It seems like commercials today are beginning to use more humor to persuade the populace to buy products. Recent examples of this can be found in advertisements for insurance companies. These companies tend to use humor in their commercials to make them memorable; if people remember an advertisement because it was funny they may buy the product or be interested in using a certain insurance company. State Farm and Farmers Insurance are two of the more recent companies to enter the humor-in-insurance-advertising game. Both provide substance to what they are attempting to sell while still using humor, logic, and each firm’s established credibility to push their products. The rhetorical appeals presented in the two chosen advertisements[1] by these companies make them stand out from each other.
The main reasons that the two advertisements are so memorable are humor and credibility. The credibility and humor together help people remember the commercial because of the way the products are presented. State Farm is widely known for their “Like a good neighbor” jingle while Farmers Insurance is popular because of their recurring use of J.K. Simmons as the Professor Nathaniel Burke character; Simmons is known for several popular movie and television roles and is very recognizable in person and voice. By using these recurring themes in their advertisements, State Farm and Farmers both implant their products on the viewers’ memories.
The Farmers commercials always show a group of insurance agents who are supposedly students at the fictional University of Farmers learning from the Professor Burke character. State Farm’s commercials almost always only show a single agent in the field, inspecting the damage to whatever the focus of the commercial is. The Farmers agents learn together and work well with each other, giving the feeling of a comfortable working environment. On the other hand, State Farm’s humor comes solely from the “average” people who are making the insurance claim and the only logic comes from the end of the commercial where the voice over explains that State Farm insurance can “save you hundreds.” In this respect, it seems to be that Farmers treats the viewers more like people actually looking for an insurance company rather than people just looking for a laugh.
The advertisements used by Farmers Insurance display more logic than those aired by State Farm. In most of State Farm’s commercials, humor turns out to be the main focus, usually centered on how people use “the jingle.” On the other hand, the Farmers Insurance advertisement shows that the company can help them avoid disasters by explaining what can happen and what choices can be made. This difference begins to show that Farmers takes a much more logical approach to their commercials than State Farm, but still retains enough humor to be memorable. Because of this, it seems that Farmers provides[2] better rhetorical persuasions for their product compared to State Farm.
One could say that that State Farm’s jingle, “Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there,” appeals to the viewers’ logic by saying that the company will always be there for them. It is meant to give a sense of trustworthiness to the viewers to that they will know that State Farm will be looking out for the customers’ interests first. On the opposite side, the jingle that Farmers Insurance uses is simply a string of onomatopoeia, sounds that are not actually words. It is catchy and easy to remember and connect with the company, but it does not give the same feeling that the State Farm jingle does. Instead the Farmers jingle expands upon the idea of the agents working together. The jingles work almost like slogans: easy to remember and mean to signify an individual company. Most slogans, however, usually evoke some kind of emotion from the viewer that will make them want to buy or at least test the product being advertised. Farmers manages to make their jingle easy to remember but fails to evoke the feeling of desire for the product.
Humor can go too far, though. A friend of mine decided to test the State Farm jingle several weeks back. He said aloud, “Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there with a million dollars.” He said he was quite upset when nothing happened. Obviously, my friend was joking and he hardly expected a State Farm agent to suddenly appear to give him a million dollars. But this does show that humor, while it can be a good way to implant an advertisement in memory, can sometimes go too far. It just so happens that going too far is all in good fun for my friend.
The opening scenes of each commercial give the viewer an all-important first impression about what each insurance firm is selling. Even though the State Farm’s advertisement begins with the main characters talking, the dialogue is unintelligible and mostly unimportant to the actual commercial; even the extended version not shown on television does not add any real importance to the opening, making longer and more uneventful. The Farmers ad begins like all of their commercials: at the fictional “University of Farmers.” Even the extended version of the State Farm commercial does not explain the opening frames, but the university opening provides a feeling of safety in trusting Farmers Insurance. The idea that anyone who works at this insurance company must attend a “college” means that they obviously value the knowledge that their workers use.
It is always important for the writers of an advertisement to know who they are aiming their product for. In the case of almost any insurance company, that audience tends to be young to middle-aged adults, particularly those with a middle-class income. Both of the chosen commercials deal with home or apartment damage. These specific advertisements would appeal more to homeowners in the same age group, likely unaffected by gender or race. While the State Farm advertisement shows the agent appearing (after the jingle) and inspecting the damage, the Farmers Insurance group observes the test demonstration going on involving water damage to a home and explain that agents should sit down with their customers to discuss what can be done to prevent this from happening and what should be done if it does.
Farmers again shows[2] a more logical approach in their advertising angle by attempting to be more personal with the potential customers. Just the fact that the agents would want to “sit down with our clients so we can get to know them” is entirely different from the agent in the State Farm commercial that seems to ignore the boys in the commercial and go about her business. Obviously, both commercials involve different situations, but the Farmers Insurance piece shows the viewer that a personal relationship is important for discussing and preventing future damage, an important issue to anyone buying home insurance.
After reviewing and analyzing both advertisements, Farmers Insurance seems to appeal to the logic of the audience more while the State Farm commercial uses humor to bring enjoyment. Since both commercials likely target a similar audience, young to middle-aged home-owners (or those leasing an apartment), it seems the Farmers Insurance commercial would be more successful in keeping the viewers’ attention and evoking a desire to purchase an insurance policy. While the State Farm advertisement would accomplish this as well, its focus on humor could possibly drive away some older viewers that would then be attracted by Farmers or another insurance agency.
