Cassidy Goodworth

Jessie King

Research, Genre, and Context

01 November 2020

Commercials, Criticism, and Communication

The phrase “Communication is key” is something that nearly everybody has heard.

Communication is important everywhere - in work, in school, and in business. One of the

biggest aspects of business, and therefore subject to criticism, is marketing. For marketers to

effectively advertise products to consumers, they must communicate with one another in a

productive manner, and they must also be clear in the points they are attempting to get across to

customers. A very important aspect of communication, however, is criticism. Criticism is a vital

way of communicating in which one lends their opinion on something to a creator. Members of

the marketing community criticize pieces of advertising constantly, as it is important to draw

attention to flaws in order to fix and avoid them in the future. There is a plethora of mediums

through which marketers can do this. Different artifacts found within the marketing discourse

offer differing viewpoints on how marketers communicate with one another.

In 2015, the company Nature Rx released a commercial advertising its titular product -

nature. The commercial begins with a man sitting on a log out by a lake, basking in the beauty

of the great outdoors, seemingly without a care in the world. He turns to the camera and begins

to speak, his opening lines leading to the words, “Are you feeling tired, irritable, stressed out?

Well, you might consider nature” (“Nature Rx Part 1”). Immediately, the viewer is met with a

feeling of dread; it’s another commercial, advertising a drug that will be followed by a long list

of side effects, with the list ending with the warning of possible death. However, the commercial
is not advertising a pharmaceutical drug; it is in fact a satire on those commercials that are

constantly running on televisions in millions of homes across America. The creators behind the

commercials are marketers, and they use another commercial as a method of communicating

with the marketers behind medications. Through a variety of rhetorical appeals, the creators of

the Nature Rx commercial provide important criticism for fellow marketers in the business

world. The use of a commercial as the medium for their ideas seems to be a choice that will be

beneficial to them. People in any field of work are constantly trying to learn how to improve so

they can perform the best they possibly can at their job. Therefore, marketers must watch

commercials in order to learn what others in their field are doing, as well as to gather ideas for

their own work, such as what or what not to do. In an act of criticism, they utilize satire, as well

as a multitude of rhetorical devices. The genre of the artifact is a television commercial. This

choice of genre is the best for the author’s intended purpose, as it allows them to utilize both

visuals and audio in their satirization. The creators utilize the medium of a commercial to

criticize the exact same medium; they are making fun of a commercial through the means of a

commercial. This creates a sense of familiarity for the audience, as commercials are a huge part

of any television viewing experience. This is perfect for the audience of the artifact, which is

television viewers who have seen pharmaceutical commercials before in their lifetime. Moreso,

the audience is fellow marketers within the discourse community. The fact that the commercial

is a satire does not take away from the fact that Nature Rx is attempting to encourage viewers to

go outside more. However, the creators are also communicating with fellow marketers,

attempting to relay the opinion that their marketing tactics are failing. When somebody pokes

fun at another’s work, the creator begins to feel as though they did something wrong if their

creation wasn’t something intended to be humorous. The creators make sure to utilize visuals
that will be familiar to viewers, such as people enjoying life, having fun outside, and spending

time with their friends and family. The commercial’s setting is completely outdoors, which

benefits Nature Rx’s alternate purpose of advertising nature. The actors all look friendly and are

shown to be over-the-top happy, similar to actors in commercials advertising drugs that are said

to improve one’s life immensely. By having them participate in activities that viewers’ have

most likely experienced, they create a situation that viewers can relate to. It effectively forces

viewers to think back to drug commercials they have seen using similar tactics, and it opens their

minds to understand the silliness of them. The main rhetorical appeal that is present is pathos, as

the creators are utilizing viewers’ emotions to hold their attention and sway them to see the

commercials in the same way they do. By appealing to viewers’ senses of humor, the

commercial takes a pathos approach. The tone of the commercial is humorous and satirical,

existing largely for the purpose to call out other marketers for their mistakes. The creator of the

commercial seems to be having fun with their criticism. Although the commercial is a form of

communication with other marketers, it is very light-hearted and shows that the author holds

onto a strong sense of humor. The artifact appears to be more informal than formal, as there is

swearing present within it, and the commercial does not seem to be taking itself too seriously.

However, this strengthens the point of the commercial, as it is not to be taken seriously, but

rather made to force viewers and marketers alike to think about the effectiveness of advertising,

and whether it is done in a manner that will please consumers or not.

Similar to the commercial by Nature Rx, other marketers provide commentary on other

marketing mistakes through different mediums. One example of this is a blog post. While the

commercial by Nature Rx utilized visuals and audio to force viewers to think back to other

commercials they had seen, the genre of a blog focuses mainly on words on a paper. However,
oftentimes, certain visuals such as images and sometimes even videos accompany writing within

a blog. In a blog post by Amanda Sibley, the author discusses some of the critical mistakes

marketers make when driving their products toward consumers (Sibley). Amanda Sibley, the

author, holds a marketing background in which she managed co-marketing relationships. She

uses the information she has gathered from her time in the career to help foster better

development in the field. The intended audience of the artifact is strikingly clear - it is intended

for the eyes of current marketers, with the purpose of informing them of the mistakes they may

have been making so that they can use that information to improve their advertising in the future.

The blog appeals to different aspects of marketing, such as social media, logos, and customer

relations, presenting a wide array of issues within the discourse. Ethos is present in the artifact,

in the way that the author has a credible background in marketing - not only has she worked in

the field, but she specifically helped manage communication between marketers. Sibley also

utilizes logos by explaining in detail the reasoning behind why the mistakes presented in the blog

post are so critical. It is organized in a list format, presenting first an umbrella description of the

mistake that is made, and then delving deeper into the mistake with a logical explanation of why

it is a problem. This makes it easy for marketers reading the blog to understand what the

problem is, and why it is a problem. The tone of the artifact is critical, as it lays out the mistakes

that have been made. The author is straight to the point, and she does not stray from talk of

mistakes that are made and how to fix them. It is an extremely formal post, as it is professional

advice being transferred from one professional in the field to another. This differs from the

previous artifact, which utilized more informal aspects such as swearing. However, the use of

informal and formal tones prove to be useful in different ways, as the use of informality within

the Nature Rx commercial appeals to its audience by telling them not to take things too seriously.
Conversely, in Sibley’s blog post, the use of strictly formal language portrays that she means

business and intends to stay professional in her discussion of marketing mistakes. Overall,

Sibley utilizes the medium of a blog post to communicate with other marketers in the field on the

topic of trouble conveying ideas to consumers.

In order to convince somebody to buy something, one must successfully express

compelling reasons for doing so. However, in order to do this, marketers must also communicate

with one another in order to master the art of convincing. It is often said that “teamwork makes

the dream work,” and marketers must work together to determine the most effective way of

executing their jobs. There are many different mediums and formats in which to do this. Nature

Rx’s marketers found it most effective to communicate these issues through the form of a

commercial, taking on an informal tone and appealing to viewers' sense of humor. However, the

commercial serves as a criticism to other marketers, lending an idea as to what they might be

doing wrong. Its informal take and humorous tone lighten the mood, perhaps in an attempt to

make it easier for viewers to take and learn from the criticism. Amanda Sibley, a figure in the

marketing discourse community, instead opted to take a more formal approach, writing a blog

post laying out the mistakes that are commonly made when advertising to consumers. Her blog

clearly and concisely lays out issues that marketers struggle with, allowing those who read her

work to potentially improve in their field of discourse in the future. Both prove to be effective at

getting their point across, despite the fact that they are orchestrated differently. While

businesses are all competing for money from the population, they must work as a community to

share ideas. Criticism proves to be a very important form of communication, as it points out

mistakes to avoid in the future when attempting to sell a product and be as successful as possible
in the field of marketing. Whether it is through a TV commercial or a blog post, marketers

communicate with one another every day through many different mediums.

Works Cited

"Nature Rx Part 1." ​Youtube,​ uploaded by Nature Rx, 4 Aug. 2015,

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bf5TgVRGND4&feature=emb_title. Accessed 1 Nov.

2020.

Sibley, Amanda. "8 of the Biggest Marketing Mistakes We've Ever Seen." ​HubSpot​, 28 Nov.

2017,

blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/33396/8-of-the-biggest-marketing-faux-pas-of-all-

time.aspx. Accessed 1 Nov. 2020.