The Pros And Cons Of Advertising

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 is a complicated form of marketing, it’s almost like an art form. One must be acutely aware of their audience and what captures their attention, otherwise the advertisement will fall flat. There is a myriad of different ways to lure consumers into buying a product; for example, the Center for Disease Control’s (CDC) managed through a series of advertisements to convince individuals of the importance in getting a vaccination for the influenza virus. It was applied using multiple techniques, namely the methods of universal appeal and association. These techniques helped the CDC to effectively promotes the flu vaccine and get their message across to a wide range of people.

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.

In 2010 the ASPCA (The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) came out with a commercial that would shock the advertisement industry. The effectiveness of this commercial is proven, simply by watching the reactions of the commercial’s viewers. For those who have never seen the video it has a very sad and morose tone to it. The commercial begins with showing pictures and videos of suffering animals with the song “Angel” playing in the background. While this is going on the narrator of the commercial (Sarah McLachlen) is softly talking about the suffering and abuse that these unfortunate animals go through. Through many different rhetorical techniques the viewers are many times brought to tears after watching this

Advertisements are everywhere. From billboards, to magazines, to newspapers, flyers and TV commercials, chances are that you won’t go a day without observing some sort of ad. In most cases, companies use these ads as persuasive tools, deploying rhetorical appeals—logos, pathos, and ethos—to move their audiences to think or act in a certain way. The two magazine ads featured here, both endorsing Pedigree products, serve as excellent examples of how these modes of persuasion are strategically used.

In Jib Fowles article, “Advertising’s Fifteen Basic Appeals”, he shows us fifteen ways commercials try to appeal to people around our country. The need for sex, need for affiliation, the need to nurture, need to aggress, need to achieve, need to dominate, need for prominence, need for attention, need for autonomy, need to escape, need for aesthetic sensations, need to satisfy curiosity, and physiological needs. These needs are all how companies appeal to our needs to interest us into buying their product. These appeals can be seen in almost every

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

Commercials, such as the 2012 Chevy Silverado Super Bowl commercial, have become part of people’s everyday life, constantly shocking, exciting, and engaging people with the meaning behind them. People see commercials every time they turn on the TV and file the information away for later situations, such as information about a cell phone data plan or a new vehicle just announced available. Each commercial watched promotes some sort of cause, object, or idea that companies want to sell to the common person. Commercials use symbolism, imagination, ethics, logic, and emotion to sell these things using their promoting techniques, one strong example of these things in action being the 2012 Chevy Silverado Super Bowl commercial.

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.

Envision the average American household having a lovely time watching advertisements on the television when suddenly a commercial about animal abuse plays and they hear “Angel” by Sarah McLachlan. It’s the famous commercial that tugged at everyone’s heartstrings back in 2007 (http://www.redbookmag.com/life/pets/news/a41805/sarah-mclachlan-aspca-commercial/), but the reason for its popularity can be described with the elements of an argument. Indeed, an argument is being made with those sad puppy eyes, and it is one that’s being made to appeal the crying audience. The animal cruelty video by the ASPCA featuring Sarah McLachlan is an example of a successful advertisement for these reasons: it’s use of emotion, logic, and credibility.

Throughout history, literature, pictures, and speeches have been laced with modes of persuasion. In modern society, thousands of advertisements are produced a day. Each one uses either ethos, pathos, or logos to convince viewers to shift and support a certain belief. One field of advertisements that relies heavily on pathos and ethos is the health field. The national anti-smoking campaign advertisement, below, uses blatant visuals and medical facts to make viewers understand how smoking negatively impacts people’s lives.

Coming from commercials, newspapers, movies, and magazines, advertisements are one of the most prominent things that we get bombarded with on a daily basis. The problem with a lot of people including myself is that we fall victim to the manipulation of the advertising sharks and their devious tricks. In the article ‘Advertising’s 15 Basic Appeals’ by Jib Fowles, the author describes how advertisers will use 15 basic emotional appeals in order to get you to say ‘I want and need that!’ In National Geographic, a historical, anthropological, discovery-based magazine, advertisers focus their energy on the middle-aged, middle-class, educated audience, who want to improve not only their intellectual integrity, but also improve their families lives if the readers can help it. National Geographic advertisers can do this by appealing to the readers’ basic needs for achievement, nurture, and guidance.

In “Propaganda Techniques in Today 's Advertising” by Ann McClintock, the author discusses how Americans are being brainwashed by advertisements and the different techniques they use to catch our attention. Ads are simply everywhere we look, it is impossible to get through the day without seeing one. All advertising companies put tons of research into how consumers spend money or even vote. Once these companies finish their research, they create advertisements that appeal to the masses. The basic propaganda techniques that McClintock writes about are Name Calling, Glittering Generalities, Transfer, Testimonial, Plain Folks, Card Stacking, and Bandwagon. Each one of these propaganda techniques is used in specific ways by advertisers to sell their product or service to consumers. I have selected a political ad which uses the Glittering Generalities technique, a coffee ad that uses Transfer technique, a soda ad that uses the Testimonial technique, and a soup ad that uses the Name Calling technique.

The argument of such adds is that there is something wrong and now you will feel pity for whatever the matter is. BCSPAs premise is that every hour there is an animal being abused, and there are so many animals in need of help and warm homes, so in conclusion be an innovator and become a donator to the campaign. It is a fallacy because the commercial is appealing to the emotion of audience by making them pity the animals. Their premises are good and valid because there are many suffering animals and there are homeless animals but their conclusion could be taken wrong. Donating money to a campaign can be viewed as a negative option for some because they would rather physically help rather than giving money and not being 100% sure where it is going.