Ricardo Valle Valle 1
Professor Guillory
English 1301
18 September 2014
Donut man vs Big shaqtus
When Michael Jordan was asked one day if he could fly, he responded “yeah… for a little while”. That is exactly what Blake Griffin did but for a little longer in his Kia Optima advertisement with the “I believe I can fly” theme as the background song. It was on one February night three years ago, the arena was crowded with fans and celebrities chanting his name, Griffin ran straight to the hoop staring his teammate deep into the eyes as he lobbed the basketball out of the sunroof of the Kia Optima, he rose up and grabbed the ball in the air while jumping over the car and dunked the ball hard to seal his victory in the Sprite Slam dunk contest award. On the other hand, Shaquille O’Neal goes for a more standard way of advertisement by sitting in a Buick Lacrosse ready to let the world know the features about the Buick as soon as he opens the door. One would think one player is better than the other, but when it comes to product benefits the Kia ad protrudes over the Buick ad because it exhibits one future NBA Hall of Famer, a more elegant style, and it mentions its benefits clearer than its competitor along with each ethos, pathos and logos.
Superstar for the dominant team from Los Angeles, The Clippers and future Hall of famer, Blake Griffin, is featured in the Kia Optima ad. Although he is less popular than the well-known celebrity featured in the Buick ad, Shaquille O’Neal, Kia decided to take advantage of his shocking dunk and decided to sign Griffin as it new Kia Motors global spokesperson. Even more, Griffin is a future NBA hall of famer with many awards won to his name at age twenty five. For example, he was selected first overall in the draft of 2009, he is already a 4-time NBA All-Star, 3-time All-
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NBA second team, NBA rookie of the year, NBA All-Rookie first team and on top of that the 2011 NBA Slam Dunk contest champion in which he won as a result of the Kia Optima advertisement receiving 68% of the votes in the final round. Although, Shaquille O’Neal nicknamed the “Big shaqtus” standing at 7 feet 1 possesses many awards throughout his NBA career which led him to get his number “34” retired by Los Angeles Lakers where he had most success throughout his career. To rephrase it, the young star nicknamed “donut man” due to his dunking abilities, has a bright future in the league and will continue to delight his fans if he continues to do what he is been doing since he got into the league at age twenty. This is why Kia chose the “donut man” to hawk the impressive Kia Optima whom in addition, started a fundraiser called dunking for dollars, in which he donates one hundred dollars to fight childhood obesity for every dunk he makes during the season.
One of the most memorable arenas in the history of basketball, the Staples Center, is where Kia Optima decided to film their ad campaign. Home of the Los Angeles Lakers and The Los Angeles Clippers where the slam dunk contest was hosted. The arena was packed of fans, celebrities and the most important players in the league anxious to witness the competition. The car looking all shiny on the court with the lights of the arena shining on it plus everybody on the stands recording the unforgettable moment when Griffin ferociously rose in the air and jumped over the Kia Optima, making that dunk one of the most impressive in the history of the contest, this is what makes this ad more special and undoubtedly more stylish than its competitor. On the contrary, Buick appeals to tall people with Shaquille O’Neal fitting perfectly in the driver’s seat. Their ad was filmed at the celebrity mansion in his driveway located