Dooling 1 Sean Dooling Professor Mateer LA 101H 27 February 2012 The Lessons Learned in Kings Court A medieval royal

court. A large divide. A group of people on either side. The king and his aristocracy oppose a mass of the kings peasants. One by one, the peasants perform in the divide for a chance to receive a can of Pepsi soda. In return, the King and his minions, dressed in lavish royal style, judge each act. Those performers deemed worthy receive Pepsi. Those deemed unworthy drop to the despair of the dungeons full of the remains of previous contestants. This scenario acts as the stage for Pepsis most recent commercial titled, Kings Court. In this commercial both a male jester and a female singer vie to impress the court. The male jester poorly performs Nellys Hot in Herre. The female singer, portrayed by Melanie Amaro winner of the American X-Factor, excels in her rendition of Aretha Franklins Respect. Intermittently, the king, portrayed by renowned entertainer Elton John, casts the final judgment on the performances. The jester is sentenced to the dungeons, while Amaro is rewarded with Pepsi. Amaro, however, rejects the kings offer and instead hits the lever that casts Elton to the dungeons. This advertisement attempts to convey two specific messages. Indeed, the commercial reveals principles of successful public rhetoric and imitates the current socio-economic class struggle. An analysis of the performances of the jester, Melanie Amaro, and Elton John

emphasizes the importance of body language and rhetorical appeals in order to convey a message and sway an audience as described in the textbook, Rhetoric and Civic Life. The overall

Dooling 2 dynamics of rhetoric embodied in public speaking principles, though, can also be seen as a potential cause and solution for contemporary socio-economic class conflicts, to which the royal court setting alludes. This stratification of social groups and uneven distribution of resources creates a parallel to the current 99 versus 1 percent struggle and the actions of the John and Amaro represent the causes and answers to our problems. The vocal performances demonstrated in this commercial, which for the purpose of this analysis will be synonymous with speeches, compare and contrast samples of successful and unsuccessful deliveries based upon their inclusion or exclusion of basic speaking principles. The first speaker from the peasants or majority group, the male jester, represents an example of an ineffective speech and corresponding delivery. The jester drones in an unsteady and monotonous voice. He appears unconfident while standing slightly hunched. He lacks consistent eye contact with audience, and tries to distract them with showy gestures rather than emphasize the main points of his message. Overall the lack of vocal inflection, poor posture, and unfocused gestures reflect his poor body language, which causes the performance to become skittish and boring. This tentative delivery makes the audience discredit and forget the jester and his message. Conversely, the king and the second speaker from the majority group, the female singer, employ many qualities of a sound, successful delivery. In the case of Eltons brief statements, he controls the room with few words in his address. Eltons menacing tone creates an air of fear among the audience. His directness, clarity, and slow rate provide him command and superiority over the subjects of his court. His forward lean, crooked smile, and piercing gaze captures the dread he evokes in the people. All the while, his elevated position on the throne in the center of the room in front of all the subjects reinforces his power in dealing with the issue.

Dooling 3 Amaro, on the other hand, takes a different approach in incorporating the qualities of a sound, successful delivery. She gauges the situation based upon the previous speakers

performances and the audiences ensuing reactions. When delivering her message, she maintains a confident, up-right posture and strong voice with variety in her pitch, rate, and volume. She makes an immediate connection with the audience, keeping an intimate distance by interacting with them throughout the performance with eye contact and pointed gestures. She makes waving motions as if to galvanize them to her side, to stand up for themselves. These actions captivate the audience and engage them in her performance. Eloquently delivered speeches prove most effective, though, when coupled with intelligent rhetorical appeals, such as those to ethos and pathos. The jester fails to capitalize on any rhetorical appeals. The attempted pathos or emotional appeal to sexuality in this case, does not stick with this particular audience. The attempted ethos or ethical appeal also fails as the audience refuses to acknowledge him as neither a serious nor licentious performer. Therefore, the distance and relationship he keeps with audience becomes muddled and confused. So, lacking really any communication techniques and rhetorical appeals, the jesters delivery heads for failure. Elton John, on the contrary, does call upon rhetorical appeals. He appeals to pathos in preying upon the fears of the audience. This appeal proves successful as little gasps can be heard among the peasant audience whenever the king speaks or acts. Additionally, Elton establishes an ethos as the unrelenting, avaricious king. In his quest for power and control, he goes so far as to wear ridiculously high-heeled shoes to make him taller taking into mind the commonplace that taller people have greater self-esteem and authority (Dittman). He maintains a far distance from the audience, which correlates well with his forceful and frightening delivery. Thus, this

Dooling 4 combination of menacing body language and rhetorical appeals provides Elton with success in controlling the room and the fates of the performers. Melanie Amaro also employs and proper vocal and gestural delivery as well as pointed rhetorical appeals. She appeals to the pathos of the audience by fighting for basic human liberties, singing a rendition of Aretha Franklins hit, Respect. Building an ethos of a relatable commoner, she emerges from the crowds as young and attractive, yet dependable and courageous. She quickly becomes a champion of the people in their united fight for freedom from the king and equal sharing of resources. Amaro keeps a close distance throughout her performance, both literally and figuratively that helps her bond with the audience. While both Elton John and Melanie Amaro both capitalize upon strong vocal deliveries and concrete appeals to rhetorical devices, the audience undoubtedly receives Amaros message better. Overall, her appeals to ethos and pathos connect to the audience in a more profound manner. The audience so badly wants respect from the king and his aristocracy and they can more easily to relate to her character of a commoner, an underdog. Even if they may want to identify with the rich and powerful, they most likely feel too oppressed to be able to do so after watching performer after performer fail to impress. Therefore, through her ethos as a peasant, Amaro offers a symbol of hope that the peasant majority can still succeed despite the tyranny of the aristocratic minority. After careful examination, all of the performances also represent the arguments of each current social class struggle, the 1 vs. 99 percent. The 1 percent comprises the high upper class, while the 99 percent consists of the lower and middle classes (Schulz 2011). In the commercial, the royalty led by Elton John symbolize the 1 percent. The common folk led by Melanie Amaro symbolize the 99 percent. Historically, an unequal distribution of power and wealth has always

Dooling 5 dominated social structures. In the Medieval and Renaissance Europe, the privileged nobility and clergy comprised roughly 2 percent of the population. This trend carried into the mid to late 1700s as well with the nobility and clergy making up between 1 and 2 percent of Western Europes population. (Woloch 1982). This select group, nonetheless, often possessed a vast majority of the entire populations power, wealth, and representation in the government. Meanwhile, the peasants and emerging middle class or bourgeoisie comprised the remaining 98 percent but held little to no economic or political influence (Carpentier 1987). So in a way, todays conflict is a continuation of historical social trends. Most people recognize the unjust nature of systems such as medieval feudalism. The French Revolution even fought to end the tyranny of the nobility. Some of people, on the other hand, may not recognize todays injustice or sympathize with the current form of the socioeconomic battle. For example, some people may be awed yet disgusted by the opulence of the 16th and 17th century French chateaux, such as Chambord or Versailles. Versailles cost

approximately 96 million French livres or over 2 billion US dollars over the course of 50 years (Bonney 2007). However, they still may encourage the construction of million dollar celebrity luxury homes, such as Jennifer Anistons 42 million dollar Beverly Hills property (Plsaro 2011). Thus, this allusion subconsciously positions the viewers in line with the goals of the Occupy movement in recognizing an unjust class struggling and supporting socio-economic reform (Schulz 2011). The allusion shows that current trends are no better than the historical trends.

The commercial takes advantage of the moment, of the kairos provided by the recent media attention of the Occupy movements. However, the commercial uses the historical scenario in order to show that modern society needs reform just as medieval and Renaissance society did.

Dooling 6 Certain lines in the extended version of the commercial reinforce the complaints of the 99 percent. These complaints voice the exploitation of the majority for the benefit of the billionaire minority. An interesting lyrical addition not readily found in Franklins version seems to be Cause I pay your bills, your line, your phone. This line highlights how the higher classes depend on the lower classes to maintain their security and luxury without any reciprocity toward the lower classes. Amaros given stance on the issue and the audiences reaction also mirror the disdain that the vast majority holds towards those who cheat and deprive others of the ability to pay their bills and feed their children. As highlighted by Amaros rhetorical appeal to pathos, this commercial specifically addresses one of the most critical aspects of the conflict - social justice and universal respect. Amaro sings the classic, Respect. This not-so-subtle choice clearly brings a message that shares the songs title. The message is unavoidable. She repeats R-E-S-P-E-C-T over and over again. Elaborating find out what it means to me, she highlights that each person deserves a unique respect and acknowledgement that he or she is their own human being. In addition, the breaking of the courts rosace metaphorically represents the breaking of glass ceiling of sorts which has structured the economic and racial stratification of society and the prevention of equal respect. After the destruction of this symbol, Amaro sets a new standard of respect for society. When Elton offers Amaro a can of Pepsi based on the merits of her performance, she refuses. Interestingly, she rejects this opportunity to join the elite class and reinforce the hierarchy. Instead, she demands that everyone receives an equal chance to share privilege, saying, No, Pepsi for everyone! and overthrowing or rather dropping the king. She replaces the symbol of the old guard and oppression with a new vision for social thought. Likewise, the current socio-

Dooling 7 economic struggle needs a champion who will fight for the majority and reject the temptations which crossing into the upper echelons of society brings. What appears to be an unassuming musical commercial for a soda company actually contains some excellent observations on the principals of effective speaking and potentially revolutionary subliminal messages regarding socio-economic class struggles. Those speakers who appeared confident and genuine, used hand gestures purposefully, and connected to the audience via eye contact and rhetorical appeals to ethos and pathos made a lasting impression. Those who did not were quickly forgotten and disposed of. The content of this commercial proves sympathetic to the masses of the 1 versus 99 percent. Taking advantage of kairos provided by the Occupy movements, the commercial seemingly calls for a relatively equal distribution of resources among the people of the court. In addition, the commercial insinuates that this problem can be resolved through the implementation of positive, sound rhetoric rather than divisive and bombastic arguing.

Dooling 8 Works Cited Bonney, Richard. "Vindiction of the Fronde? The Cost of Louis XIV's Versailles Building Programme." French History 21.215 May (2007): 205-25. Web. 26 Feb. 2012. <http://fh.oxfordjournals.org/content/21/2/205.full.pdf+html>. Carpentier, Jean, and Francois Lebrun. Histoire de France. Editions du Seuil ed. Paris: n.p., 1987. 154-55. Print. Dittman, M. "Standing tall pays off, study finds." Monitor on Psychology 35.7 July (2004): 14+. Web. 26 Feb. 2012. <http://www.apa.org/monitor/julaug04/standing.aspx>. Pepsi. Advertisement. Fox. 5 Feb. 2012. Web. 7 Feb. 2012 <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rcf01QTc06E&feature=player_embedded>. Plsaro, Debbie. "Top Celebrity Homes on the Market in LA - RIGHT NOW." Ranker.com. Ranker, 20 May 2011. Web. 18 Feb. 2012. Path: http://www.ranker.com/list/topcelebrity-homes-on-the-market-in-la-rightnow/mcqueenie?page=1&format=BLOG&sortby=&sortdir=&limit. Rhetoric and Civic Life. Revised 2nd ed. New York: Pearson Learning Solutions, 2011. 167-297. Print. Schulz, Thomas. "The Second Gilded Age: Has America Become an Oligarchy?." Speigel Online International. Der Spiegel, Oct. 2011. Web. 26 Feb. 2012. <http://www.spiegel.de/international>. Path: http://www.spiegel.de/international/spiegel/0,1518,793896,00.html. Woloch, Isser. Eighteenth-Century Europe Tradition and Prgoress, 1715-1789. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1982. 79-81. Print.