Jeremy Keen

English 100 A

Analysis of a video text

1/21/10

Chevys America

In my search for a commercial or video text of any kind to use for this paper it was hard to find any with a positive moral center. When viewing individual commercials, or even two or three in a row I didn’t fully see the enormity of the sex sells issue. I went through thirty or forty videos to find a few with a moral compass of any kind. The video text I chose today is a 1994 Chevrolet commercial "Genuine Chevrolet". http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a4WEOtPgTLY It opens with a the silhouette of children playing on a hill in front of an older style truck, with the dying light of a sunset behind them. Cuts to young boys at an auto show starring in wonder at a gleaming white 50’s Corvette revolving on a pedestal. Then the next scene shows two older teenage boys entering a garage, excited with the prospect of their first car. The short film clips continue on, showing different stages of life and different happy occasions, always keeping a Chevrolet vehicle in the shot. Mean while the voice over tells us whether we’ve thought about it or not we’ve probably had a Chevy in our life. The announcer goes on to tell us about the safety and reliability of their vehicles and their promise to always to be there in the future.

The ad starts with trying to relate with our individual pasts and find a link with each of us on a personal level. Wanting you to search your thoughts and memories to find those special occasions when a Chevy was part of the experience, using our nostalgia to try to make a connection with us. Then moves on to mention a possible dream car and shows a man driving a corvette. Now trying to shift our focus to a desire for a Chevy and tell us it’s all about finding a car you can love. Throughout the commercial Chevy is trying to “remind” you it is part of your way of life and the countries. The way the information is presented is very well produced. It was able to make me reminisce about my first car, an old Impala, the boat I learned to drive in. By pointing out so many occasions when someone may have had a Chevy around it did make me remember Chevy’s in my past. The only cultural issue was that there were only white men, women and children represented in the commercial. Never the less I was impressed by the way Chevrolet made me feel it is part of my life.