One Mean Enthymeme
Here's an enthymeme in the popular Geico ad "So easy a caveman can do it.":
Geico Caveman 4: Fourth Commercial
Television Ad /October 1, 2006
<< A brand-new 30-second Geico Caveman spot is back on television featuring an airport sign over an airport walkway. When he is in the airport walking on the moving walkway he passes a billboard sign for Geico which reads “So easy a caveman can do it.” Seconds later, he walks back to the sign and just stares at it with digust followed by the Geico logo. . . >>
This commercial can be viewed at www.geico.com/video. Select "Enjoy our popular TV ads," "Caveman," and "Everyplace he goes, there is something to remind him."
The claim: Cavemen are able to get Geigo insurance.
The stated reason: Getting Geigo insurance is very easy to do.
Unstated assumption: Cavemen are not intelligent and viewers are intelligent.
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The claim: Getting Geico insurance is very easy to do.
The stated reason: Cavemen are able to get Geico insurance.
Unstated assumption: Cavemen are not intelligent and viewers are intelligent.
The enthymeme in this ad could be based on Aristotle's premise of "signs," as described on Page 184 of our Bizzell-Herzberg text: The fact that the character in the Geico billboard ad is a primitive caveman is a sign that he is someone who does not have enough intelligence or sophistication to acquire insurance. However, Geico makes purchasing insurance so easy that even a lowly caveman can do it. The implication that the viewers of this ad are much more intelligent and sophisticated than a caveman is a sign that they would have no trouble at all acquiring Geico insurance. Piece of cake! Of course, we realize that Geico has committed a heinous faux pas (and cute gag) when the modern-day caveman who spots the billboard in an airport appears to be intelligent and sophisticated -- and deeply offended by Geico's insult to him and/or his caveman society.
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2 comments:
Another unstated premise here is that if insurance is easy, it's worth getting, leading to the claim that you should buy Geico because it's easy.
You say:
The claim: Getting Geico insurance is very easy to do.
The stated reason: Cavemen are able to get Geico insurance.
Unstated assumption: Cavemen are not intelligent and viewers are intelligent.
I also say:
The claim: Getting Geico insurance is very easy to do.
The stated reason: Cavemen are able to get Geico insurance.
Unstated assumption: The viewer is just as intelligent as a Caveman, therefore he/she should buy insurance from Geico because it is too difficult for that person to buy insurance from other providers. In other words, dummies use Geico.
At least that's how I take it. That's why I buy insurance from Progressive. He-he. Just kidding.
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