BELLWO

RK:

What do you notice about this advertisement?

How does the advertisement portray the company?

How does this ad affect the reader? How does it use ethos, logos, and pathos?

Use specific examples from the ad in your explanation. Yes, it should be at least ¾ of a page long. Use examples, explanation, and your own opinions/reactions to create a detailed analysis.

ETHOS, LOGOS, AND PATHOSHow the Pros Do Persuasive

APPEALS An appeal is a request or plea

Good persuasive writing often uses several different types of appeals, most often ethos, logos, and pathos

ETHOS An appeal based on the character or

reputation of the speaker or writer; appeals to the audience’s ethics (core beliefs or values)

When you argue using ethos, you are using your reputation, your knowledge, your fair-mindedness to convince your readers that they should listen to you

Appeals to ethos often emphasize shared values between the speaker and the audience

LOGOS An appeal based on logic or reason

(common sense)

When you use logos, you are supporting your position with reasons that appeal to your readers’ logic, their common sense.

This means having a clear main idea with specific details, examples, facts, statistics, or expert testimony as support.

PATHOS An appeal based on emotion

When you argue using pathos, you are supporting your position with reasons that appeal to your readers’ emotions, their feelings (guilt, love, hate, shame, anxiety, fear, etc.)

Your language engages the emotions of the audience in a way which supports your thesis

ADVERTISEMENTS: THE ULTIMATE IN PERSUASION Companies pay huge amounts of money to

advertising firms, whose entire job is to persuade the public to buy the product they’re advertising!

Advertising firms focus entirely on their AUDIENCE: What do they need? What do they want? What is important to them? How do we make the audience feel they need

this? What will they remember?

EXAMPLE 1:

•Audience: Parents•Ethos: recognizable name brand; anticipate audience’s worries about germs•Logos: germs make kids sick; disinfectants kill germs; kids share germs with each other•Pathos: the little girls look cute and sweet, no one would want them to get sick; parents will do or buy anything to protect their children

EXAMPLE 2:

•Audience: young adults ages 18+•Ethos: it is asking for help from the audience; using a “universal” star appeals to a wider ethnic audience•Logos: how we vote now affects our future; we may not be around in the future, but our children will be•Pathos: people want to give their children the best; having the flag in color promotes patriotic feelings; her face looks like she’s pleading with the audience

EXAMPLE 3:

•Audience:

•Ethos: the “Sally Hansen Cares” logo; long-time brand name makes people feel secure•Logos: everyone knows collagen plumps your lips, so this must work•Pathos:

EXAMPLE 4:

•Audience: people wanting to lose weight•Ethos:

•Logos:

•Pathos: many people desperately want to lose weight, and look for easy solutions; repeated use of “slenderize” makes audience associate product with a word they want

EXAMPLE 5:

•Audience:

•Ethos:

•Logos:

•Pathos:

EXAMPLE 6:

•Audience:

•Ethos:

•Logos:

•Pathos: