In the past few years Extra Gum has been extremely successful in creating ads that appeal to their viewers and often tug at their heart strings. On October 15, 2015 the company released an advertisement entitled “The Story of Sarah and Juan”, which depicts a pair of high school sweet hearts from their first date to the night they got engaged. Though only a two-minute ad for gum, the commercial was successful in creating a beautiful love story full of sentimental and relatable moments. Extra fully understands that to make an ad strong, or effective, they must pull the viewer in, keep them engaged until the end, make an impact and thus, compel them to want the product. Three specific elements of the ad use these principals to make an effective commercial for Extra Gum. Overall, “The Story of Sarah and Juan” ad was extremely strong because of its choice of a heartfelt love story, its ability to make small things sentimental, and its capacity to relate to many viewers. 

By choosing a love story for their 2-minute commercial, Extra’s ad is strong because it pulls the viewers in, keeps them engaged and makes an impact. The first thing every ad must do is to initially gain the attention of viewers in order to make them see what they have to say. To reiterate an ad cannot be strong if consumers do not pay attention to it in the first place. Most food or gum commercials on T.V. depict their product with ridiculous humor. Though in these genres the joke may be funny, most of the impact of their message fades to the background because of the multitude of these ads. This is because after so much redundancy of the same type of ads, the viewer is so used to it that they become less attentive. Contrary to this, “The Story of Sarah and Juan” stands out from the typical commercial by using an emotional love story. Especially for a seemingly unrelated subject like gum, a love story is unexpected and begins to appeal to people’s strongest emotion, love. It captures their interest because it is so different. Secondly the ad keeps the viewer’s attention through the mystery of “what” Juan is doing with the gum wrappers at the end of each event, and the potential conflict in their relationship. After each meaningful moment, Juan scribbles on the gum wrapper that Sarah offered him, yet the viewer cannot see what he is writing because it is only filmed in short snap-shots. This forces the viewer to keep watching if they want to find out what he writes. Also in the middle of the ad the couple goes through a rough patch, with a fight after moving in together and a long distance relationship. This pulls back any viewers who started to lose interest and leads them to wonder what will happen to the couple in the end. If they want to know whether the couple will make it, they have to keep watching. Lastly the choice of a love story makes an impact because it sticks in people’s heads. When they go to the store, Extra gum will stand out because the ad itself stood out among other possible gum ads. In this, they will pick out Extra gum out of the other choices because it is highlighted in their minds. Overall, the choice of a love story makes the add strong because it stands out, keeps the viewers attentive and makes an impact.

Extra’s company slogan is “Give extra. Get Extra.” This ad is definitely strong because it develops the idea that the little things in life can be very sentimental and give a person so much meaning. The entirety of the ad basically revolves around the small gesture that giving a piece of gum can have on someone. In return to Sarah’s kindness, Juan essentially turns a thing that most would view as trash into a huge romantic gesture, while also showcasing the product. Through this Extra commercial’s use of pathos, it makes a piece of gum or its wrapper into a symbolic representation of the couple’s entire relationship. Each time they shared either a small moment or a huge milestone, the gum was shared to remind them of their love for each other. Unknowingly to Sarah, in the end, Juan used that sentimental gesture, that she had shared with him so many times, to give back to her with the drawings and the proposal. Going along with its slogan, if one person gives a little extra of themselves, they will get more in return out of others and life as a whole. Extra is clever to do this because they show that a piece of gum, and specifically Extra gum, is more than just that. It can be whatever a person makes it, such as a peace offering, or a demonstration of love. This lesson, therefore, makes an impact on its viewers because it teaches them the value that Extra Gum can have. By appealing to the couple’s sentimental sharing of the gum, Extra calls its viewers to find more out of the little things, like gum, in their own lives. 

Lastly, this Extra advertisement’s ability to relate to a wide range of people makes it strong by causing it to draw in more viewers and have a greater impact. In the first scene the viewers can see the emotions rising between a white girl and a Hispanic boy. From this use of a multi-racial couple, the ad can pull in more people to relate to the characters. In addition to this, each scene draws more people to connect with the characters. They meet in high school, pulling in long-term high school sweet hearts as well as current high-schoolers who want to believe in their relationship. It depicts them on various dates and growing older. Eventually the couple begins to argue, which every couple has done at some point. Soon they are forced to try to keep the same romance in a long-distance relationship when Sarah has to leave for a new job. Through each of these moments the commercial attracts more people who have gone through similar struggles or good moments. In the end everything works out and Juan proposes using drawings of each of the memories, good and bad. This causes the people, who have related with the characters, to want to achieve the same happiness despite obstacles in their lives. Because of the fact that many people connect with Sarah and Juan, they want to also buy the gum. If the character’s that the viewer related to like the gum and used it to write their story, then the viewer can also enjoy the gum in the same ways. The more that people relate to the characters, the greater impact their actions make on them, such as choosing Extra gum. This relatability makes the commercial stronger and causes many people to want to buy it.

These three uses aspects of the ad cause the whole message of Extra’s gum commercial to be very persuasive. The strongest emotion that humans desire is love, and by using this particular story Extra pinpoints exactly where the viewers heart lies. This aspect also helps the ad to stand out from most commercials to capture and keep the watcher’s attention. In addition, everything about Extra’s advertising, including its slogan, teaches a lasting lesson that the smallest things in life, like a piece of gum, can have the deepest meanings. They also make the story more heart-warming by the power that the story has to connect with almost any viewer and make them feel emotional. Through these methods Extra causes the viewer to want to buy their gum. If a viewer wants to experience the same type of love as the couple in the story, they see that the gum is a small piece of that. The story shows that in giving a piece of gum, there could be a world of possibilities. In conclusion this ad campaign is extremely strong in captivating viewers and causing them to want the product though the love story, the sentimental lesson and relatability. 