The Truth about Automobile Advertising In the three advertisements, each has similar qualities; including images, headlines, and information about the cars but they do have one thing in common: to try and draw the audience in buying the car. Advertising cars can have a great impact on the general public, because of the visual and emotional aspects of the ads; however the intended aspects are not always well-intended and can have misleading perspectives.

The 2012 Mercedes-Benz M-Class (ML 350) is a Sport Utility Vehicle (SUV) which looks really attractive with the chrome wheels, the chrome grille, and the sporty looking headlights. It also includes a Quick Mark on the left side of the ad that looks like a barcode. This could give the people with android phones, the flexibility to scan the quick mark and look up the information online without having to go into the dealership. This can be a positive plus for people who have busy lives. The ad has a headline that says, “Protector of the young and innocent. This headline is sure to try and attract families because the young and the innocent imply our children. The wording underneath implies that it’s possible that the M-Class is the advanced SUV in the world which will have an emotional effect on the audience because the people want the best, especially if they have children. In the people’s mind, they want a car that can protect them and the children. This ad provides that comforting feeling with wordings like, “check blind spots, scan the road for trouble ahead, and alert you if it detects that you are drowsy. It will make people think that the car is a “smart car” that it can do anything and would want it just based on the wordings. However, the ad can be misleading according to “Unfinished Words” by William Lutz. In the first few wordings, it says, “Unfinished words are a kind of “up to” claim in advertising. ” (405) and “Unfinished words depend on you to finish them to provide the words the advertisers so thoughtfully left out of the ad. ” (406) The ad has those visual and emotional wordings, however they left out some important things or put them in very small words, which most people are not likely to look at.

In the bottom of the ad, it says optional equipment. Therefore, if you want the features, you will have to pay more for it. That is actually misleading people because the ad makes it sound like everything is included, when it is not. The 2011 Kia Optima Hybrid is a mid-size sedan that has a not so attractive image; however the wordings of the advertisement do pick up the image. The first thing you see is the headline that says “Easy on the fuel. Heavy on the adrenaline. ” This headline will attract people who are in the economical picking type.

This shows that this car has a lot of power (206 horsepower, to be exact) and it is easy on the gas with 40 miles per gallon which is incredible to a lot of people especially if you compare it to the Toyota Prius which is the all-leading hybrid on the market. It also includes some features that can apply to the emotional aspect by including standard push-start button which decrease the necessity of keys, Bluetooth which is very popular among the audience right now especially with the enforcing of the cell-phone laws, which prohibits cell phone use in the car, while driving unless you are using a hands-free set.

This can be attractive to people who like to talk on the phone while driving. Comparing this to the Mercedes-Benz, this car is more economical because they promise the audience one thing: “the industry’s most advanced lithium polymer batteries”. However, like the Mercedes-Benz, there are some misleading aspects of this advertisement. This also has small wordings on the bottom which can be ignored by the consumers. Some include “average miles per gallon”, “currently only available to some states”, and “Bluetooth wireless cell phone must be used to use Bluetooth”.

Those wordings, if put in the ad, could turn off some people because it’s more of a doublespeak and edited to draw in the audience. Lutz said on page 410, “The best ways advertisers can make something out of nothing is through words. ” As I said before, if the wording on the bottom were put in the ad, it would turn off some people because the company doesn’t want them to think that way but try to put the truth in some way. This is to trigger a specific response, according to Charles O’Neill on p. 413. They want the audience to be able to see the ad without “thinking too much”.

The 2011 Dodge Journey is also a Sport Utility Vehicle (SUV) have more visual aspects than emotional aspects unlike the other two, who rely more on the emotional aspect than the visual aspect. The ad does have a shiny black SUV with chrome wheels and flashy taillights. This SUV is different than the other two by it is showing the rear aspect while we see the front aspect of the cars in the other two ads. It is not trying to emphasize the beauty of the car; the ad is trying to help people to remember that a lot of words are just talk. They used the headline “Who said “Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff Doesn’t Work Here”.

The headline is attracting people by their image of telling people that small things are also important just as the big things. One major difference I see is that the advertisement don’t have small wording like the other two which I believe is to try to make the people to see the blunt side. They put what the car will have and what it will provide the audience. It is very stream-lined. This will appeal the audience by getting them to see the big picture at once while the other two, there are small pictures that makes into 1 big picture.

This is to show us that their SUV differs than the other ads, according to O’Neill. He said, “Advertisers present information intended to show us that their product fills a need and differs from the competition. ” (415) This applies to this ad by showing that their ad is different than the other two ads. One other difference that I see is that they don’t have any misleading information because their ad is so streamlined, there’s no room for misunderstandings. The three ads have many things in common according to the visual and emotional aspects by getting the audience attracted to the advertisements.

That is the purpose of automobile advertisements: to give people what they want and the ability of the aspects to convince us to purchase the automobile. However, the misleading perspectives also give the audience the thought: “Will this product actually deliver the results like they led us to believe in the advertisement? ” This will help the audience to see what the company’s well-intentions for them are because advertising automobiles has a great impact on the general public.