Digital Ads: Heckling Spike vs. Pop Chips

 Let's take a look at two digital ads!

First up: Heckling Spike, a video ad for the Capital One Quicksilver credit card from March of 2023.

Here we have Samuel L. Jackson, Charles Barkley, and Magic Johnson sitting front row at a basketball game (which they got 1.5% cash back on tickets, because of their Quicksilver credit card) and they're having a good time roasting their colleague, Spike Lee, as he tries to referee the game. Notice the ad was released during the month of March, so as to appeal to the audience gearing up for March Madness. 

The audience is not bludgeoned with heavy mentions of the product (the credit card). Samuel L Jackon mentions it once at the beginning, and then you get the tag line at the end -- "What's in YOUR wallet?"

The vibe is chill, informal, relaxed, and funny. You feel like you're part of the exciting, cultural moment, just having fun. The brand message is that having a credit card makes it easy and uncomplicated to be part of these moments, and instead lets any "hassling" be the fun kind. The appeal is two fold -- first and foremost, the ethos appeal lies in the reliance on the use of Spike Lee, Samuel L. Jackson, and Magic Johnson to lend credibility to the product. The context of the live basketball game brings to mind the excitement and high energy typically associated with sports events, and coupled with the humorous roasting of Spike Lee, we see a strong reliance on pathos as well. 

Now let's look at a print ad from Pop Chips that relies more on logos principles:

Here we have a lot of information to sell us on the idea that pop chips are the best option. First, in humongous font, we see "100 calories!" which tells us that the primary message is that this is a safe snack to eat without feeling like you're going to risk overeating.  In fact, that '100' is so big, you pretty much get that fact drilled into your brain before you even process the tagline -- "less guilty, more pleasure."  Then we get the visual of the pop chips stacked up next to two competing snack chips: fried chips and kettle style chips. Each stack, says the ad, equals 100 calories. And since the stack of pop chips is nearly twice as tall as the other two, the choice is obvious -- you're definitely going to want to eat the larger stack. Then, as if that wasn't enough logos for you, there's also a bit of nutritional information underneath each stack! The pop chips have less fat, and...yeah, I'm already sold. I don't care that the carb level is higher -- to be honest, you had me at getting to eat the larger stack while smugly feeling like I'm making better, healthier choices than everyone else. More like "What guilt? It's THE REST OF YOU who should feel guilty. I'm eating HEALTHY chips."