New boyfriend/New girlfriend: State farm Commercial

If you watch T.V it’s likely that you have seen some of State farm’s new commercials. Their new ones have their customers singing a little jingle whenever they get into car trouble and need the agencies help. One I want to focus on specifically is the New girlfriend/New boyfriend commercial. The state farm advertising crew uses pathos to persuade people to switch to their car insurance, and most of the new commercials; including this one, rely mostly on humorous pathos as rhetoric to persuade the audience. However there are points I want to hit about the commercial. In this specific commercial they show the couple on the street and they have their car backed up on top of another. The original girlfriend is complaining to her boyfriend that he is a bad driver, she wonders how he could of backed onto another car, she says he should have listened to her, she also tells him he is giving her a headache, etc., etc. This could be seen as State farm stereotyping girlfriends as always nagging and complaining while the guy stands there and painfully puts up with her. Now as we see next he sings the jingle and the State farm agent pops up and begins assessing the damage of the accident. This part makes State farm seem easy and uses ethos by showing that the agency is reliable and there when you need them. The transition from the nagging girlfriend to her being quiet after the agent pops up could emphasize the instant simplicity of State farm and how they can ‘make everything better’.
The major pathos comes in next when the girlfriend requests she have a new boyfriend. Instantly her old boyfriend transforms into a stunning and hot new one. Then the guy requests he have a new girlfriend, and instantly his old girlfriend transforms also into a stunning and hot new one, then they commence fighting about how this is what the other really wants. This reinforces the idea that State farm is simple and instantly there when you need them, however, it could be seen as falsely promoting that they can give you everything you want and can make any situation better in an instant like a genie. To wrap up though, the commercial uses almost only pathos in the form of humor and only a small bit of ethos in showing and stating at the end, that State farm is there when you need them.