Unseen Text: Chevrolet Volt

Text Type: Print Advert

Guiding Question: How do elements of this advert combine to create a persuasive appeal for the viewer?

Paper 1 will consist of two texts: if you are a standard level candidate, you can choose which text you would like to analyse; higher level students must write about both. One text is likely to be mostly verbal (lots of words); the other will be a multi-modal text relying on images to communicate meaning. Some images are presented in such a way that they tell a story or create a visual narrative. Your ability to retell this story demonstrates ‘understanding’ (criteria A), while your ability to isolate specific visual elements and explain how they create meaning demonstrates ‘analysis’ (criteria B). Being able to do this in a logical, structured way demonstrates ‘focus and organisation’ (criteria C). The sample answer below has been designed to show you how to achieve full marks in all these criteria. As with any sample answer, this is only one of many ways you might succeed, and alternative approaches can be equally valid.

Sample Response

The given text is an advert for a new Chevrolet car with a difference – it’s an electric car. Chevrolet is a famous American car manufacturer and, in a nation of gas-guzzlers, the ad is hoping to appeal to those drivers who might think twice about the impact of burning petrol on the environment. While aimed at a general American readership, the ad is likely to appeal especially to progressive drivers who care about the environment and want to contribute through making changes in lifestyle and purchasing. The ad emphasises the car’s selling points of power and modernity, its sustainable credentials, and appeals to consumers’ wider desires for autonomy and even the patriotism of an American consumer.

The advert’s composite visuals feature a prominent image of the car in the lower right hand side of the frame which emphasises its sleek modern appeal and implies the power and speed of the car. The car is angled diagonally, seeming to thrust itself out of the text and into the viewer’s eye. This 3D effect implies the size and power of the car in a way that should appeal to car lovers, especially through the mildly phallic suggestions of masculinity in the car’s shape and size. The car is silver, a colour that can symbolise money, as if the car can bring status to the buyer. The lines of the car are sleek and clean, it looks modern and desirable. The image contrasts with the black background in a visually appealing way that stands out and grabs attention. The only detail that is different to typical images of big, powerful cars is the charging cable that hangs out of where the fuel tank should be. The ad-writers are hoping to persuade the reader that this is the only meaningful difference between electric and standard car models; therefore, an electric car can be a status symbol too. Overall, the image of the car is sleek, clean, and implies the same speed and power as traditional petrol cars, challenging the narrative that electric cars are inadequate for drivers who like the feeling of speed when they drive.

In addition to power, the ad appeals to the consumer’s desire to make more sustainable purchasing choices when buying a new car. Juxtaposed against the car on the left side of the page is a background image of the Earth cupped in a pair of hands. This image symbolises protectiveness: therefore, anyone who buys a Chevrolet Volt is helping to protect the Earth. Ideas such as ‘eco-friendly’ and ‘caring’ are also signified by this image, especially through the colour scheme of green and blue signifying the natural world. In order to anchor the image, the slogan is superimposed over the Earth: ‘Charge the battery. Change the world.’ The slogan implies an ‘if.. then..’ structure: if you buy the car, then you are helping to protect the environment. By eliding the grammar words ‘if’ and ‘then’, the slogan becomes an imperative, which is more persuasive. The ability to ‘change the world’ appeals to the consumer’s need for autonomy as the advert implies a choice in purchasing behaviour: choose this electric model over a traditional petrol car and take the power to help change the world into your own hands.

Bridging the divide between the car’s power and it’s environmental credibility is the most prominent and striking feature of the ad: a stylised lightning bolt. This graphic denotes electricity, which is an important feature of the product; however, the bolt is stylised to suggest that nature can be a source of power in itself. The bolt is jagged and powerful, so impressions of power and nature are both associated with the car. The position of the lightning so close to the logo and brand name suggest the makers want to build brand awareness, so consumers always associate the Chevy Volt with this kind of powerful emotion. The colour scheme of the logo is gold and blue, both eye-catching colours. Again, gold can connote ideas such as wealth, class and status. Blue signifies electricity which is the dominant idea in the text. The name of the car is a pun: ‘Volt’ is short for ‘voltage’, connoting electrical power. Additionally, the lightning bolt forms a vector or ‘leading line’, guiding the viewer’s eye towards the car in the bottom right, ensuring that ideas of power and environmentalism are intertwined in the eyes of the viewer.

Finally, the ad leverages the innovative and progressive features of a new electric model into an appeal to an American viewer’s patriotism. This is primarily achieved through the phrase‘American Revolution’ in the brand slogan. For an American viewer, the American Revolution was a formative event in the country’s history, an allusion the ad designers tap into through the red stripe design of the E that associates with the American flag. The word ‘revolutionary’ is repeated in the copy, driving this association home. It combines with other words such as ‘innovations’ and ‘radical departure’, implying the story of American independence, innovation, and development is symbolised in the form of the car. When published in 2007 the electric car revolution was not as widespread as it is today when there are Tesla cars in every street and charging points in every lay-by. Therefore, the writers of the ad may have felt they were beginning a wave of change. By giving their consumers the chance to be part of this change, they appeal to the deep-rooted desire for autonomy: choose to purchase this car, choose to ‘charge the battery’ and you can ‘change the world’ – a powerful and persuasive claim indeed.