For this linguistics analysis, I have chosen an ad from 2016 for Avocados From Mexico titled “Avos in Space.” The premise of the ad is that aliens have taken some of Earth’s most notable objects, and used them in a museum of sorts. Most of these things are misidentified or have undue value placed on them. Finally, at the end of the tour, the aliens participating in the tour reach an avocado tree, a bowl of guacamole, and a bag of tortilla chips, with the tour guide alien proclaiming that the avocados are the “most amazing of all.” This ad serves to demonstrate the importance of context to understanding of a subject, while selling avocados on the premise that they, unlike most aspects …show more content…
Terms such as “was considered,” “strapped,” “how long would,” and “did they have” are used alongside regular use of the word “was” to imply that the items and events discussed by the aliens are relics or in the distant past. The notable exceptions to this trend are Scott Baio (who is definitely still alive and well during this ad) and – you guessed it – the avocados. The use of past tense serves a few purposes. It helps create cultural distance between the aliens and ourselves in the same way modern Americans likely feel culturally distant from 17th century Chinese citizens. Meanwhile, the present-tense consideration given to avocados implies that they are still relevant in the alien society. The intersection of these two messages serves to communicate that avocados are a timeless food that the viewer will enjoy no matter where they are …show more content…
Simultaneously, through the secondary advertising situation, the ad created both distance from and parallels to modern American society to generate a sort of “avocado bandwagon.” This served to put the audience in a good mood, as well as to emphasize that loving avocados and guacamole is not something that requires context – everyone, of all ages, races, and genders can enjoy them, even literal aliens from outer space. If someone in the ad eventually fed Scott Baio, I am sure he, too, loved the