This advertisement is for Milky Way. The setting is a museum with rich mahogany walls that feature three paintings. The center painting is significantly larger than the other two. It is a portrait of a man who seems to be from an early time period in American history. The scenery in the background is lush with a clear blue sky, trees growing atop green hills, and a vast body of water that seems to stretch beyond where the eye can see. This beautiful masterpiece is framed in an ornate gold frame.

But what catches the reader’s eye is the fact that this painting has been vandalized. Using pink marker, a large, childish crown has been drawn on top of the man’s head. In addition, new, disproportionate ears have been drawn over his existing ones, and a flower has been drawn in his right hand. These ridiculous additions make the majestic painting into a comical one.

Underneath the vandalized painting is a speech bubble from Jon Ellis, the museum security guard, which says, “SORRY I WAS EATING A MILKY WAY.” At the very bottom of the advertisement is a picture of the product— a Milky Way bar— split in two parts with caramel oozing in the middle.

In order to make this product appealing to consumers, persuasion techniques were used. The first one is called Association. Eating a Milky Way is associated with having fun. The Museum Security guard ate a Milky Way and then ended up having a great time drawing funny images all over a masterpiece. It seems that he was not aware of what he was doing at the time and then after he blames the Milky Way for his lack of judgment. Obviously this advertisement isn’t guaranteeing that anyone who consumes a Milky Way will be motivated to do something crazy and have a good time. However, the readers are still given the false hope that a Milky Way can give them happiness.

The second persuasion technique used in this ad is Humor. The fact that a dignified painting has been scribbled on with pink marker grabs the reader’s attention, making them smile. The reader then sees the name of the product, Milky Way, and now associates that moment of happiness with the product. The next time that person is at the store, and they are trying to pick between a Snickers and a Milky Way, the hope is that they will remember that feeling of happiness linked with the Milky Way and choose it over the Snickers.

A third persuasion technique used is known as Plain Folks. By using the character of a museum guard to give the quote, more readers can relate to him. A museum guard is just an ordinary person. If he can feel happiness from a Milky Way, then why can’t everyone? If the advertisement had used a celebrity or someone of higher standing, many readers may have been turned away because it’s harder to believe something a famous person says. However, it’s hard to believe this quote at all considering that this is a fictitious event and thus a fictitious quote.

Finally, the advertisement uses the persuasion technique of Extrapolation to make the reader desire a Milky Way. The image of the Milky Way at the bottom of the ad makes the caramel look gooey and delicious. Right away, the readers imagine themselves taking a bite into a Milky Way and then pulling it back to allow a long string of caramel to hang from one half to the other. However this is not the reality. When the readers see that image, they hope when they buy a Milky Way, it will look like that too. But when they bite into it, they will we sorely disappointed to find out that the caramel is nothing like what they thought it would be like.

This ad has a confusing message. If the reader were to take the ad literally, they would think that if you eat a Milky Way, you are going to go crazy and shirk your responsibilities. However, the ad is not meant to be taken literally. It is trying to show that consuming a Milky Way will make you happy and free. But this in itself is a lie because no material good can really give you happiness. Even though you might feel happy for a few short seconds while you eat the candy bar, that happiness is short lived. In fact, in order to feel that brief moment of pleasure again, people might consume numerous Milky Way bars, leading to more severe problems such as obesity and diabetes.

Furthermore, by displaying vandalizing in a humorous light, this ad is inadvertently promoting it. This advertisement was in Sports Illustrated, so the target audience is teenage boys and grown men. By showing that vandalizing a famous painting is funny and will make you feel happy, the younger readers of this magazine might be encouraged to give it a try.

In addition to the bad messages this advertisement promotes, it is also missing a lot of crucial information. For example, the price of a Milky Way bar is left out. Maybe if the readers were to see how much their so called happiness was going to cost, they would think twice about purchasing a Milky Way. Even more important, however, is the nutrition information and ingredients. Milky Way bars are high in saturated fat and sugar. They also contain trans fat which, according to some doctors, is the worst kind of fat because it raises your bad cholesterol and lowers your good cholesterol. Moreover, this candy bar contains hydrogenated palm kernel oil. Hydrogenated oils of any kind are terrible for you because they contribute to high cholesterol and can lead to physical ailments such an Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and ADHD. If the readers of the ad knew all this information, they wouldn’t even think twice before flipping the page.