Analyzing Mixed and Visual Rhetoric for Commercial

The society plays a critical role in defining how commercials are structured and the image which they are supposed to portray. In essence, the nature of advertisements reflect not only the values that the society endear but also how it perceives its members. A typical example of an advert which exposes societal mistakes is a Chinese segment of Audi car commercial that inadvertently advances misogynist attitudes towards women. The advertisement which is available on https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UEKgxwBfw_c typifies a traditional and retrogressive culture that relegated women to the sidelines. It advances the trend in which men would make critical decisions unilaterally without the input of the women despite them being essential stakeholders of the community. In fact, the advertisement represents an entrenched tradition to which even the women targets subscribe. They are shown to be their own enemies; a role which the bridegroom's mother in the short film plays so well. The mere act of trying to compare women to non-living things undermines their enormous potential and exposes them to all manner of oppression. The Audi advertisement is not only misogynist but also retrogressive by comparing women to used vehicles and portraying them as being soft targets for offenders.

The commercial has a two-thronged expression of retrogression and misogyny which casts aspersions on its sensitivity to gender equality. First, the actions in the advert show discriminatory actions against women which just go unpunished. It would be appreciable if the crowd in the film restrained the bridegroom's mother from interrupting the occasion, but nobody seems concerned. It creates a scenario in which women are left on their own to fight for themselves even if they face a clear case of violence. Secondly, the intention for which the advert was made as a marketing strategy for the Audi cars is wrong since it unreservedly compares women to used vehicles. Morally, women are human beings just like any other person with salient rights such as the right to life. Comparing them to used cars means that they are considered to be non-living. No wonder the groom's mother is not even hesitant to treat the bride with some decorum on her wedding day.

As evident in the commercial, the bridegroom's mother does not seem to have any respect for the sister-in-law-to-be and violently conducts a check on her body as if she was inspecting an object. In essence, she has succumbed to the negative impression about women. Historically, women have been relegated to the periphery in social, political and economic spheres, a fact which has made conservatives comfortable with portraying them in demeaning aspects. From both a feminist and fair point of view, it is evident that the advertisement is not only sexist but also discriminatory against women. For a long time, many cultures considered women as being inferior to the men hence would receive adverse treatments without having an opportunity to vent their grievances. Therefore, it startles that a commercial which is intended to attract both male and female customers to buy a car blatantly sinks back to the discriminatory conceptions of women.

In the commercial, a wedding is just about to take place with the bride and groom ready for it, but the ceremony is unexpectedly interrupted by the groom's mother who forcefully inspects the sister-in-law. A celebration such as a wedding is supposed to be a joyous moment where a lady and a gentleman finally set to form a family. Both the bride and groom are supposed to be kept happy since it is their occasion. However, the violence with which the bridegroom's mother checks the bride implies that even at the moment of happiness, anyone can decide to dishonor the woman without fearing any possible reprimanded from witnesses. The advertisement flies in the face of gender equity and anti-discrimination policies which ought to reassert the incredible abilities of women in any well-ordered society. In a tolerant and civilized society, it is the role of the groom to decide which qualities he wants in a woman. It implies that by organizing a wedding, he is already convinced of her beauty. Therefore, the actions of the bridegroom's mother such as pulling the bride's nose, ears and checking her teeth testify the backwardness of the society and how they held women in low esteem. It worries that even women actively participate in progressing the oppressive culture.

Audi, just like any business or organization reserves the responsibility of adhering to the dictates of corporate social responsibility which it openly violates in the commercial. The advertisement rolls back the gains that have been made in improving the societal perception about women. Ordinarily, any reasonable person would expect the company to develop a commercial that appeals to the entire market base which includes both women and men. In essence, even if the company held a traditional impression of women, it should have considered making an acceptable advertisement just to attract the women customers as well. Therefore, being so negligent as to risk meeting higher sales volume only to advance retrogressive views of the female shows the cost which some societies can be ready to incur just to maintain the status quo of neglecting women.

The mere act of anyone becoming aggressive in his or her interaction with the other should spark resentment from the public and serve an opportunity for the society to protect the people at risk. By failing to include a section in the commercial where the groom's mother is punished for her violence creates the impression that any form of mistreatment against women is treated as an ordinary occurrence. It thus manifests a loophole in the societal structure where capitalism has made individuals concentrate only on issues that directly affect them. It is a reincarnate of the concept of "I, me, and myself," which is the cause of some of the eminent social vices such as racism and terrorism. The crafters of the commercial ought to have avoided the explicit sexism in the video as a means of preserving the corporate image as well as upholding non-discrimination based on gender. Conversely, the people in the film who witnessed the assault of the bride ought to have taken an active role of reprimanding the intruding woman.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the film is a manifestation of weaknesses in the societal fabric right from the individual level, community level, and corporate level. The flaws in the society manifest through the groom's violent mother, unconcerned people attending the wedding but who fail to intervene as the bride gets assaulted and Audi's company that blatantly compares women with used cars. Whenever the media has been accustomed to such backward trends, and companies openly violate their corporate social responsibility, it becomes necessary for reasonable individuals to trigger a course for change by emancipating the populace towards a progressive, moral and amicable solutions.