Textual Analysis: Fiji Water Advertisement

Rachel B
12 October 2013
Fiji Water Advertisement People tend to trust what they see, but will that get them sucked into being manipulated by the advertisement world? What people see, is not always how it looks. Advertisers are not typically here to help, they have one goal; to sell their product and make some money off of their audience. Everyone at some point decides which advertiser to trust, and they do that through what the advertiser says. Face it, how many people really go and look up background information on the internet about their juice and water? In this Fiji print advertisement, they manipulate a person’s environmental guilt through playing the person’s emotions, and making the advertisement itself seem trustworthy. As a person
The first thing to deceive the consumer is what the advertisers can do through pathos. Pathos has to do with how the advertiser is able to affect our passions and emotions. On the print advertisement it says that the consumer’s FUI water purchase helps reduce carbon emissions, and protect Fiji rainforest. That statement makes someone feel empowered, like they alone can make a difference to society and the environment. While feeling that slight empowerment, they tone it down with a simple water drop in the background. That single water drop is not only having a clean, pure sense, but also a symbolization of how a single thing can make a difference. That one elegant water drop made all those ripples alone, so the consumer feels they should be able to make a difference alone as well, by buying the Fiji water. That water drop is a mixture of emotions. While it is clean, pure and graceful, it is also touching back on
Logos is anything that provides us with facts, logical conclusions, or some deductive reasoning. An example on this print advertisement is how it says you can reduce carbon emissions. The writing in this advertisement is clear saying “Your FUI water purchase helps reduce carbon emissions and protect the Fijian Rainforest.” It does not tell us what exactly carbon emissions are, or how they are bad, but they make it sound like they have to be bad. Also, when it says to the audience that their purchase of this FUI water bottle can help with reducing carbon emissions, it does not say the consumer can get rid of them completely. When thinking about this, a consumer must think what if they are really only reducing it by a fraction of a percent? If that is true, than what is the real point of buying it? The advertisement also says that the purchase of this FUI product will help with protecting the Fijian rainforest. Why save Fiji? Why not save where the consumer lives? The consumer is not likely to go searching the internet to see how and if Fiji rainforest are actually being helped. The next thing on this advertisement is it says every drop is green, as in every drop is eco-friendly. But does that mean that it is untouched by man, making it unpurified and gross for the consumer? When the consumer takes that question into account, they may begin to think twice about their FUI water purchase. The Fiji