Appealing to Emotion in Advertising

The application of logos, ethos, and pathos are commonly utilized in rhetorical concepts that are used in any print advertisement to win the attention of the customer. They primarily is to convince the customer of the credibility of the persuader as well as creating an emotional response as well as trying to persuade an audience by reason. Print advertisement should be smart, containing a clever message, and with a curious image that will fascinate the thought of the expected readers at first-hand. For any advertising print to be credible and captivating there must be examples of evidence that whatever is displayed on the print is legitimate.

Advertisements often employ many different methods of persuading a potential consumer. The vast majority of persuasive methods can be classified into three modes. These modes are ethos, pathos, and logos. Ethos makes an appeal of character or personality. Pathos makes an appeal to the emotions. And logos appeals to reason or logic. This fascinating system of classification, first invented by Aristotle, remains valid even today. Let's explore how this system can be applied to a modern magazine advertisement.

Television advertisements have been a part of pop culture for years, these quick minute long clips gain the popularity of its viewers through humor, shock, or simply good salesmanship. The ShamWow infomercial has become one the most well known television ads in America. Its popularity came from its snappy dialogue, believable offer, and enthusiastic spokesman. But what made this infomercial so successful? Today I will be analyzing how the ineffective use of the appeals of ethos and kairos, and the highly effective appeal of logos and pathos effect the audience in the ShamWow commercial.

When it comes to the topic of commercials, most of us readily agree that commercials are irritating. Where this agreement usually ends, however, is on the purpose of the commercial. Whereas some are convinced that commercials are meaningless, others maintain that commercials tell a story. Effective commercials are repetitive and illustrate a story. Marketers use rhetoric marketing, the art of persuasive speaking and writing, when persuading an audience to buy a product. Rhetoric marketing is especially effective through the illustration of a story. It is effective because the marketer is able to relate to the consumer with a story or message. Advertisers also use the appeals of logic, credibility, and emotions to intrigue interest in a company. Coca-Cola’s advertisement, “Falling,” depicts the product as a confidence building companion suitable for young love through a series of logical and emotional appeals that visibly promotes the brand’s credibility.

Logos, ethos, and pathos are essential components used in advertising. By learning to recognize logos, ethos, and pathos in advertising, we are able to understand the message and what is being portrayed. (Albert et al, 2014), suggested that Aristotle postulated that a speaker’s ability to effectively convince an audience is constructed on how well the speaker appeals to that audience in three different areas: logos, ethos, and pathos. These appeals together form what Aristotle calls a rhetorical triangle.

Advertisements are making a negative impact on American culture, as they sway people’s emotions and moods, causing them to purchase unnecessary products. In the web article, Seven Reasons Why We’re Irrational Shoppers, Dr. Alain Samson observes that, “51 percent of respondents said that ‘feeling happy’ was a trigger for unplanned purchases” (Samson).This shows that, at times, a person’s feelings can also be a play a crucial role in persuading him or her to buy a specific item or good. For instance, a person may be having a great day, due to some special circumstances, and this excitement may cause them to purchase unnecessary items, such as

Ethos refers to the trustworthiness or credibility of the writer or speaker, it’s conveyed through the tone and style of the message, through the writer. Pathos is the emotional side of persuading the reader through emotions. An example of ethos is where the author tells the reader that she will be doing some old fashion journalism and putting herself through the experience of what it feels like to be a blue collar worker. Pathos is also seen in the book, on page 214, as stated earlier in the paper where it talks about how the blue-collar workers work and live. The examples that she gives about how they try to survive. The paragraph is using real life examples and it tries to make us feel sort of emotion towards the workers. Logos is also used, she provides footnotes at the end of a few pages and it gives further explanations about the certain

Thus, by creating appeals to logos, pathos, and ethos, companies use advertisements as powerful persuasive tools. This can be done through the careful selection of color, imagery, narration, design, and layout, to name a few significant elements. When used correctly, these rhetorical strategies can make the difference between whether a product or idea is embraced or rejected by the

What captures the attention of people when they view an advertisement, commercial or poster? Is it the colors, a captivating phrase or the people pictured? While these are some of the elements often employed in advertising, we can look deeper and analyze the types of appeals that are utilized to draw attention to certain advertisements. The persuasive methods used can be classified into three modes. These modes are pathos, logos, and ethos. Pathos makes an appeal to emotions, logos appeals to logic or reason and ethos makes an appeal of character or credibility. Each appeal can give support to the message that is being promoted.

Next was pathos, which appeals to the emotions or what people are feeling. It connects with the audience by showing or interpreting something the audience relates to or shows interest in. Lastly, ethos is to what extent the audience trusts an author by relying on their word and reputation. The author’s credentials support what they are trying to convey or the message they are trying to send to the audience about an ad or announcement.

Advertisers all have one goal in common, that is an ad that is catching to a consumer’s attention. In today’s fast paced society there are so many selling products and charities. As I exam the advertisement for the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty for Animals (ASPCA), I will show how they use the pathos, ethos, and logos – also known as Aristotle’s Theory of Persuasion.

The main purpose of commercials and advertisements is to persuade the viewer to purchase the product that is advertised, but not all commercials are successful in this endeavor. Companies, such as Budweiser and Kleenex, appeal to the viewers’ ethos, logos, and pathos in order to influence them to buy the advertised product(s). In order to appeal to each of the categories, companies use different tactics to catch viewers’ attention. The use of ethos, logos, and pathos can make or break an advertisement based on how it is being used.

In Rhetoric, Aristotle identifies one rhetorical appeal, the emotional appeal, as "awakening emotion in the audience so as to induce them to make the judgment desired” (Book 2.1.2–3). The appeal to emotion as described by Aristotle is used to persuade the audience by developing emotions in them that support a final argument. Emotions or emotional connections to certain ideas can serve to sway the opinion of the audience. The emotional appeals that a writer uses can take many forms from subtle word choice to straightforward comparisons. Writer Eric Schlosser uses an appeal to emotion in his essay where he describes the modern technique of marketing to children. Schlosser evaluates how pervasive advertising directed at children has become in

Persuasion is a part of our everyday lives. Whether we are persuading our mother, using persuasion through speech, or threw advertisements, we are using rhetoric strategies to get the response we desire. With the help of minor details in many advertisements, Ethos, Logos, and Pathos are a way of persuading the audience to buy or think a certain way. A Colgate toothbrush commercial used Logos, Pathos and Ethos to spread the word that they have the best toothbrush of all, in which they target everyone who has teeth. Through the use of advertisements, Colgate has convinced the world that they have the best toothbrushes, they’re even recommended by dentists.

Advertising is a persuasive communication attempt to change or reinforce one’s prior attitude that is predictable of future behavior. We are not born with the attitudes for which we hold toward various things in our environment. Instead, we learn our feelings of favorability or unfavorability through information about the object through advertising or direct experience with the object, or some combination of the two. Furthermore, the main aim of advertising is to ‘persuade’ to consumer in order to generate new markets for production.