Allstate mayhem commercial – Dean Winters as Teenage Girl in Pink Truck – Ariana’s Writing for the Sciences Portfolio

Final Draft:

Ariana Lopez

Writing for the Sciences

Professor Anna Voisard

February 25, 2023

In 2010, Allstate released a few skit commercials starring Dean Winters, an American actor, as a way to advertise their auto-insurance company. The commercial starts with Dean Winters in a pink car saying, “I’m a teenage girl.” Throughout the advertisement he makes several stereotypical remarks in an attempt to portray how a teenage girl would act. Several factors were looked upon in the making of this commercial: number of viewers, audience choice, audience appeal, choice of actor, etc. The creators used rhetorical strategies such as pathos which is used to appeal to the audience’s emotions. The creators of this skit aimed to use comedy in a way to get the audience, car owners, to switch to their company. However, due to the stereotypical and sexist comments in the thirty second advertisement, it could be seen as offensive to some viewers.

The medium of a video commercial is a way that the company, Allstate, saw fit to receive the biggest audience. The commercial aired in 2010, a time where cable tv was without fault in most homes. According to Forbes article, The Rise And Fall Of Cable Television, “In the early 2010s the cable television industry was in its zenith,” meaning that cable tv was at its prime. In 2010, over 105 million U.S. households that owned televisions, paid for cable which was over 90% of all TV households, as reported by Forbes. With that many people watching cable television, a video advertisement was a perfect way to reach a peak number of viewers. Commercials seek to persuade viewers into supporting a company, or in this case, switching their car insurance to Allstate.

The commercial stars Dean Winters, a famous American Actor who stars in many movies and series. The company used Dean Winters to attract customers. In the perspective of the viewer, seeing a familiar face in the commercial would leave them thinking about it and trying to figure out where they have seen the actor. The commercial would linger in the person’s head and maybe even convince them to switch to Allstate. In another instance, a viewer could see an actor whom they admire and think since he supports this company I should too. Having a famous actor in the commercial helps with marketing because it can attract their supporters and fanbase.

The creators used pathos, the rhetorical strategy of emotional appeal, for this commercial. They use humor specifically dark humor, comedy on serious subject matters, to get their point across. Within the thirty second video, Dean Winters tries to act and speak like a teenage girl. In the video he [in the portrayal of a teenage girl] speaks about drama with his friend “Becky” who kissed the guy he liked “Johnny.” He proceeds to throw his phone to the backseat and crash into a car. The voiceover then states that Allstate could save your money and protect you from the mayhem of a teenage girl. The humor would most likely fit an older crowd such as parents with teenagers. It was made to be seen as funny and sarcastic since the actor keeps a straight face throughout the whole dialogue and obviously isn’t a teenage girl.

If this was all supposed to be a funny joke, then how can it be offensive? Well although it can be seen as comical to some, it encourages a bunch of stereotypes and is borderline sexist. In the opening scene, Dean Winters is in a pink car with a pink cellphone in his hand which can insinuate that the color pink is correlated with females. The color pink has been seen as a feminine color for a long time; in years prior, females were seen as manly for not liking pink. Cable television is a service that people of all ages use since anyone with access to a TV with paid cable can watch. Children, more specifically young girls, can see the ad and become influenced to think that all teenage girls are supposed to like the color pink and act in a specific way. The dialogue of the commercial supports the stereotype that all teenage girls care about is gossip and boys. After saying that Becky kissed Johnny he says “Now, I’m emotionally compromised. Whoopsies.” as he swerves into a car; this feeds into two stereotypes: (1) Women are emotional (2) Women are bad drivers. The advertisement can be seen as insulting to females since it reinforces stereotypes that have been pushed upon women for so long. Besides being sexist, the commercial places a humorous part into texting and driving, a significant and dangerous problem. The ad takes texting and driving as a laughing matter when the statistics of car accidents because of cell phone use is terrifying. Using your cellphone while driving is the cause of 1.6 million crashes and nearly 390,000 injuries each year according to the National Safety Council. In better comparison to the ad, cell phone use is the cause of 21 percent of teen drivers involved in fatal accidents as stated by Edgar Synder & Associates, a personal injury law firm.

The Allstate “mayhem” commercial starring Dean Winters uses rhetoric to persuade the audience, people who own cars, into supporting their company. The main strategy used in the commercial is comedy as it was created to be a funny skit. Humor is a part of the rhetorical strategy, pathos. The video commercial medium helped increase the amount of viewers since cable TV was popular at the time it aired. Dean Winters was a key component to gain the audience’s interest as he is a famous actor. The advertisement can quickly be seen as offensive since it makes a joke out of serious and offensive topics.

References:

“Allstate Mayhem Commercial – Dean Winters as Teenage Girl in Pink Truck.” YouTube, YouTube, 1 Aug. 2010,

Adgate, Brad. “The Rise and Fall of Cable Television.” Forbes, Forbes Magazine, 9 Nov. 2022, https://www.forbes.com/sites/bradadgate/2020/11/02/the-rise-and-fall-of-cable-television/?sh=46bb716f6b31

“2022 Texting and Driving Accident Statistics – Distracted Driving.” Edgarsnyder.com, 20 Jan. 2023, https://www.edgarsnyder.com/car-accident/cause-of-accident/cell-phone/cell-phone-statistics.html#:~:text=The%20National%20Safety%20Council%20reports,caused%20by%20texting%20and%20driving

Draft:

Ariana Lopez

Writing for the Sciences

Professor Anna Voisard

February 18, 2023

Allstate mayhem commercial – Dean Winters as Teenage Girl in Pink Truck

In 2010, Allstate released a few skit commercials starring Dean Winters, an American actor, to advertise their insurance company. The commercial starts with Dean Winters in a pink car and him saying “I’m a teenage girl.” Throughout the advertisement he makes several stereotypical remarks to portray how a teenage girl would act. Several factors were looked upon in the making of this commercial: number of viewers, audience choice, audience appeal, choice of actor, etc. The creators used rhetorical strategies such as pathos which is used to appeal to the audience’s emotions. The creators of this skit aimed to use comedy in a way to get the audience, car owners, to switch to their company. However, due to the stereotypical and sexist comments in the 30 second advertisement, it could be seen as offensive to some viewers.

The medium of a video commercial is a way that the company, Allstate, saw fit to receive the biggest audience. The commercial aired in 2010, a time where cable tv was without fault in most homes. According to Forbes article, The Rise And Fall Of Cable Television, “In the early 2010s the cable television industry was in its zenith,” meaning that cable tv was at its prime at the time. In 2010, over 105 million U.S. households that owned televisions, paid for cable which was over 90% of all TV households, as reported by Forbes. With that many people watching cable television, a video advertisement was a perfect way to reach a peak number of viewers. Commercials seek to persuade viewers into supporting a company, or in this case, switching their car insurance to Allstate.

The creators used pathos, the rhetorical strategy of emotional appeal, for this commercial. They use humor specifically dark humor, comedy on serious subject matters, to get their point across. Within the 30 second video, Dean Winters tries to act and speak like a teenage girl. In the video he speaks about drama with his friend “Becky” who kissed the guy he liked “Johnny.” He proceeds to throw his phone to the backseat and crash into a car. The voiceover then states that Allstate could save your money and protect you from the mayhem of a teenage girl. The humor would most likely fit an older crowd such as parents with teenagers. It was made to be seen as funny and sarcastic since the actor keeps a straight face throughout the whole dialogue and obviously isn’t a teenage girl.

If this was all supposed to be a funny joke, then how can it be offensive? Well although it can be seen as comical to some, it encourages a bunch of stereotypes and is borderline sexist. In the opening scene, Dean Winters is in a pink car with a pink cellphone in his hand which can insinuate that the color pink is correlated with females. The color pink has been seen as a feminine color for a long time; in years prior, females were seen as manly for not liking pink. Cable television is a service that people of all ages use since anyone with access to a TV with paid cable can watch. The advertisement can be seen as insulting to females since it reinforces stereotypes that have been pushed on women for so long. Besides being sexist, the commercial places a humorous part into texting and driving, a significant and dangerous problem. The ad takes texting and driving as a laughing matter when the statistics of car accidents because of cell phone use is terrifying. Using your cellphone while driving is the cause of 1.6 million crashes and nearly 390,000 injuries each year according to the National Safety Council. In more comparison to the ad, cell phone use is the cause of 21 percent of teen drivers involved in fatal accidents as stated by Edgar Synder & Associates, a personal injury law firm.

The Allstate “mayhem” commercial starring Dean Winters uses rhetoric to persuade the audience, people who own cars, into supporting their company. The main strategy used in the commercial is comedy as it was created to be a funny skit. Humor is a part of the rhetorical strategy, pathos. The video commercial medium helped increase the amount of viewers since cable TV was popular at the time it aired. Dean Winters was a key component to gain the audience’s interest as he is a famous actor. The advertisement can quickly be seen as offensive however, since it makes a joke out of serious and offensive topics.

References:

“Allstate Mayhem Commercial – Dean Winters as Teenage Girl in Pink Truck.” YouTube, YouTube, 1 Aug. 2010,

Self-Assessment:

The Rhetorical Analysis was the second assignment for the class, the first being the resume and cover letter. The assignment was to analyze a controversial advertisement and write about the rhetoric behind it. I chose a sexist ad that made stereotypical jokes about teenage girls. I enjoyed writing this paper although I did struggle in some portions. When writing the first draft I found it difficult to find the rhetorical strategies behind the ad because I didn’t really think that far into it. I also felt a bit weird writing about the stereotypical jokes because I didn’t want to seem too dramatic and as if I was picking at every little thing. It took me quite a while to complete but I feel like I did a good job at analyzing the ad and explaining my claims to the readers with some outside research in my final draft. I probably could have made the paper longer but I ran out of words because there is only so much you can write about a sexist advertisement.

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