Halftime in America Chrysler Ad feat. Clint Eastwood

For this blog, I have decided to cover the many persuasive techniques utilized in the “It’s Halftime In America” Chrysler commercial featuring Clint Eastwood. This commercial was one of the many commercials of Superbowl XLVI. Though there were approximately 70 new commercials aired during that one night alone, this one managed to stay on top of the game for many reasons. Its appeal to pathos, use of repetition and parallelism, and its appeal to ethos, are just a few of the many persuasive techniques used that really make the reader feel the speech, and not just hear it. This advertisement focuses on us as individuals, as well as a country as a whole. As this commercial makes the viewer well aware, some very hard times have befallen our great nation. For many, as each day passes, it becomes harder and harder to get by. The speaker points out that Detroit has come a long way in the car industry, as well as a city as a whole, in spite of the recent economic downfall. He follows up by saying that, “If Detroit can do it, so can we”. The way in which this speech is worded makes the reader really absorb the message and feel a personal duty of sorts when it comes to digging ourselves out of this hole. Mr. Eastwood also heavily uses repetition in order to bring us together as a nation, as well as to make the reader aware that these troubles are affecting all of us. He does this by reusing the words “we” or “our” for a total of 17 times in a speech, which in total is only 247 words long. By doing so, Mr. Eastwood establishes a sense of community and ultimately brings us together so that we can fight our troubles face to face, because after all, “This country can’t be knocked out with one punch. We get right back up again and when we do the world’s going to hear the roar of our engines.Yeah, it’s halftime America and our second half is about to begin.”