Analysing an advertisement Vodafone’s spot of November 2012 Simone Rijavec 4A 07/01/13

Purposes Find out its: Objective Thesis Argumentations How the ad tries to persuade the viewer: Language Music Images What makes it peculiarly Italian?

Objective The advertisement tries to persuade the viewer to adopt Vodafone’s price plan for mobile phones.

Thesis Vodafone offers the best price plan for mobile phones.

Argumentations Vodafone’s offer is the cheapest since it includes 250 minutes and 250 SMS in a 9,90 € monthly price plan (with a Internet free trial period). You can surprise other people adopting Vodafone’s price plan.

How does it persuade the viewer? Key concept: To surprise other people, especially friends. At first Bruno (the bear) seems not to be able to ice skate but he reveals itself to be an excellent ice skater surprising his friends. Language Music Images

Language 1 “Vai piano, Bruno”  initial worry. “Saint Honoré, Marron Glacè”  in this situation they are meaningless since they refer to sweets. They are French words and pretend to be skating moves sounding like refined and technical words. This might be funny and may mean that it suffice to have Vodafone to be “the best/coolest one” without any effort.

Language 2 “Sorpresi eh?”  reveals Bruno’s pride in having surprised his friends. “Che voto mi date? 250+250”  links the gag with the price plan and shows one important aspect in nowadays society: friends always judge and evaluate you basing on what you have done. At the end a voice off explains what the price plan consists in.

Music Music is only at the end of the advertisement. It is the latest song used by Vodafone in its spots. The first part of the spot focuses on the noise created by Bruno’s skates on the ice. It gives more importance to the difficulty of what Bruno is doing.

Images 1 The first part is focused on Bruno’s ice skates and his friend’s expression: it seems he is going to fall. There are 3 main concepts in the central part: Bruno is faster than the other people He has a central position in the ice rink He has fluency and grace in his moves Vodafone will give you more advantages than the other phone companies

Images 2 At the end Bruno’s friends are first astonished, then amused. They display Bruno’s grade (250) that is one aspect of the price plane but on the other side refers to the judgement of one’s friends in everyday life. The last part shows the price plan and its key points are highlighted to help memorization. Some clauses are written with a small type at the bottom, as usual.

What makes it peculiarly Italian? The setting: a typical Renaissance square of big Italian cities. The appeal to fashion: Bruno wears a red scarf (Vodafone’s colour) The appeal to food: “Saint Honoré, Marron Glacé”