In this recent ad from the 2010 Superbowl, a group of people are playing football. Most of them are healthy, athletic, and masculine guys, and one of them is Betty White. After one particularly degrading sack, she is offered a Snickers by a frustrated girl watching from the sidelines, and is immediately transformed into a handsome and masculine dude. To me, it was persuasive because it challenged my sense of masculinity by asserting that unless I ate a Snickers, I'd probably be associated with weakness and inability to play good football.
This ad features sex/affiliation appeal: it forces the audience to suppose that the characteristics portrayed on the screen are the most desirable for that gender. For females, it is usually sexiness and submission. If you aren't willing to subscribe to these, it pretty much says that no one will want to be around you. For males, it is toughness and charm that are hyped. Either way, it presents an ideal model of gender and tries to inspire you to recreate it.
This ad in particular implies that if you don't do what Snickers thinks you should (eat a Snicker), you won't be good at what you want to do (play football). In fact, you'll look like an old person, and maybe even a lady. The tag-line reads: "You're not you when you're hungry. Eat a snickers." Nutritionally, this makes no sense, but rhetorically it sounds pretty good, and makes pretty much any guy want to go eat a snickers so they can, you know, be cool with the bros and make touchdowns and stuff. Well done, Betty White, and well done Snickers.
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