A Rhetorical Analysis Of Under Armour

Under Armour is one of the world’s leading producers of athletic apparel. Their slogan, “I will protect this house” was greatly popular in the early 2000s. In the year 2008, the brand aired a commercial titled, “Protect This House: I will” which features world class athletes such as Michael Phelps, Brandon Jennings and Georges St. Pierre. The commercial gave a sneak peek in to how these champions train, overcome challenges and failures in order to achieve greatness, of course, with the help of Under Armour products. The commercial begins with a wall that has the words, “This is Combine Training” and continues to shows video clips of various workouts and other types of training while the song “I Will” plays in the background. Halfway through Michael Phelps fails at climbing the pegboard, fighter Georges St. Pierre fails in a match and Brandon Jennings get pushed on to the floor of the basketball court by his opponent. Fast forward to the end of the commercial, and they all overcome these obstacles. Throughout the whole commercial, glimpses of the Under Armour logo can be seen on their
By looking at this specific advertisement and many other similar advertisements, I would say that their target audience area athletes, specifically male athletes. The product placement of Under Armour shoes, shirts associated with these athletes make the rhetorical use of the logo effective. By situating all three men in competitive environments, Under Armour is providing their target audience with a sense of ethos, which makes them appear to be credible to the audience. Athletes are always looking to improve their performance and by focusing the advertisement on male athletes who have achieved greatness, the target audience will be easily persuaded to believe that Under Armour will help them become stronger, faster, and overall better