Advertising Assignment #1

                In the DirecTV commercial, “Don’t Wake Up in a Roadside Ditch,” they try to use humor to get more people to become members of their paying customers. DirecTV uses funny tactics in order to get their viewer’s attention and maybe possibly convince to want to buy their cable. That’s why they are commercials; they are trying to advertise their product for sale. DirecTV’s main target audience is people like you and me, customers who will buy what DirecTV is selling us. The commercial was very effective in getting the viewer’s attention because of the humor used. I for one definitely smiled when watching the commercial for the first time. The dramatic effect definitely gives the commercial its humor without it, it would not be as eye-catching. Their setting consists of the many places you can view this commercial such as the Internet or the television when you are waiting for your show to come back on.

                The most effective thing about the commercial is definitely the humor. Without the humor, the commercial would not catch as many people’s attention. The dramatic humor creates this life scenario that if you do not have DirecTV; this is what will happen to you. Like in this one, the character is on hold from the cable company, they get upset, blow off steam, get an eye-patch, they are tough, not tough enough and end up being in a ditch. DirecTV uses this to get their point across: Without their cable company, you will wake up in a ditch. Of course not literally, but to put yourself in the character’s shoes. It is a very funny commercial and definitely is a good advertisement to try to get more people to switch to DirecTV. With humor and amusement, DirecTV definitely knows how to make an effective advertisement, especially with the amount of commercials they have like “Don’t Wake Up in a Roadside Ditch.”

Word Count: 317

Priyanka Bhakta