Rosser Reeves vs. Song Airlines

Rosser Reeves employed some pretty crafty tactics for the Dwight Eisenhower presidential ad campaign. In these ads, Eisenhower was painted as a strong leader with loads of experience in all the right places. However, he was also your average American, just like you and me with humble roots in Abilene. All these characteristics combined create one patriotic, intelligent, and trustworthy President of the United States. The Rosser Reeves ads definitely trended an ethos delivery method. One ad in particular initially mentions Eisenhower's hometown in the heartland of America and then goes on to list his accomplishments as a General during WWII. Even the silly cartoon with the exceptionally catchy, catchphrase, "I like Ike" built up the character of the presidential contender as all the cartoon people sing his praises. Rosser Reeves created some pretty brilliant ads that really built on the credibility of the former General and the future President.


Artwork Credit: Cliff1066

Song Airlines chose to employ a pathos delivery method for their ad as seen from The Persuaders video in class. This one features a handful of visibly happy people running around in a beautiful meadow. Rather than trying to explicitly show why anyone should choose to fly on Song Airlines, this ad focuses on an emotional appeal that says "See all these happy people? Fly with us... We'll make you happy too!" I get what this ad was trying to do, but I think it was a little too goofy and abstract to be as effective as the advertisers had hoped.


Photo Credit: Bill Abbott / wbaiv

Both ad campaigns were quite different from one another. Song Airlines chose to design a television commercial that leaned on a pathos delivery method, while Rosser Reeves chose to run an ad campaign with an ethos approach. I definitely think for the times, Rosser Reeves created a much more successful ad campaign for President Dwight Eisenhower than Song Airlines' fanciful flop.