Rhetorical statements can be found in everyday life wherever you go. They can be found very easily, just turn on the television and suddenly you are bombarded with rhetorical images, or even rhetorical sounds. Rhetorical sounds, such as music. Music has a strong influence on the youth in the United States. It only makes sense that when a popular up-beat song comes on the television that attention is immediately drawn to it. What makes even more sense is, if the music on the television is up beat and is attempting to sell a music-playing device, such as the ipod. Since the ipod was first released in 2001 sales have skyrocketed, and most of it has to do with the rhetorical images and sounds that Apple is having broad casted on television. People from all over the world ask for ipods daily so that they can listen to the music that describes them the best. This commercial illustrates just how owning an ipod will not only make you look better on the outside but will also make you feel amazing on the inside.


The first image that is introduced in this commercial titled “Jet ipod Commercial” is a woman dancing with a neon green screen behind her. This is the first form of narration that is being used. This woman in not just any woman, she has no facial features or any body differences that would make her unique, she could almost be considered plain, an everyday woman. She is a silhouette. She is an individual subject. The only thing that is unique about her is her personality. The personality that makes people stop and watch her, as she shows how music that she is listening to affects her. So there it is, attention is caught by a very stark usage of black on neon green. Soon the viewer’s eyes are drawn to the object that she is dancing with, a white object that is swinging around, in her hand. She is holding, a white ipod. She has the harsh white headphones dangling out of her ears and she is dancing. But again this is not just any kind of dancing. This is the kind of dancing that shows that the girl is dancing with all her heart and ability. She is narrating the music through her body. She is showing more of her personality as the beat increases. The song that is being played is “Are you gonna be my girl” by the band Jet. As the commercial progresses the image of the woman changes direction and zooms to a man, the man is dancing to the same song, as well, but with a different colored stark background. It is soon realized that there are two men and two women in the commercial. The process that the commercial uses by using the stark colors and shades together could be the main reason why the iPod has taken off so well because of how these commercials have been portrayed.


Cause and effect is one of the many aspects the commercial high lights upon. The cause is trying to get the audiences attention and, after they have caught the attention of the viewers the effect is for the viewers to “get off the couch right now and go buy this product”. It actually says this right in the lyrics by Jet, just not in the same way, the lyrics say, “So 1, 2, 3, take my hand and come with me because you look so fine and I really wanna make you mine.” What the lyrics for the purpose of the commercial are trying to say is “on the count of three take my hand and we will go to the store and make one of these fabulously looking ipods yours.” Then it says, “you look so fine and I really wanna make you mine” could mean one of two things. One process could be described as, that the ipod wants you to buy it and is saying that it will make you look good if you do. Another process that it could be trying use it to say “that the iPod looks so fine and that you really want to own one. It will make you look amazing and people will soon want you.” The song repeats again “I say you look so fine that I really wanna make you mine”. Just to put emphasis that the company, Apple, really wants the consumer watching this commercial to go out and purchase one. The next verse of the song is, “Oh, 4,5,6 c'mon and get your kicks now you don’t need that money when you look like that, do ya honey.” These lyrics are trying to portray the message that you really need to buy an ipod. Once you have achieved this you will get your kicks out of owning it because it is so amazing. Although once you do that, you won’t even need money because this ipod is going to make you look so good that money and appearance will no longer be important.

The choreography in this commercial could be described as the synthesis of the division. It is the putting of the music and lyrics together and to interpret what is trying to be said with human body movements. As the commercial begins the people dancing are imitating the words that are being spoken such as when the song says 1,2,3 the woman is counting on her fingers to emphasis it. As the commercial continuities the choreography becomes more intense with the music. The classification of the choreography is that this ipod can fit into your everyday life and make it even better, the views start to experience how this product will change their lives. It gives the illusion that life will be so more entertaining if you were to own this ipod. It also gives the impression that it could make you a better dancer and an all over happier person. The dancers that are working in the commercial are so happy and energetic, that they almost make you feel fat and bored as you watch them having fun that you could be having. You get this need to get up and go buy an ipod just so you can achieve that “high” that the dancers are on the television just from listening to an ipod. This is the synthesis of the choreography that is making you do this. This is another form of cause and effect, the commercial causes you to pay attention to what is going on during it and the effect you getting jealous if what is being shows and the want of it. Apple is trying to make the ipod pleasing in every way, and what better way then to show dancers showing through their body movements how much fun they are having.


Ethos is an aspect that Apple achieved in this commercial. It is the ethical appeal that sells the ipod in the end. Three things flash across the screen before the commercial ends “ipod”, “MAC OR WINDOWS”, and then the apple icon. The word ipod is aseptically pleasing because it is such a marketed music device. When the words “MAC OR WINDOWS”, flash across the screen could be the selling point of the commercial. It describes how the ipod has the flexibility to work on both a PC and a MAC. It is compatible for both operating systems. It was during that point in the commercial when ethos attributed the ipod through analogy. Lastly the apple sign is flashed across as the commercial ends. This sign of the apple is universality that most people can relate to and was put in place to remind the customer who the maker of the ipod is and where you could purchase one.


All and all this commercial has shown views on how having an ipod can change a consumers life in a good way through ethos. You become instantly happier, you can dance and feel better about yourself. I felt that the most powerful message that this commercial used was the music and how it had many different means that could have come from it.