in.

For instance this commercial opens with showing a close up on the kind of bubbles created when coming up from underneath the water, a boy with a semi-confused face pops up and starts taking in his surroundings which quickly imply he has to pee. First he see’s a stream of water coming from a fountain statue of a boy peeing; his confused look starts to turn into a fearful look. Secondly he see’s a man filling up the pool, which also creates a stream of water. Instantly the boys face starts to show an increasing intensity of panic, he starts to run to the bathroom but just as he arrives ah girl cuts in front of him; slamming the door in his face. It shows his face in uneasy disappointment and then him dashing up the stairs to the other bathroom to find it too is occupied. He does a quick dance of frustration and runs back down the stairs. As he quickly rounds the corner to find a place to pee he catches a glimpse of the windows now being washed with a hose, this ignites his instincts to grab the corner to consider a potted plant inside. He decides against it and starts to rush to the pool. Along the way he sees the hose spraying the window again, the washer draining into the sink and a teakettle whistling with a stream of steam. Finally he makes it to the pool and his face slowly turns to a sign of relief. Then it turns to a close-up of a man on his computer with the homepage for TaxACT.com displayed and his mouse over the “totally free” logo. It switches back to the pool to show the girl who took the first bathroom jumping back in the pool as the little boy just giggles to him-self. To show the simplicity of TaxACT.com their homepage to their website is shown on a laptop. On the view of the man using the website in the commercial it conveys their main ideas: the name of their site, what they can help with “Federal Return” and how they can help you “Totally Free” and then before the commercial ends their website address is shown in the bottom corner for additional advertising. The minimum text used is to convey the simplicity of using TaxACT.com.

Sound elements are a crucial factor through out this commercial. In the first scene all you hear is the sound of bubbles and then two separate moments a water stream hitting water. Then a jazzy band song begins to emphasize the little boys race to the bathroom. You hear the first bathroom door close and the music expressing a climaxing sense of urgency. Next you hear the music insinuating the sound of little boy knocking on the upstairs bathroom only to find he is denied. As the boy does a quick wiggle dance the music discreetly enters an “ooh” sound. The music continues to insist the race is still on. You hear the song decreasing into a few dramatic beats as the sound of water spraying against the window and the washer draining into the sink are emphasized. Finally the music has two concluding beats as a teakettle whistles the boy reaches the pool with an automated splash. The voice-over then opens by monotonously saying, “Totally free, feels good. Tax-ACT: federal return, totally free. Go to TaxAct.com and feel the free.”

Although this commercial has a strong appeal to pathos the logos appeal doesn’t defy Aristotle’s logic. The emotions override the logic in this commercial creating an invalid conclusion. My interpretation of this commercial was that their services are the perfect solution for someone looking for a quick and easy way to do your taxes. However, this crudely humorous clip may have overshadowed the crucial message. This type of advertising is typical of Super Bowl commercials as the goal is to get the viewer’s attention as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, the brief and childish manner in which the message was portrayed is at loss for appealing to logic.  The commercial itself is a bit crude, it does appeal to people in a very direct way by reminding us all of a terribly uncomfortable feeling. TaxAct attempts to make a comparison to the terrible state of anxious distress that occurs when having to wait for a bathroom to the frantic, worrisome months of tax season. By identifying with the viewer on such a basic and personal level, this can give some creditability to the commercial’s overall message.

The commercial explains little, if anything at all, about their services. It simply claims that the service is “free” and that you will feel “free” knowing the annual tax burden has been eased off of your shoulders. The ad, despite its entertaining and simple message, does not constitute a sound appeal. It informs the viewer absolutely nothing and simply directs them towards the company’s website to learn about the services offered. This lack of crucial information would likely make the commercial unsuccessful at soliciting new clients; as it is commonly viewed as a crudely humorous clip instead of an effective sales pitch aimed at a given demographic. Unfortunately, the creators of this commercial, albeit well intentioned, certainly missed finding the middle ground between entertaining and informative. Missing the critical balance of these two integral parts of any media campaign can prove to be inevitable folly. The need for a two-part approach is especially critical to television ads; the advertiser needs to grab, and hold onto, the viewers’ attention all the while educating them on their product and/or services offered. The Tax-Act commercial DOES capture the attention of the audience quiet well, but it fails to convey their overall message in an efficient and educating fashion; ultimately leaving viewers somewhat entertained but still aware of their terrible anxiety in regards to tax season, a problem that Tax-ACT, to their own dismay, was not able to solve.

Southwest Commerical On Excessive Celebration

It's A Success But.....

From the moment I watched this commercial and saw the dancing Southwest customer celebrating his savings I thought to myself, wow, that’s me!!! I think we as society tend to be very money conscious. We all want the best deal possible out there, and whenever I receive something that I consider a great savings or a good deal I get overwhelmed with this burst of excitement, and become extremely vocal and over the top with the feeling of joy it brings. However, you always get the envious, jealous and “Debbie downer” people that want to walk on your parade, and don’t like when good things happen to other people. This commercial depicted that character well with the upset competitor worker.

It was a very smart marketing move to use a controversial issue such as “excessive celebration” for two reasons. One, not only is this commercial appealing to the spectrum of people who travel often, and are looking for ways to bring down the cost of travel, but it also reels in football fans because of the context of the commercial. The football themed music in the beginning really set the tone, and can grab the attention of any sports fan. Many people think of excessive celebration rules as unnecessary. We can all relate to an accomplishment or something unbelievably amazing that happens to us and all we want to do is tell everyone we know and celebrate that accomplishment or particular situation, but there is someone out there that always wants to look at it from a negative aspect and think of it as offensive. I feel that this commercial interpreted that well, and by doing so broadens the spectrum of viewers who will take notice to it.

The only information that I found to be an error in credibility is where they exactly got the number of savings to be 120 dollars in bag fees. They did a great job of including the caption that there are size limits and that it saves you money on your first two bags by being free to check in, but it doesn’t exactly explain where that number comes into play. That can be misleading and turn off an audience because when it comes down to it people want to know where exactly they are saving 120 dollars. That’s a big number to some people and it can send the wrong message to customers if they don’t exactly know what it is they are saving because you don’t want people to feel like they are being nickel and dimed from a sales stand point. However, I know when people travel they are always looking for ways to bring the cost of travel down. Very few airlines offer two free bag fees waived so this advertisement really does draw me in, and give them an edge over their competitors, and in a sales world that is everything!

Another great detail of the commercial was having the referees in Southwest Airlines gear siding with the Southwest customer, and persuading the competition to see things in the perspective of the Southwest customer point of view, and encouraging the Skyline competitor that they too should want to get that same “deal”. Having a mediator is a great way to have viewers witness someone overcome objections from the point of a competitor, and in sales that is often times what needs to be done. People hate having to spend money, but if you can make that customer feel valued and give them a good enough reason to close that deal or sale right then and there the best way to do that is by overcoming objections and revealing the benefits, and that is exactly what the referees do to the disgruntled competitor.

Overall, I think this was a good sales tactic. It reached out to more than one range of people, appealing to people of travel, money conscious individuals, and sports fans. I think the key to a great company and high sales is to have a spectrum of people you can relate your product to, and that is exactly what they did. Southwest used a customer who was “excessively celebrating” and we can relate to that easily. By seeing someone being so excited to get a deal or save money in turn it makes us want to feel that way, and get that special deal. With the exception of the misguided information on saving up to 120.00 dollars, overall I enjoyed watching the commercial, and because of the bag fee savings I too recently booked my upcoming trip through Southwest. I mean come on, who wants to pay bag fees if they don’t have to!

- Stephanie Kohel

Media in Today's World: Analysis of Net10 Commercial

Technology is becoming increasingly popular in today’s world.  Advertisements on television and the Internet are starting to be aimed more at those types of products.  Ten years ago, commercials like that were quite rare.  Now, it seems every other commercial that is seen is related to some technological product.  One of the more popular types items are cell phones. Cell phone companies are always trying to get people to buy a phone from them.  It makes sense because it is almost necessary to have one these days.  Most people have plans from the larger companies such as U.S. Cellular, AT&T, or Verizon.  But there are some people who would like to own a cell phone with a plan that is a little cheaper than the major brands.  These companies are not as well known, but through advertising they can still get the business they want.  Personally, I had not heard of Net10 until I saw this commercial.  If I was someone looking for a new cell phone, this might be a good investment because they have a commercial that really speaks to many Americans such as myself.  With a smart and silly concept that has logical ideas, Net10 knows how to get to the customers they are advertising to.  This shows us that the United States relies heavily on business and that these businesses will relate as much to their people as they can in order to sell their products.

           This commercial wants consumers to feel like they can relate to the situation at hand.  It begins with a son who is singing to his girlfriend a song that he wrote.  The song is terrible and the son does not sing it that well.  The father just kind of rolls his eyes knowing that what his son is doing something that could be considered kind of dumb.  Net10 uses the concept of not being able to control the conversation, but controlling the cost as the basis of their commercial.  It is true that most parents will realize that their children will do dumb things.  Both men and women who are a little older can then relate this idea.  It is the big cell phone companies aiming at the younger generations so Net10 was smart to go for that group.  Although I cannot relate to a parent in that sense, the idea of a lower cost could still interest me.  Also, the fact that they have cell phone plans that include the latest smart phones could also interest a tech-savvy person like myself.  The company is going for a well-rounded commercial in order to attract customers of all kinds.

            The commercial appeals to a couple of different means of persuasion.  Of the three types, it mainly appeals to logic.  Aspects of the other two appeals are visible, but not as prominent.  By using the approach of saying that regardless of how the phone is used, a good cost will still be available.  This idea is more logical to the older generation because they are the ones seeing the phone being used for such things as a son or daughter calling or texting their boyfriend or girlfriend.  They are also appealing to logic by including the information and facts about the phone plans at the end of the commercial.  Certain words are larger in size to give emphasis, which is sort of a logical idea since many times bigger is better.  Also at the end is the logo for Net10. 

For those that already know about it, it gives credibility to them.  For people like me who did not know, the credibility is a little less.  But they did include a picture of an Android phone, which is an item that has become a well-known type of phone.  It shows that the company is trying to keep up with the times as well as having items that it sells that have credibility when it comes to the make of the product. 

The emotion aspect is not all that prevalent in the advertisement.  As noted before it is mainly logical.  It should be noted that the idea of family and relationships do add to the overall idea of emotions.  Seeing as both of those ideas are largely portrayed in media it shows that they are important issues to the people of the United States. 

The other big concept that is important is cost.  That is really what is the largest issue covered in the advertisement.  With the economy in its current state, many people are looking for ways to save money.  If these people want to purchase items that they use everyday, they are most likely going to look for the products with the lowest price.  Net10 also wants to do that in an effort to get customers from the other cell phone companies.  This also shows that there is major competition among the many companies in the United States.  Every company wants their business to do well in order to make a large amount of money.

            Many businesses today are now focusing on selling technological products to consumers.  They use the media to do this very well.  Advertising can be difficult unless you know how to do it well.  You have to appeal to logic, emotion, and credibility, in addition to the use visual and sound elements and a relatable message.   Net10 does this very well in the advertisement for their cell phone plans.  After seeing the commercial, I may consider to use them if my current cell phone plan ended, unexpectedly.  Even though I may not completely relate to the age group Net10 is aiming at, something still made me consider it.   It could just be the fact that even though I am not connected to the father, I could see the son in me; I know I use my cell phone sometimes for odd conversations with friends.  I am not the only person in the United States that does that either.  Because I thought it was a good commercial, I think I will tell people about this cell phone company.  Net10 wants people like me to be able to relate to the commercial and then buy their products.

Works Cited

“Net10 "Control" Funny Commercial.” Youtube. 5 November 2011. Web. 29 March 2012.

This is Ad Hoc, Revised for Spring 2012

For starters, this is not a requirement of my ENGL 101 course this semester--the project was fully completed in ePortfolio, but a few students have also decided to contribute here. 

Taking your ideas out of the classroom and doign something with them, whether it's sending them into a peer reviewed journal, writing a letter to the editor of your local paper, or creating a blog of your own, exemplifies both the need and the reasoning behind general education courses like the ones I commonly teach. Taking your ideas out of the classroom is what we are meant to do. Some students refuse to see the connection between general education and the larger world. They might think that just because they can't see a direct link between the exact job they want to get paid to do and the reading assignment for this week, that they aren't learning anything useful for themselves. I couldn't disagree more. To those students I say ask not how specifically your class relates to you, but how you can apply the skills from a class over different areas of your life.

However, this assignment isn't really about me. And, whether or not you and I see eye to eye is neither here nor there when it comes to getting the academic job done. Your mission for the next part of this assignment is to transform your ePorfolio version into something more blog appropriate, complete with links and perhaps an image of some sort. In a way you will be translating your already written analysis into [an even] web-friendlier version that truly adds to the larger conversation[s] (of consumerism, advertisements, gender, and anything else the commercial you've chosen touches upon) by being a part of this open blog.

I am awarding an extra credit daily grade to all who post their Project 3 assignments. I'm also offering a few points added to the Project grade of your choice to the post who gets the most views before May 4--points to be awarded during finals week. The blog post with the most comments (good comments) will also earn a few extra points on a Project grade, so create a tiny url and post it to your networking sites of choice--comments can come from classmates, UWP folks, family, high school friends, Facebook acquaintances... you get it. There will only be one "winner" for each category--meaning all 101 students between the 007, 009, 010 classes are competing for the extra points.