Pathos

Pathos is a rhetorical strategy used to appeal to the audience’s emotional values (“Using Rhetorical Strategies for Persuasion,” n.d.). Pathos is prevalent throughout all different types of literature, as appealing to the audience’s emotions can greatly enhance an argument. Using emotional appeals can include personal stories or examples that the author may feel will resonate with the audience. Pathos tends to be especially prevalent in advertisements. Maintaining a connection and relevance to the topic or argument is especially important (“Using Rhetorical Strategies for Persuasion,” n.d.). Relevance to the topic or the main argument is important throughout all types of anecdotes but can become a major issue with emotional appeals because the connection may not be as clear to the audience as it is to the author. If pathos is overused or relied on too heavily in an argument, the argument may get off-topic or become misrepresented.

The three main types of rhetorical appeal strategies are ethos, pathos, and logos. Ethos is the ethical appeal that uses the credibility or reliability of the author (“Using Rhetorical Strategies for Persuasion,” n.d.). This is an important strategy because it gives the audience a reason to believe that the information and argument that the author is making is valid. The other rhetorical appeal is logos, or the logical appeal to reason (“Using Rhetorical Strategies for Persuasion,” n.d.). The combination of the three rhetorical strategies is crucial to the argument as a whole because each of the appeals contains aspects that are important to the formation of a clear, valid argument.

Coca-Cola Advertisement

The Coca-Cola advertisement effectively uses pathos to persuade viewers to purchase the product. The advertisement is meant to evoke feelings of happiness and associate the product with joyful emotions. The ad states “open a Coke, open happiness.” The language used effectively associates happiness with Coca-Cola by telling viewers that a bottle of Coke is equivalent to happiness. To further evoke emotions of joy from the viewer, the center of the ad has a sun with its beams spreading across the image. The sun brings brightness to the image, making the ad appear more cheerful. The image also has a bright tint to it, with yellow undertones. Yellow and brightness are often associated with happiness and by using bright tones the advertisement has a joyful appearance to it. The ad also depicts a bright green, healthy field in the background, further pushing the theme of happiness and joy. Through all of these techniques, the advertisement effectively uses pathos to evoke joyful emotions from the viewer.

Cigarette Advertisement

The anti-smoking ad effectively uses pathos to portray the negative effects of smoking. The image depicts a man smoking a cigarette containing a flesh-like substance emerging from it. The accompanying caption reads “every 15 cigarettes you smoke causes a mutation that can become cancer.” The caption paired with the image of the cigarette indicates to the viewer that the emerging substance from the cigarette is cancer. The statement serves as a warning meant to dissuade viewers from smoking, appealing to the viewer's emotions by making them fearful of getting cancer and associating that fear with cigarettes. The poster is meant to make the viewer disgusted by cigarettes and the health problems associated with smoking. The image used is unattractive and disturbing and is meant to evoke a feeling of disgust from the viewer. The viewer associates cigarettes with feelings of disgust, dissuading them from smoking or persuading them to quit smoking. Furthermore, the filter used in the photo has a dark, melancholy tone. Using a dark filter in the photo indicates to the viewer that the image depicted is not happy, but is sad. The photo consists of gray tones, making the image sorrowful and downcast. The gray tones evoke melancholy emotions from the viewer and the viewer associates these emotions with cigarettes. Using multiple methods, the anti-smoking ad effectively uses pathos to persuade viewers to quit smoking.

ASPCA Advertisement

In the ASPCA advertisement, the goal is to get people to donate money to the ASPCA. Using the image of a cute, innocent dog is an example of a company using pathos in an advertisement. In the image, the dog is what is appealing to the audience’s emotional sensibilities, as the sad and desperate look on the dog’s face causes the audience to feel bad for the animal and become more inclined to donate. The environment in which the dog is important, as well. The dog is in a small, dirty-looking kennel, adding to the overall sad and desperate look of the whole advertisement. The rhetorical choice made by the ASPCA is designed to make the audience feel bad for the dog and feel that their possible donation could help save the dog. Everything about the advertisement was thought out in a way to appeal to the audience to make them feel that they should donate money to the ASPCA.

Relevance

People must understand how pathos work and how pathos is used to avoid their emotions being manipulated. When someone can identify and define pathos, they are less likely to be manipulated because they can identify the manipulation being done. People constantly use pathos; pathos is used in arguments, commercial ads, movies, and so on. The ability to identify when pathos is being used allows a person to be aware of when they are being persuaded or manipulated. Rhetorical awareness allows a person to make sound, level-headed decisions that are not emotion-based. Furthermore, understanding pathos allows a person to improve their persuasion skills. A person who comprehends pathos may use pathos to their advantage. For example, if two friends make plans together, but are unable to decide what to do, a person who understands pathos may use the rhetoric device to persuade their friend to do a specific activity. To prevent manipulation and to improve upon persuasion skills, people must be capable of identifying and using pathos

Works cited

ASPCA. “Just 63 Cents a Day.” American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, https://d2z1w4aiblvrwu.cloudfront.net/ad/wVqp/aspca-prevention-of-cruelty-to-animals-month-large-6.jpg. Accessed 30 Nov. 2022

Printsome. “Coca-Cola Marketing: What Makes them so Good?.” Printsome Insights, 29 July. 2016, https://blog.printsome.com/coca-cola-marketing/. Accessed 28 Nov. 2022.

Staff. “Using Rhetorical Strategies for Persuaion.” Purdue University,https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/general_writing/academic_writing/establishing_arguments/rhetorical_strategie s.html. Accessed 28 Nov. 2022.

The Guardian. “Quit Smoking Campaign Targets Roll-up Cigarettes”, 2014, The Guardian,https://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/december/29 /quit-smoking-campaign- rollup-cigarettes. Accessed 16 Nov. 2022.

The Purdue OWL Family of Sites. The Writing Lab and OWL at Purdue and Purdue U, 2008, owl.english.purdue.edu/owl. Accessed 16 Nov. 2022.

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