Dacia Duster Commercial, 2016

1. DACIA DUSTER Commercial, 2016

2. “ANOTHER ONE DRIVES THE DUSTER”
HTTPS://WWW.YOUTUBE.COM/WATCH?V=LONMBBMULIU
Written text
• Rear-view
camera
Actors & Actions
• Dacia Duster, passes by
• Dacia Duster (different colour) reverses,
colored lines showing the driver’s rear
vision
• Elderly gentleman at tailor’s; looks out the
window, then down at tailor
• Tailor; kneeling, adjusts the suit
• Family in the car; moving to the sound of
the music
• Stylish young woman with a small dog;
arranges her sunglasses so she can get a
better look at the passing car
• Hand inside the car adjusts map on the
GPS screen
Spoken text
Gentleman: “Another ones
drives the Duster.”
Young woman: “Another
ones drives the Duster.”

3. “ANOTHER ONE DRIVES THE DUSTER”
Written text
• Model Shown Duster
Prestige TCe 125 4x2
£14,290
• At participating dealers
only
• (Headline format)
• Auto Express. Driver
Power. 2016
• New Dacia Duster. From
£9,495 to £16,495
• Logo of Dacia
(looks like a smiling face)
Actors & Actions
• Dacia Duster, drives by through
beautiful mountain scenery, then
through a forest.
• Hunter (low class), in the bushes
beside the road; stands up,
surprised.
• Two hunters (man and woman),
upper class; they look up as the
car passes by.
• Dacia Duster drives through
mud, splashes about.
• The children in the car giggle in
delight.
• The car drives on through flat
land.
Spoken text
Hunter: “Another ones drives
the Duster.”
She: “Hey, when do we get one
too?”
He: “Another one drivers the
Duster.”
Voiceover, male
“Dacia. Voted by owners as a top 5 car
brand in auto express driver power
survey for the second year running.”
Voiceover, male
“You do the math.”

4. ANALYSIS
• Goal of project: To survey how text, visual and sound/music work
together to build up a richer and more suggestive message.
• Material analyzed: A Romanian commercial made for an international
audience and adapted to the UK market
• Subject/Product: Dacia Duster (2016)
• Aim: To promote Dacia Duster on the British market
• Composition: The commercial combines text, visual and music, each in
several sub-modes

5. COMMUNICATION MODES
1. Language: 3 sub-modes
Spoken text
Pronunciation (accent):
Another one drives the Duster
- uttered by four characters:
1. elderly gentleman
2. stylish young woman
3. hunter, lower class
4. hunter, gentry
Style: informal; due to
• word choice:
 idiom to bite the dust = to be killed
 interjection: Hey
• grammar: abbreviated form (in the
original song): I'm gonna get you
Paralanguage:
 eager, anxious tone of voice
Voiceover
= for 2 final slides
1. gives information regarding the car’s
success:
Dacia. Voted by owners as a top 5 car
brand in auto express driver power survey
for the second year running.
2. urges customers to evaluate the car
themselves:
You do the math.
Paralanguage: positive
• male, i.e. regarded as knowledgeable in the
field of technology
• tone of voice: confident, enthusiastic
Written text
3 sub-modes:
• subtitles for the visuals: give
information regarding the car’s
performances and availability
• newspaper headline: info about
the authority that evaluates the
car
Auto Express
= a weekly monitoring
magazine sold in the UK
• the Dacia logo

6. COMMUNICATION MODES
1. The story
= an Action process
- aimed at stirring the receiver’s emotions
- characters belonging to various social classes
and age groups
• social meaning: Dacia Duster is for all
social classes and age groups
- performing a variety of actions
• connotation: Dacia Duster is for active
people
- all expressing positive emotions at
seeing/being in the car
• connotation: Dacia Duster is affordable,
comfortable, easy to drive, …
3. The written text:
= a Verbal process
– carries technical information –
connotations of know-how
2. The newspaper headline: a Verbal process
testimonial: the trustworthiness of the producer
4. The logo:
= a Symbolic process
- looks like smiling face
(positive paralanguage)
2. Visual: 4 sub-modes

7. 3. MUSIC
Song: borrowed from pop music
• Cultural salience: Queen/Freddie Mercury’s megahit
Impact: due to
• its somber melody and haunting rhythm (strong beat)
• creates suspense and induces tension
Suspense is also induced by:
• Subject matter of the original lyrics: it speaks of death on the battlefield:
… And another one gone, and another one gone
Another one bites the dust/ Hey, I'm gonna get you, too …
• Upset expectations: The commercial adapts the lyrics to its own purposes
• by replacing words without changing the number of feet (i.e. rhythmic units)
Hey, when do we get one too? < Hey, I'm gonna get you, too
• by phoneme substitution (drives < bites) and
• addition of unstressed final /ə/ (duster < dust):
…another one drives the Duster < another one bites the dust
COMMUNICATION MODES

8. CONCLUSION
The commercial is memorable and enjoyable due to:
 the clever choices made by the producers:
• Music: well-chosen song (well-known), highly effective rhythm
• Visual: well-delineated story, well-chosen characters, good film
production
• Text: good adaptation of the lyrics + technical information
 the skillful combination of various modes and sub-modes
• adds meaning to each level and enhances tension

9. Vizental, Adriana. 2009. Meaning and Communication: from Semantic Meaning to Pragmatic
Meaning. Arad: "Aurel Vlaicu" University Press.
Vizental, Adriana. 2017. Interpreting texts. Parts 1&4. Arad: "Aurel Vlaicu" University Press.
PDF. Online.
Dacia Duster commercial:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2uXHsppO90Q
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lonMbbMUliU
“Another One Bites the Dust” music video by Queen:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rY0WxgSXdEE
“Another One Bites the Dust” lyrics by Queen:
https://genius.com/Queen-another-one-bites-the-dust-lyrics
BIBLIOGRAPHY