This study critically examines how the Swedish Armed Forces’ attempt to construct a sense of duty towards Sweden as a nation and analyze how persuasion is used by The Swedish Armed Forces in commercials, focusing on what rhetorical strategies are used. As Sweden faces its most serious security situation in 40 years, the attention is directed towards The Swedish Armed Forces. Strengthening the civilians' will to defend is one the core missions of the Swedish Armed Forces. In order to create a willingness to defend, a sense of duty towards the nation must also be established.

The multimodal critical rhetorical analysis analyzed textual, as well as visual and auditory aspects of the material. To conduct the analysis, a rhetorical framework was used as well as Benedict Anderson's theory of Imagined Communities. The findings were presented and analyzed through three headings; “Swedish traditions and symbols", "Representation and diversity" and "Guilt and gratitude", under which the messages of the commercials were identified. The results of the study contribute to the understanding of how the Swedish Armed Forces communicate through commercials, with an emphasis on how national narratives are used as reinforcing tools of persuasion. 

The analysis emphasizes that The Swedish Armed Forces was noticeably focusing on establishing trust as well as  appealing to the citizens’ feelings through their commercials.  Further, it could be stated that the authority constructed a sense of duty through a mediated community and through the emphasis on guilt and gratitude. These conclusions suggested a societal discussion concerning the role of communication in maintaining legitimacy as well as a discussion regarding an authority’s use of emotional resources.