Be Mine, Valentine

Since this Tuesday was Valentine's Day - and because one of the topics that we discussed this week was the appeal to pathos - I thought it was only too appropriate to make my post about something slightly romantic. Initially, I was hoping to find a commercial from this year’s Valentine’s Day but caught my eye. So, I resorted to the one place that anyone can find a sappy, pathos-filled commercial: YouTube. And, voila, the third commercial on the page – a Nokia commercial seemed to be the perfect one to discuss.

The commercial tells the story of a young man overseas and a young woman, presumably his girlfriend, staring out into the rain, missing him. The man, in a sunny, tropical-looking city, snaps photos with his Nokia phone (a model that, nowadays, seems extremely outdated) that, when pieced together, form the sentence “Will you marry me?” and sends the message via text to his girlfriend. And, as in all feel-good commercials, she responds with a very predictable. “Yes.”

Nokia did several things right in the construction of this particular advertisement. The entire commercial revolves around an appeal to pathos. From the opening scene, with the girl staring out the window, it is clear that her mind is far away, and the audience cannot help but with that she is with the one that she is thinking so intently about. When the man is running around, taking pictures, it's initially not quite clear what he is trying to spell out. But, when the viewers realize what he is doing, they are excited to see how it will play out.

The slogan, “Nokia, connecting people,” is a fitting conclusion to the advertisement, suggesting to single viewers, that purchasing a Nokia phone could result in them finding their soul mates. And, for the viewers in relationships, Nokia assures it’s users that they too will have a happy ending, most likely with that picture-perfect proposal. The perfect advertisement to set the Valentine’s Day mood!

If you have time, check out the commercial below"