Volkswagen Passat
– The Force
This advertisement contains the
following features:
- Real Time
- Repetition
- Dramatic Action – The whole advert is centralised round a spoof of Darth Vader, one of the most popular and well known film characters, from the epic Star Wars franchise. The story in the advert is of a small boy dressed in a Darth Vader costume and is trying to use the force (an ever present energy which is fundamental to the nature of the world and life forms in the fictional Star Wars universe) in order to manipulate things around his house. He is unsuccessful until his father arrives and he tries to use the force on his car. The boy’s father locks the car using his key, which makes the boy think he did it.
- Demonstrative Action – The car is briefly shown being driven, and its key based locking system is shown. The advert mostly focuses on the dramatic action.
- Music & Sound – The use of music is effective in supporting the dramatic action, but also to assist the Darth Vader mimicry. Darth Vader’s theme music, also known as The Imperial March plays throughout the advertisement, even at the end of the action where the product name, price and company logo appear. The only diagetic sounds we hear are the plate sliding across the table, the dog barking, the car door shutting, and the car engine. We hear the sound of a Lightsaber (fictional weapon from Star Wars) being drawn as the logo appears.
This advertisement is a
dramatization which is focused around a parody of Darth Vader. The plot is of
the by failing in his attempts to use the force until his father uses one of
the features in his car to make him believe that he was able to use the power
of the force.
By using Star Wars as basis, this
advert is able to appeal to people of all ages. The main character is a child
which will allow them to connect more, but overall the advertisement is aimed
at adults and the older generation. Star Wars appeals much more to men than to
women and so this advert targets males. The story incorporated in the advert
shows that the target audience would be people with children, as the dad uses
the car to make his child happy. This advert will allow Volkswagen to appeal to
the masses as there are millions of Star Wars fans and this advert will appeal
to them.
The advert puts forth the idea
that fathers need this car, not only because it looks appealing, but because it
will help them make their children happy. The advert has the underlying tone of
the man being a fun and loving father. The performance by the small boy is what
makes this evident. He seems fixated and focused with his tense movements and
gestures, and he hangs his head showing his disappointment every time he fails.
Once the car is locked he makes his surprise and elation evident through his
body language.
Kids are represented positively as they are shown to be gullible, playful and imaginative. The father seems to be in his thirties and he is shown in a positive light as he tries to make his son happy by making him think he can use the force.
As a character, Darth Vader is
serious, and to show such a fearsome and powerful villain in such a comic light
gives this advert a humorous tone. At the end of the advert the father gestures
to the mother, the audience feel involved in the story, they know what really
happened whereas the boy doesn’t, and this makes the advert feel more informal.
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