Mr. Mayhem (Entry #5)

 Allstate is a reputable insurance company with established credit in the industry. The company uses a variety of advertisement tactics to appeal to their audience, one of which is humor. The Mayhem commercials are widely known, they depict the mayhem character usually causing chaos within a home or vehicle which in turn proves the point of having good insurance. In the Allstate Mayhem Tailgater commercial, many tactics are used to engage the audience to convince them to use Allstate as their insurance company. But what's underneath the surface of just promoting the product? 

The Tailgater commercial showcases the Mayhem character driving his vehicle which is decorated for a tailgating event, dressed for a football game with all his football gear in the car. He's driving extremely close to the car in front of him, even though there's nowhere for that driver to go. He says "I'm a tailgater tailgating to get to my tailgate." This conveys the message that Americans are impatient and willing to participate in reckless activities; such as tailgating, as long as it gets them to their desired outcome faster. We're in an instant gratification generation. The driver in front is too busy paying attention to the Mayhem character, trying to explain to him that he can't go anywhere (even though Mr. Mayhem can't hear him), that he rear-ends a stopped vehicle in front of him. Mr. Mayhem is then shown driving away in the next lane over stating that "Your cut rate car insurance, it might not pay for this." 

The creator of the ad wants to incite a fear of car accidents in it's audience (people in the market for car insurance), and make them understand that you can't control others on the road. People will put strangers at risk if it means they get their desired outcome faster, which is depicted by Mr. Mayhem tailgating to try to get the car in front of him to go faster. When the driver got into the accident, Mr. Mayhem was unbothered and continued on his journey to his event. 

            

Allstate conveyed how society is overall selfish by using pathos to get their audience to be fearful of car accidents that could indirectly be caused by reckless drivers. Don't be those drivers!