Priceless Pep-Talks

Who created this media message? Why?

Mastercard made this advertisement to emphasize there on-going advertising that "Somethings are priceless for everything else there is Mastercard." Therefore they used Peyton Manning (who has been one of there spokespersons for a couple years) delivering his "priceless" peptalks because you can't buy a peptalk from Peyton Manning but you can buy many other things with it like "some bigger shirts". They also made this ad to promote another advertising campaign. If you notice at the end people can goto priceless.com/peptalks and make their own Peyton Manning type pep talk.

Who is the target audience? What text, images or sounds suggest this?

The target audience is people who can afford credit cards and are football fans. There are a variety of them for whatever the person's budget and credit line might be. Mastercard probably realized they could get their credit card advertised to millions of people on Sunday's if they put Peyton Manning's face on it. If they had used a basketball player in this advertisement then most likely we'd see this ad during basketball games. However I usually see this ad on Sundays or during any other kind football programming Mastercard sponsers.

What is the text(literal) meaning of the message?

The literal text of this message is go to http://www.priceless.com/peptalks to make a peptalk to send someone. I think this ad, is advertising another advertising campaign. Peyton Manning never says, "I'm Peyton Manning, I use Mastercard" and in fact without it being called "Priceless" pep-talks I would have not made the connection that it was a Mastercard ad.

What is the subtext(hidden message)?

The hidden message is Mastercard's motto for the last few years, "somethings are priceless for everything else there is Mastercard". In all these priceless pep talk(there are many of them) Manning is always hinting to buy something to help them out. For example in this ad he gives his priceless pep talk and says "Buy some bigger shirts". By saying that an old Mastercard commercial would come to my head. Bigger shirts: 10 dollars Pep Talk from Peyton Manning: Priceless. I think Mastercard chose to advertise it's product with subtext and advertise this campaign to go to their website literally.

What kind of lifestyle is presented? Is it glamorized? How?

Peyton Manning is portraying the life style of someone who isn't under the age of 23 and a pro football player. I feel he unglamorizes it by making the viewer accept that fate if they fall into that category. He says, "just give up and buy bigger shirts". While that doesn't sound encouraging or glamorous, I think he's trying to emphasize that you are who you are so deal with it and move on.

What values are expressed?
I think Manning is expressing that he values his place as a football player. Peyton Manning is about 30 years old and plays pro-football. Therefore he is getting older but keeping his pro-football figure. Therefore the way he jokes about how if your not under the age of 23 or a pro-football player you need to accept that guy, I feel is him saying, "Sucks your not a pro football player like me". He's doing this also make us the viewer laugh because he understands he's not the norm, when he can poke fun at that, it seems to make the viewer drawn to the character and commercial.

What techniques of persuasion are being used?

The main technique is name/face recognition and humor. Peyton Manning is a highly touted NFL player with quite the character. People who don't watch football know who he is because he is one of the best players in the NFL and he has made other celebrity appearances. Therefore they have name/face recognition covered they just had to make a quirky campaign. Therefore these priceless pep-talks that aren't that priceless takes care of the humor. This when people see Manning being silly they instantly are curious to see what the website is like.

What healthy and unhealthy messages are being communicated?

The unhealthy message is he tells people to give up. I think someone who is about 24 and really obese might look at that commercial as someone saying it's hopeless for them to lose weight. It sounds kind of ridiculous but the reason Manning can make that statement is because he probably observed many people letting go after age 23. The truth is a person can lose weight at anytime they just have to be ready and should really do it sooner then later. The healthy message though is Manning is also saying not to worry. I don't think he would want people to think he is saying "If your under 23 and large give up" he just wants guys with a guy to get a laugh out of the commercial. He's trying to let guys know not to get too worked about the gut, just buy some bigger shirts.

What part of the story is not being told?

The part of the story is what will Peyton Manning look after he retires. Right now Manning is in great shape, he never gets injured and performs well now. However when he hits his 40's and 50s he's not going to be this cut football player. He will be flabby and he will need bigger shirts. I also have no idea what that ad has to do with Mastercard. I think the commercial is funny but it doesn't make me want to use a Mastercard. I also am curious about these pep-talks I can send to my friends. Is this also part of their advertising ploy. I think ads like this leave questions that are unanswered but easy to answer therefore making the advertising scheme, forcing people to learn about Mastercard.