The New Volvo Xc60 Audience Analysis

With consumer culture’s presence becoming increasingly influential today, exposure to advertisements for products have become something we regularly experience and not realise. To improve sales and the image of the product, many companies have implemented techniques in advertisements to increase the perceived authenticity of the product. In Volvo Cars’ “The New Volvo XC60 – Moments” advertisement, the advertisement follows a young girl as she leaves home for her first day of school, showing glimpses of her potential future, from growing up, making friends to travelling the world and having a family. In another location, a woman is leaving home on the way to work, later revealed to be driving with distractions. These hopeful glimpses into the
As the advertisement progresses, the flashes between the girl’s imagination and the scenes involving the driver of the Volvo XC60 become increasingly frequent as it is revealed to us that the two are converging storylines. These increasingly rapid flashes between the two are cut abruptly as little girl starts to walk across the street, crossing in front of the distracted driver of the Volvo XC60. With the abrupt stop of the car and the little girl stopping mid-sentence, the sudden silence at the black background is used to create a disturbing feeling, leaving the audience questioning if that little girl was involved in a fatal car accident. The possibility of death in an advertisement is used to increase the authenticity by suggesting that the characters in the advertisement are as vulnerable as regular people (Goldman & Papson, 1996, p 181). Revealing that the little girl was unharmed due to the Volvo XC60’s safety feature bringing the vehicle to an emergency stop, the advertisement demonstrates how the vehicle’s new safety features saved the