George Koch
October 27, 2004

Client: McNeil Nutritionals

Brand Name/Product: Splenda No-Calorie Sweetener

Television Program: “Good Eats”

Television Channel: Food Network

SFX/VOCAL: Spoons clinking against cups; newspaper rustling; a girl’s giggle

MUSIC: Muffled piano (pensive, "nostalgic"-sounding)
 

OPEN ON A LITTLE GIRL, HER FATHER AND MOTHER SITTING AT THE KITCHEN TABLE. THE GIRL CLIMBS ONTO HER FATHER’S LAP (vocal SFX) WHILE HE IS POURING CREAMER INTO A CUP OF COFFEE. THE GIRL TAKES THE BOX OF SPLENDA ON THE TABLE AND POURS SOME “SUGAR” INTO THE COFFEE. WE SLOWLY ZOOM IN ON THE SWIRLING COFFEE, GRADUALLY GETTING LIGHTER AS THE FATHER STIRS IT, UNTIL THE NOW-MEDIUM BROWN LIQUID FILLS THE FRAME UNTIL:
 

SFX/VOCAL: Dog barking; garbled (nonsense) voice of boy

MUSIC: Same

WE PULL BACK FROM THE BROWN, ONLY TO SEE THAT INSTEAD OF ZOOMING AWAY FROM A CUP OF COFFEE, THE BROWN IS A PATCH OF COLOR ON THE COAT OF A MODEST-SIZED DOG. THE DOG IS IN ANOTHER KITCHEN WITH A BOY. IN THE BG WE CAN SEE COOKING INGREDIENTS, INCLUDING A BOX OF SPLENDA. THE BOY TEASES THE DOG, WAVING A SMALL COOKIE IN FRONT OF HIM. THE DOG WAGS HIS TAIL AND BARKS (SFX). FINALLY THE BOY TOSSES THE COOKIE FOR THE DOG AND BEGINS CALLING TO HIM (vocal SFX). FROM THE DOG’S P.O.V. WE WATCH THE COOKIE GO FLYING OVERHEAD WHILE THE ANIMAL RUNS FOR IT. STILL FROM THE DOG’S P.O.V., LOOKING DOWN AT THE COOKIE, WE ZOOM IN TO XCU ON ONE OF THE CHOCOLATE CHIPS AS THE DOG IS ABOUT TO PICK UP THE COOKIE IN ITS MOUTH. AGAIN THE MEDIUM BROWN FILLS THE FRAME UNTIL:

SFX/VOCAL: Liquid pouring; a woman’s voice (affected)
MUSIC: Softer piano music (but more upbeat)
 

WE GRADUALLY PULL BACK AGAIN. THE BROWN IS REVEALED TO BE THE UNKEMPT HAIR OF ANOTHER GIRL, SITTING IN HER BEDROOM AT WITH HER MOTHER AND DOLLS FOR A “TEA PARTY.” THE GIRL HAS CUPS OF TEA AT A SMALL TABLE, ALONG WITH PIECES OF CAKE. THE GIRL’S HAIR HAS A SMALL CLUMP OF FROSTING IN IT. THE GIRL IS GIVING FOOD TO HER “GUESTS” AND SAYING SOMETHING (inaudible). THE MOTHER PUTS ONE HAND BEHIND THE NECK OF A TOY BEAR AND PRETENDS TO BE ITS “VOICE” (vocal SFX). HER VOICE IS AUDIBLE BUT INDISTINCT. THE GIRL POURS TEA (SFX) AND THEN DUMPS IN SOME SWEETENER FROM A SPLENDA PACKET. WE SLOWLY ZOOM IN ON ONE OF THE TEDDY’S GLASSY BROWN EYES, AS THE REST OF THE SCENE PROGRESSIVELY BLURS. THE BROWN EYE ITSELF FADES AWAY AS THE TINY BLACK DOT IN THE CENTER COMES INTO FOCUS AND FILLS THE FRAME.
 

WITH THE SCENE REMAINING BLACK, CUT TO: 

TITLE CARD: SPLENDA (INC. WHITE TEXT & SPLENDA BOX)

SPLIT-SCREEN SEQUENCE: THE SPLENDA BOX IS “PUSHED” TO THE BOTTOM-RIGHT CORNER AS THE TITLE CARD DIVIDES INTO FOUR SMALLER ONES. IN EACH OF THE OTHER THREE BOXES WE SEE A MONTAGE OF THE ABOVE SCENES PLAYING IN SILENT SLO-MO.
 

FEMALE ANNOUNCER: Sweet, natural, sentimental. And Splenda is, too. (product’s tag) “Think sugar, say Splenda.” Childhood... the moments that you’ll remember.

LITTLE GIRL: (whisper) Splenda.
 

Audience analysis: The rationale for saying that I’d put this on the Food Network is, in part, because it’s a perfect fit for a cooking channel. But there’s more to it than that; I’m considering the people who’d watch the channel. Granted, I watch it, and so does everyone else in the family, but Mom watches it more than anyone else. I’ve seen a handful of Splenda commercials on various networks. Splenda commercials, I think, try to appeal to mothers as the chief demographic. It may sound stereotypical, but it seems that a lot of women--mothers included--like to see a commercial that associates emotion with a product. In other words, women are the main target because of what the ad tries to “sell” (like sentimentality). And I targeted an evening show, like “Good Eats,” because a lot of women tend to be at home (and free to relax) more during the evening than during the day.
 

Appeals: Like the “real” Splenda commercials out there, this one is a real ethos-pathos ad. Almost completely devoid of a tangible selling point (it gives very little info on the actual product), it instead sells feelings of sentimentality, nostalgia and the like. It tries to associate these with the commercial. I discussed this sort of appeal in another Communications class where I was doing advertisement analysis. Splenda tries to sell the idea of “Splenda to replace sugar in the bowls -- not to mention hearts and minds -- of mothers.”
 

Steps of Persuasion: This is sort of what was covered above except the advertisement as I wrote it doesn’t really go through steps per se. It’s more of just a sequence of three scenes, each of which depicts something “cute” kids might do. There’s that unifying theme, but each segment isn’t really related. We transition from each bit to the next by zooming in on something (a brown-colored patch/area on a person or object), as if we’re being pulled into it, but when we pull out again, that brown is part of something or someone else, instead. Finally, going to the black title card simply involves zooming into a black instead of a brown. The only narration takes place then. It verbally restates the emotions being sold to us.
 

As for the audio aspect, it is kept to a minimum to remain unobtrusive (this is supposed to be reminiscing, after all) and having people talk would just dilute the message as though people needed to hear the words or have something explained to them. The sound effects are just simple, quiet ones (the dog’s bark being the exception, perhaps). In the case of the dog’s-P.O.V. shot, the boy speaks in garbled language because that’s what the dog would hear; he doesn’t understand “human-speak.” When the Mom pretends to be her daughter’s toy bear, she changes her voice but we keep it indistinct so that the scene stays true-to-form; we don’t want details in this ad. It’s just the fond memory that would be important to the parent, not the details.