ASPCA ASPCA Uses Aristotle's Power of Persuasion Essay

One of the most influential advertisements that is frequently shown on television that use these three appeals is the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) commercials that urge viewers to help the organizations by adopting an animal in need, by donating money, by volunteering their time, or a combination thereof. In order to convey their message, these television advertisements use ethos to establish credibility. One of the ways in which credibility can be established is through the use of a celebrity (Johnson, 2011). "Ethos is the appeal of a speaker's/actor's character or authority, such as the use of local celebrities or the business owner/employees in a company's advertising" (Johnson, 2011). Musician Sarah McLaughlin helps to promote the ASPCA's mission (ASPCA Commercial, 2008). Sarah McLaughlin is seen as a credible celebrity. Her image as a credible source is further enhanced through the introduction of a canine companion, a golden retriever. In addition to having McLaughlin as a spokesperson for the ASPCA, the organization itself is a credible source. Established

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the methods of persuasion that are used in this commercial, and how the use of ethos, pathos, and logos has made the commercial from ASPCA persuasive and successful.

Advertising appeals to emotions, rather than reason. Most ads try to attract your interest or stimulate your desire by either scaring you into doing something or appeal to your emotions by tying a product to your “happiness or well-being”. Successful ads also use compelling visuals to entice the audience into action. Many also use celebrities because research shows we are more likely to associate truthfulness with a known celebrity figure.

The ASPCA announcement uses the rhetorical devices, logos and ethos to convince its audience to donate. Logos is the appeal to logic, and ethos is the appeal to morals. The commercial states facts about how thousands of animals are abused every day. It states that a small donation of only eighteen dollars a month can make a big difference by providing many different forms of aid to the animals. The ASPCA advertisement translates this to sixty cents a day to show how small the donation really is. This is somewhat of a logical and ethical appeal. It appeals logically to the audience because for just a small monetary donation the viewer can help save abused and neglected animal from their abusers and provide medical care, food, shelter and love. This shows that the donation can be used in many essential ways to care for the animal, and that their donation is responsible for giving the animals a second chance. This too is an ethical appeal because donating will make the viewer feel like a good, virtuous person because they contributed to an important cause. One the other hand if they don’t decide to donate they may a have a burden on their conscience because not that much money is needed to help make a big difference. In other words the viewer may feel like an unethical and bad person. The advertisement goes on to state that if you donate then you will receive a welcome kit that contains a t-shirt, wristband, and a photo of an animal that has been given a second chance because of you. All of this is a further amplification of the logical reason to donate to the ASPCA. The advertisement also uses ethos by having the Grammy winning artist Sarah Mclachlan as the speaker. Sarah seems to speak very truly and caringly about the ASPCA as she pets a dog that’s in her lap. This makes the audience feel like Sarah truly cares about the treatment of animals. As a

The trick that the ASPCA organization uses to capture people emotion is to connect with the feeling of abandonment and sadness. When one watches the commercials of the hurting and neglected animals, they feel overcome with the very emotions they are supposed to feel. An animal lover or one that has felt the same feeling of abandonment understands these animals and begins to give the small amount the advertisement asks for. They want to be the change these animals need. Emotion, good or bad, is one of the best persuade techniques to get people to connect with what the advertisement has to say. In the Shelter Pet Project organizations, the advertisements that go out to the public create a sense of happiness. This organization creates

When it comes to these sad, pathetic animals displayed on the commercial, humans feel so strongly towards them because a huge population of the people own animals themselves. When people see the images of hurt pets in this commercial, they could picture their own pets as the ones that are malnourished or beaten. This makes the effect of pathos so much stronger here. The animals shown scared with wide eyes, frail legs and overall shabbiness, emphasize the animals’ helplessness and more importantly, aims to bring out the emotion of the audience. The slideshows of the animals are shown slowly to really catch the upsetting look upon the animals’ faces. The main focus of the video is that there are abused, neglected and lonely animals out there that can be rescued, fed, and sheltered if the viewers could just contribute a monthly gift of $18 a month. The clips of the animals in agony like the broken dogs in bandages, and cat shown with a missing eye, serves to visually affect the audience, while Sarah, who is a musician known for her emotional music, and for being a true supporter of animal welfare, is used to feature her song "Angel" in the background, and make a guest appearance. Sarah 's song is used in the commercial to

The first, and most prominent, reasoning behind the commercial is emotion, or pathos. An argument should include an emotional connection to the audience to make logic and credibility more humanizing. The two-minute video primarily includes clips of previously abused animals, the staff caring for them, and singer Sarah McLachlan talking about how the viewers can help. Reason one that the argument is effective in the use of emotion would be the use of animals. The clips used include dogs, puppies, cats, and kittens whimpering or looking “sad.” These were meant to evoke an emotion to the individuals, and hopefully ignite the compassion needed to donate to ASPCA. It gained popularity from the sadden reactions of people, and for good reason. To quote

Their many years of experience have also afforded them several resources. They have a paid staff of over 800, several high-profile celebrity and corporate partnerships, a ASPCApro network of volunteers in profession animal care fields, and a CEO with a long standing history in nonprofits. The ASPCA also boast a powerful social media strategy. Using an image centric model and large social media presence the ASPCA has crafted a powerful way to gain the attention of millions.

The world and its people are not the only things that need assistance. We must not forget about the animals.Because animals cannot speak their concerns, we have to be their voice. There are animals roaming around homeless with no food or water and most of them have been abused. Animal lovers including myself, wont let this continue. Yes, there are many charities that have contributed to making animal abuse and neglect stop, but this issue hasn't been fully ceased yet. In result, I would like to support the non-profit corporation, ASPCA (the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals). The ASPCA was the first humane society to be established in North America and is, today, one of the largest in the world to stop animal abuse and/or neglect. It was founded on the belief that animals are entitled to kind and respectful treatment at the hands of humans and must be protected under the law. This organization is a no kill for space shelter. These are only some of the reasons why this organization is a noteworthy

Pathos is from the Greek words “suffering” and “experience” and is for the most part an emotional appeal. As the name implies, emotional appeal targets the emotions and feelings of the audience to create a type of relationship with the author. Because humans are such emotional creatures, it is helpful for writers to employ this strategy in their rationalizations. It is an appeal

Pathos: It is the use of emotion and affect to persuade the audience. In this appeal, the author creates an emotional statement: “ an overworked single mother may find herself over stressed and fatigued at the end of the day, making

ASPCA helps because animals are homeless and have no food. The way they help is by going out in the city and looking for animals (cats, dogs) that have no home. There basically doctors because like if they find a animal with no legs they give them a wheelchair type. One time I was looking at a story on TV and animal had ran away and the woman had

Advertisements all have one purpose, which is to make a customer aware of them so that the product or message being advertised can be brought to their awareness. The goal of gaining a person’s attention towards a product so that it can be bought is often achieved by appealing to the author’s credibility. An example can be seen in the American Red Cross Poster reveals that by giving blood, it brings communities together and it helps save lives of many (Red Cross). It can be seen that credibility is trying to be gained by showing that the audiences best interest is being made by stating that the blood would help save other lives and people would be closer together. Another example of the appeal to ethos can be seen in a passage from the book

The first advertisement, The Humane Society uses diction to motivate their audience to adopt their pets. The text states “Be a hero for animals”, the word “hero” makes the audience feel like they could have a powerful role in helping these animals find a home. The second part of the text says, “Don’t let another animal be a victim of cruel and senseless abuse”. The Humane Society puts the blame on the audience by implying they have been allowing animals to be abused. The text makes it seem like if the audience does not act now, animal abuse will continue. The audience will feel guilty if they do not adopt a pet. As for the second advertisement, it states, “Her life is in your hands”. Instead of putting the blame on the audience like the first advertisement, it puts pressure on the audience to donate to the ASPCA organization. However, similarly to the first advertisement, it incorporates guilt toward the audience. The text suggests the dog’s life is the responsibility of the audience and if they do not donate they would feel guilty about refusing to help abused animals. In the third advertisement, Peta says “If you wouldn’t wear your dog please don’t wear any fur”. It brings the audience to the realization that animal fur comes from defenseless animals like their own dogs. It does not bring guilt since it does not talk about the consequences of wearing fur; it simply suggests not wearing it. Near the end of the first advertisement, it says “act now” with an arrow and if it is clicked on gives the audience access to their website. The Humane Society does not specifically state what they want the audience to do to support animal rights but they leave a link with more information on how to contribute. The second advertisement does not suggest a specific way of standing up for animal rights. It gives the audience the choice of acting upon the situation. On the other hand, the third

Pathos means the emotional argument. It's thought that the best copywriting appeals to emotions. The logic behind emotional selling goes that if you sell by emotion, the thing you are selling is a want. If you sell based on logic and need people will go for the lowest cost option. People are much more likely to spend more money on something they want than something they need so selling my emotion and want allows you to sell your product even if it's not the lowest option by a long shot.