Gambling with Gingivitis

Westley Frederick

Ms. Costa

Composition II

May 2, 2024

Gambling with Gingivitis

Crest, one of the most popular brands in toothpaste and dental care, has the troublesome task of persuading consumers to buy their toothpaste over any other identical products advertised to consumers. Last year, Crest spent under 100 million dollars on print, digital, and national television advertising. Most dental care companies are notoriously known for their "9 out of 10 dentists recommend" ads, and Crest is no stranger to settling with that approach; however, in 1987, Crest published the print ad in question. It features gratuitous appeals to rhetoric beyond ethos and takes an avant-garde presence from Crest's past coalition of marketing. Crest uses harsh lighting, a somber tone, and a purposeful ad layout to goad their audience into worrying about the fragility and pricelessness of their teeth while suggesting that Crest toothpaste is the best solution for these problems.

Crest uses a threatening and harsh spotlight at the top of the scene to create a sense of urgency and concern for the audience while keeping the bottom soft and brightly lit to make positive associations with the product. The bleak atmosphere of the ad draws the spectator's attention to the contrasting teeth and their shadows. The ad screams murder scene before any copy meets the viewer's eyes, easing the audience into an uncomfortable feeling. The lighting creates as much shadow against the teeth without protruding on the copy. The lighting also creates glare on the black dots in the teeth, which resemble cavities. The message they push with the lighting is the uncertainty that comes with dental care and to enforce disquietude for the likelihood of cavities. The harsh lighting softens near the bottom of the ad to keep the copy and image of toothpaste well-lit. The intentional easing of the lighting engenders a hopeful feeling that Crest wants people to connect with their toothpaste. All of the lighting work put in makes appeals to pathos and takes advantage of fears fostered in the spectator's emotions. The lighting feeds into the idea that the viewer does not want to get a cavity and that Crest has the remedy they need.

Crest's manipulation of tone traps the spectator into a dour mood that Crest can use to soften up when mentioning their toothpaste, making appeals to pathos. Crest uses the copy, "There are some things you just can't afford to gamble with," to correlate poor dental care with gambling excessive amounts of money. They purposely keep the sentence, "When you get a cavity, there's no second chance," ambiguous to make the viewer feel uncertain. The marketing team dramatizes their language to keep the audience engaged. They speak as if everything they say is factual to make appeals to logos without fully explaining why it is true. As the copy progresses, they pull back from their melancholic tone to a softer, hopeful tone. They list that "Crest has prevented 523 million cavities since its introduction in 1955" to make appeals to logos despite the unlikeliness that Crest truly knows that number. They end their copy with a bittersweet remark for a final hint of obscurity: "There are, of course, no sure things in your battle against cavities, but at least Crest puts the odds in your favor." Crest's usage of tone sways the spectator into a slightly paranoid emotion without damaging the image of Crest's toothpaste.

Crest uses a purposeful layout to direct the audience's associations to the objects they want them to, negative emotions to cavities, and pleasant ones to Crest toothpaste. Splitting the advertisement into three sections yields the main image and bold copy in the center, the bottom-left section of the copy, and the bottom-right copy accompanied by a picture of the product. Starting with the main image, Crest keeps the harsh lighting contained only to this section to increase the discomfort of what should be the first thing the viewer sees. The bottom-right section solidifies the reposed fear issued by the first image by accentuating the saliency of dental care. The final section softens the tone and increases the reassurance to make the image beside the text appear soothing. Crest splits the advertisement layout to manipulate the audience's mood for buying Crest toothpaste.

Crest's attention to persuading the spectator's emotions via the lighting, the drab environment it sets, and its subconscious layout design all complement each other, correlating the sensations Crest feels will bolster its sales the most. At first glance, some may view the ad as a humorous pun; however, the ad belies a greater meaning regarding the lax scrutiny of our valuable teeth.