An Analysis of the Emotional Appeals in a Cheron Advertisement

    An Analysis of the Emotional Appeals in a Chevron Advertisement

When people talk about “big oil” they generally aren’t speaking favorably. However, in one of its ads, Chevron draws attention to its status as big oil with the statement, “Big oil should support small business,“ and then “We agree” written below. This appears to be a transparent advertisement that is trying to acknowledge Chevron’s role as a big oil company, but in fact the ad has deeper underlying motives. Chevron is trying to step away from its own image of a big evil corporation and give its customers the illusion a partnership exists between them, and that individual’s criticisms can affect Chevron’s actions.

At the surface, this ad portrays honesty and forthrightness.The ad’s overt message is to debunk the criticism that Chevron doesn’t support small businesses. The ad is a two page spread. The right has a criticism of “big oil” and the left attempts to debunk it. On the right is the statement, “Big oil should support small business. We agree.” It is written in large, capital, black letters and it is underlined in red. We agree is also written in red. The intense contrast of red and black with the large,  bold letters gives the ad a sense of abruptness as though Chevron is not shying away from the issue. Chevron instead directly addresses a criticism that people have of Chevron. When talking about the campaign Chevron Vice Chairman George L. Kirkland said “We want the world to know that we're just like you and me. We've got problems and challenges, and we too make mistakes, but we're telling truths no one usually tells, and looking wide-eyed into the future." Clearly the attitude they’re trying to convey is truthfulness.

    On the left page of the ad is dominated by a picture of an African woman in traditional clothes who represents small businesses. In the bottom left corner it says:

Every day, Chevron relies on small business around the world.

Electricians. Mechanics. Manufacturers.

We’ve spent billions on local goods and

services last year.

               And helped thousands of entrepreneurs get ahead with microloans.

              We’re helping small businesses thrive.

              Because we need them.

             Just as much as they need us.

             Learn more at chevron.com/weagree.

They are ostensibly being clear about their message -- that Chevron supports small businesses. On the right they show a criticism and on the left they show how the criticism isn’t true or how Chevron has changed to address the criticism, whichever way we choose to interpret.

    However, Chevron also exploits our subconscious desires for autonomy and domination and gives us the illusion that we are in a partnership with big oil, but we really aren’t. In “Advertising’s 15 basic Appeals” Jib Fowles details the different emotional appeals advertisers use to sell products. Two of these are powerful in Chevron’s ad -- autonomy and dominance. Although autonomy is typically associated with someone who is more isolated from society, Fowles says, “The focus here is upon the independence and integrity of the individual” (24). People want to feel that they aren’t a slave to society and large corporations such as big oil companies. In the Chevron ad this want is combined with the desire for dominance: “the the craving to be powerful” (Fowles 23). People also want to feel like the decisions they make matter, and that they can make a difference in the world.  This ad appeared in the New Yorker so these values are probably especially important to the viewers of the ad who are probably  intellectual adults who consider themselves socially conscious and would like to make ethically sound decisions.

Chevron wants to make it appear that their customers have more power than they actually have so they downplay their own dominance. Ironically, despite their unsubtle association of themselves with big oil, Chevron actually attempts to distance themselves from big oil in this ad. They try to appear less powerful than the giant corporation that they are. The right side of the ad is very simple with block lettering on a plain background. It looks like this ad could be a poster that someone prints at home and posts on their local bulletin board. At the bottom of the ad Steve Tomkovics, the president of S&S Supplies and Solutions and Maria Lindenberg, the chief procurement officer of Chevron signed their names. This gives a human feel to Chevron, like they are a business controlled by two moral individuals rather than a large corporation that operates on the whims of the market and its shareholders.

Chevron also wants to show that individuals outside of the company also have power to affect the company. The image they convey is of a partnership between Chevron and small businesses, as well as between Chevron and its customers. In the ad it says, “We’re helping small businesses thrive.  Because we need them. Just as much as they need us.” The words “just as much” convey a sense of equality. This creates the sense that Chevron and small businesses are working together, rather than that Chevron is the big evil corporation controlling everything. More subtle though is the idea of the partnership that Chevron has with it’s customers. Together, Chevron and it’s customers decide how to act ethically and contribute to the world in the best way.

However, the ad doesn’t give concrete evidence that Chevron is actually responding to its customer’s criticisms and  contributing to local businesses like they say they are. They claim that they “rely on small businesses around the world” but this could easily mean extract cheap labor from developing countries rather than actually enrich a vibrant local economy like the image they present to us. The text isn’t specific, and the image of the woman on the left misleads us by vaguely representing a set of values that Chevron might not actually hold.

Chevron's human energy campaign shows how advertisements can use images to link ideas to products even if a logical connection doesn't exist. One of the ad's from the campaign shows an African woman smiling confidently into the camera. The message that Chevron is trying to convey is that they support small businesses. Ostensibly the woman pictured looks like an artisan who represents the small businesses that Chevron supports. However, in small letters in the bottom left corner, the ad details that Chevron supports electricians, mechanics, and manufacturers. While this woman could be a member of one of these professions, that's not the link that the image is trying to create. But even if the connection doesn't make sense, the image still makes an impact on the viewer. In "Advertising's Fifteen Basic Appeals", Jib Fowles says, "there is no real need for the linkage to have  a bit of reason behind it" (2). Fowles shows how successful advertisements can create a connection between an idea and a product that aren't necessarily related, with just an image. This is being done here in Chevron's human energy advertisement.

    This ad offers a source of appeasement to purchasers of Chevron oil. Even if they don’t completely believe Chevron’s message, they can believe they are making a positive change or at least not hurting the world by buying Chevron oil. Perhaps the next time they have to get gas they will pick Chevron as the best of a bad bunch and feel a little bit less bad about themselves for wasting gas and supporting unethical companies.  

    Despite this, the small individuals really have no effect on the big companies. The big oil company hasn’t actually changed but is just manipulating images and vague statements to make it seem like they have. This is a bold campaign that ostensibly directly addresses the problems that exist within Chevron, but instead it just serves to cover up Chevrons mistakes and cloak their unethical decisions with seemingly ethical decisions. What these advertisements really offer is a cop out to Chevron’s customers that they will be very willing to take. Because even though we know that big oil companies like Chevron commit human rights violations and destroy the environment, we still continue to fill up our cars at gas stations without fail. We may read an article that will make us shake our heads in despair about the evils of the world, but we won’t even change our daily habits because cars are convenient and easy. So even though Chevron has been under a lot of heat recently, we are very happy to accept the illusions that they shove at us in this advertising campaign, so we can continue on about our lives contentedly believing that we are doing what’s right.