. The joy of being young and full of life is something most people wish they could revisit. People long to return to that time of liveliness. The same is true in the newest commercial for the Audi R8 that was aired during the 50th Super Bowl. They take this want to be younger and plays on this desire. The commercial shows a retired astronaut in his older years, thinking back to when he was younger and still flying into space. His son shows up and takes his father out to the son's Audi R8 and lets his father get into the driver seat. As the father presses the ignition the scene shifts between him driving the car and his memories of him taking off in a spaceship. Throughout the commercial, David Bowie's "Starman" is playing. Audi as a car company has a high credibility (ethos) as a well-made luxury car. The fact that they are so well known for the performance and appearance of their cars allows them to not have to list out the statistics of the car or awards it has received. This is how they presented their commercial on Sunday. Audi used a combination of mainly pathos, or emotions, and some logos, or logic, to help advertise for their new car, the R8.

The commercial acts on the viewers emotions when it shows the older man sitting in his house. He is surrounded by pieces of space history from his time. Things like model rocket ships and pictures of himself with other astronauts are just some of the items. We also gather he is depressed or suffering from some illness due to him not eating his dinner. When the son comes in, the mother says that he isn't eating again, insinuating that this is a normal occurrence. This plays on the person viewing the commercial's emotions because we all have grandparents, whether we know them or not. People would think that the same scenario could be true or could happen to their grandparents. Most people don't enjoy to see their family in pain or in a negative state of mind. It also takes aim at people who tend to be more self-focused. It plants the idea that this could one day happen to any of us, where we are no longer happy and think back to our glory days. It causes the thought that you'll need something to remind you of those days when you were younger. With this immediate emotional appeal, it pulls you into the commercial. You become invested and want to find out what happens to the older man. 

When the son shows up, he decides to try and help his father become happier, if only for a little while. When the son takes his father out to his car, he becomes interested in it. As he begins to start the car up, it plays clips of him starting up the rocket ship and clips of him when he was younger. You can see he's becoming increasingly happy to the point where he smiling from driving the car on the empty roads. This is a play on the thought process of the viewer. The advertisement is trying to make the logical argument that if you are missing your younger years, if you drive our car, you'll become happier. In actuality, this is an extremely dangerous thing to do. Allowing someone who is suffering from a mental disease to drive a supercar is extremely dangerous. The viewer isn't supposed to have enough time to think of this because it would take away from the commercial and feelings it is trying to portray. This logical jump from being depressed without the car to being happy when driving is a bit of a stretch. Not all people are into driving cars or have some relation to their past with going fast. However, it isn't necessarily a logical argument that the car will remind you of past experience. It is saying that the car will give the owner the freedom he or she felt when they were younger. This freedom is lost upon most of the older population and when driving the car, you seem to regain that.

Throughout the second part of the commercial when the father and son are in the car, the song Starman written and performed by David Bowie is playing in the background. This is a very fitting song with both relating to space. It is also one of David Bowie's, a popular musical artist throughout recent generations, most popular songs. This isn't Bowie's only song about space. Bowie has a reputation for being obsessed with creating music about the cosmos. This alone effects the viewer with an emotional bond to the commercial. However, there is a greater emotional appeal to this commercial with the use of the song. David Bowie had recently passed away before the commercial had been released. Many people were grieving over the loss of such a great musical talent as well as people just being exposed to his music. With this sudden surge to his legacy and songs, Audi made the decision to add the song and use all of the relevant attributes of joy and happiness people had when they first heard the song to help pull the viewer in more than what they already were. 

Audi decided to detour from using its brand name's credibility as the main focus of this advertisement and instead focused on an emotional level with the viewers and a logical leap to help their commercial. Some people may have found this commercial in poor taste. Using the emotional appeal of an older who seems to be suffering from depression or some other physical or mental illness would cause a different reaction from people with a negative view towards this. Although it may come across as this to some, I believe it was to be avoided from the company. They wouldn't want to put a potential customer in the position where they have a reason not to buy their car. Their advertisement team's main goal is to try and sell as many cars as possible. Creating a demographic of people that takes insult to their car's commercial is not how this is accomplished. 

