Eclipse Gum Ad: Good vs. Evil Rhetoric Analysis
This paper presents a close rhetorical analysis of an Eclipse chewing gum print advertisement in which a personified hot dog confronts a poster threatening to "kill" bad breath. The analysis explores how the advertisers construct a moral dichotomy of good versus evil through visual composition, lighting, perspective lines, phallic symbolism, brand-name wordplay, setting, and slogan language. The paper argues that by framing ordinary chewing gum as a superhero force of light vanquishing the dark evil of bad breath, the advertisement transcends a simple product pitch and taps into universal moral archetypes, humor, and pop-culture superhero mythology to persuade a broad consumer audience.
- Introduction: The Eclipse Gum Advertisement: Thesis: good-versus-evil framing sells gum
- Composition and Lighting as Moral Dichotomy: Visual placement and light reinforce good vs. evil
- Lines, Perspective, and Visual Direction: Perspective lines guide the eye toward gum
- Symbolism: Brand Name, Sexuality, and Setting: Eclipse name, phallic symbol, and alley setting
- Slogan Language and Superhero Mythology: "Kill" and "we" cast gum as collective superhero
- Humor and Target Audience: Humor broadens appeal to young adult consumers
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What makes this paper effective
- It grounds every interpretive claim in a specific visual or textual detail from the advertisement, making the analysis concrete and verifiable rather than impressionistic.
- It maintains a single, clearly stated thesis — that the good-versus-evil moral dichotomy makes ordinary chewing gum compelling — and returns to it consistently across each section.
- It moves logically from formal visual elements (composition, lighting, line) to symbolic and linguistic elements (brand name, slogan, humor), creating a natural analytical progression.
Key academic technique demonstrated
The paper demonstrates multimodal rhetorical analysis: it treats the advertisement as a layered text and decodes each mode — visual, spatial, linguistic, and cultural — as a rhetorical choice. The discussion of the double entendre in "Lights out bad breath" is a strong example, showing how a single phrase operates on two semantic levels while reinforcing the central eclipse metaphor.
Structure breakdown
The paper opens with a vivid scene-setting introduction that establishes the thesis. It then moves through visual design (composition, lighting, perspective), followed by symbolic content (sexuality, setting, brand name), and finally language (slogan, superhero mythology, humor). Each section is a discrete analytical unit tied back to the central good-versus-evil argument, ending with a brief note on audience and tonal appeal.
Introduction: The Eclipse Gum Advertisement
In an ad for Eclipse gum, a human-sized hot dog grips a weapon-sized stick with nails poking out of it. He looks at the audience with a petrified expression on his face, realizing there is no escape from the powerful Eclipse gum. In the foreground, a brightly lit poster nailed to a wooden telephone pole depicts an image of a pack of Solar Eclipse gum and reads, "When we find bad breath we kill it." A sub-heading on the poster states, "Lights out bad breath." Depicting bad breath as a giant hot dog standing in a dark, abandoned alley filled with trash emphasizes the connection between junk food and halitosis. The gum is presented as a powerful antidote to the evils of bad breath caused by junk food.
However, the advertisement is not a public service ad promoting healthy lifestyles; it is a pitch for chewing gum. Therefore, the central message of the ad is that Eclipse gum can conquer bad breath like a superhero vanquishes criminals. Because the advertisement relies on the universal moral dichotomy of good versus evil, the Eclipse gum ad is an effective means to pitch what would otherwise be ordinary chewing gum.
Composition and Lighting as Moral Dichotomy
One of the ways the advertisers create the dichotomy of good versus evil is through composition and lighting. The poster of the gum is placed in the foreground on a large telephone pole that literally eclipses all the other objects in the picture. The sheer size of the pole and the relative size of the poster indicate that the gum will ultimately triumph over bad breath. Furthermore, the poster occupies the upper-right of the composition while the hot dog stands in the lower left. Traditionally, objects closer to the ground seem metaphorically "lower" — and therefore more evil — than objects that float above the ground, just as heaven is thought to reside in the sky and hell beneath the earth. The placement of the two objects hints at a David and Goliath image: a piece of gum is much smaller than a hot dog, yet it can still conquer bad breath's effects.
The designers also employ lighting techniques to illustrate the central message of the advertisement and to heighten the tension between good and evil. The hot dog is lit just enough for the viewer to see the stunned and frightened expression on his face. However, the spotlight of the ad is clearly on the Eclipse gum poster. The hot dog's legs are mired in darkness, underscoring the connection between darkness and evil. The Eclipse gum poster's predominant colors are green and white — colors associated with lightness, brightness, and minty freshness — and the words "When we find bad breath we kill it" are printed in bright white. Thus, Eclipse gum is portrayed as the force of Light and Good, while the hot dog is depicted as an element of darkness, destruction, and evil.
Lines, Perspective, and Visual Direction
The designers cleverly use lines and other elements of visual perspective to illustrate how good triumphs over evil. Throughout the ad, line placement draws the eye toward the advertiser's messages. The hot dog's stick points directly toward the poster, so the viewer's eye is directed toward the Eclipse gum imagery. The hot dog also stands upright, adding a vertical element that parallels the pole; as a result, the eye is naturally drawn upward toward the Eclipse ad. An upper-level balcony sits on a diagonal line pointing toward the poster as well, paralleling the section of the poster that reads, "Lights out bad breath."
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