Hannah Greer

Professor Bedell

CAS 137-003

7 October 2016

Parenthood vs. The More you Connect, the Less you Connect

Now that I am away at college, I do something I have never done before: I FaceTime my

parents. This is ironic, for I remember the countless times they heckled me to put down that

damn phone! and spend quality time with my family; now, my phone is how I spend time with

my family. My parents conflicting emotions about the role of cell phones in the family are

represented both by Apples Parenthood iPhone ad and Ogilvy & Mathers The More you

Connect, the Less you Connect campaign. While both ads depict family settings and only

feature interactions between family members, The More you Connect, the Less you Connect

campaign seeks to illuminate the detrimental effects of smartphone addiction on family

relationships in stark contrast to the Parenthood ad, which illustrates more family interaction

and communication with the help of smartphones. Thus, both ads use similar appeals, such as

pathos specifically related to the closeness of a family and images of children, advertising

smartphones as life-changing, but to communicate opposing messages.

According to Apple, the iPhone 5s is a means of bringing the family closer together. As

shown in the Parenthood ad, Apple advertises an array of beneficial familial supplements, such

as an app that uses cartoon animation to teach children how to brush their teeth, a tracking

feature, and FaceTime. If the features displayed in the ad are not directly beneficial to the

average family, they at least appear useful and convenient - for example, high resolution images,

an app that turns the lights out, a flashlight feature, etc. To facilitate Apples attempt to encourage
parents to buy iPhones for themselves and their family, every child and adult starring in the ad

are the picture of health, happiness, and beauty. Even more suggestive of a better life with an

iPhone, the soundtrack to the commercial is Julie Doirons Life of Dreams. While one could

argue whether or not frequent smartphone use hurts, helps, or does nothing at all to family

relationships, the iPhones FaceTime feature is a tough argument to counter, allowing families to

see each others faces and hear each others voices when they are separated.

Regardless, The More you Connect, the Less you Connect campaign counters virtually

every argument posed in the Parenthood ad. While the iPhone ad was designed to encourage

adults to purchase iPhones for themselves and their family members, Ogilvy & Mathers ads

were created for the Shenyang Center for Psychological Research to raise awareness about

smartphone addiction (East, 2015). The claims posed in the campaign are backed by substantial

research, such as studies published in the journals Computers in Human Behavior and

Psychology of Popular Media Culture. The data in these studies reveal that the more smartphone

dependence present in romantic relationships, the less secure and satisfied partners feel, leading

to higher risk of depression (Roberts and David, 2015). In addition to romantic relationships,

families are also negatively affected by smartphone addiction - in a recent study published in the

journal Pediatrics, researchers observed 55 adults at restaurants with children. They observed

that most adults used their smartphone or similar devices consistently throughout the meal,

intermittently, or at the end of the meal; only 15 adults did not place any device in sight or use

one at the table. Unsurprisingly, researchers observed more engagement between adult and child

when no device was present (Alexander, 2014). The More you Connect, the Less you Connect

campaign embodies the aforementioned claim: smartphone dependence interferes with family

interaction.
 Despite the difference in message, both Ogilvy & Mather and Apple utilize similar

rhetorical strategies in their deliveries. Both ads appeal to the pathos of the family dynamic.

While many likely yearn for the lifestyles Apple portrays of picturesque, glowing families

bonding and laughing with their iPhones in hand, Ogilvy & Mather appeal to the guilt and

sadness associated with a more likely reality: a child, ignored by their parents on their

smartphones. The family image, in both ads, is also an appeal to ethos. The More you Connect,

the Less you Connect campaign paints a picture of what many modern households look like

today, divided by devices. This is an appeal to an undesirable character, one that parents and

partners, if they care about their relationships, should want to shed. On the other hand, Apple

sells attractive families to their audience, insinuating that if these happy, beautiful families take

advantage of their iPhone 5ses, those who follow suit will also belong to happy, beautiful

families.

Most importantly, essential to both of these ads is the kairotic moment of the rapid

advancement of the Computer Era and the rate at which smartphones are becoming

commonplace. Both ads take advantage of this moment of unprecedented change and speed to

argue polarized sides of the issue; one side, Apples side, promotes this paradigm shift, boasting

its benefits and ability to produce a higher level of comfort for man. The other side, the one

Ogilvy & Mather defends, argues for the negative: this replacement of real-life interaction for

stimulated communication is damaging relationships and mental health.

Apples Parenthood ad and Ogilvy & Mathers The More you Connect, the Less you

Connect campaign illustrate the pros and cons of increasing smartphone presence and

dependence in todays society. Both ads manipulate appeals to pathos and ethos to encourage or

discourage families from buying new devices and using them more frequently. Both messages
are introduced the world at the brilliantly kairotic moment of what is, presently, the height of the

Computer Era.

References

Apple. "Parenthood." Youtube. N.p., 2014. Web. 6 Oct. 2016.

Alexander, Brian. "Put Down That Cellphone! Study Finds Parents Distracted by Devices." NBC

News. N.p., 10 Mar. 2014. Web. 7 Oct. 2016.

Eckert, Eric M. "Baylor Study: Cellphones Can Damage Romantic Relationships, Lead to

Depression." Baylor Media Communications (2015): n. pag. Baylor University. Web. 7 Oct.

2016.

Holmes, Lindsay. "Your Phone Habits May Be Damaging Your Relationship." The Huffington

Post. N.p., 1 Oct. 2015. Web. 7 Oct. 2016.

Ogilvy & Mather. "The More You Connect, the Less You Connect." Bored Panda. George East,

2015. Web. 7 Oct. 2016.