Rhetoric in Commercials: Analyzing the Persuasive Appeals Used to Influence the Target Audience

1. What is rhetoric?

2. 1. What product or service or organization is the commercial advertising? 2. Who is the target audience and how do you know? Be as specific as possible here. 3. What specific appeals does the commercial use and how? For example, you can’t just say it uses ethos. You’d have to explain that the actor wearing a lab coat is to help build creditiblily. Tips: consider the tools the commercials uses such as images, music, tone of voice, humor, colors, etc… Things to address with your commercial

3. Became more important with the dawn of democracies in Ancient Greece With democracies, public speaking became a tool in which people could be persuaded and controlled. The Greeks came to realize that rhetoric was a teachable skill—rhetorical training was almost like our modern university system. The period of about 400 to 320 BC saw the emergence of professional speech writers for the purpose of law and politics. Brief background to the art of persuasion

4. Much of what we study in rhetoric comes from Aristotle and his book The Art of Rhetoric or Rhetoric. Effective speakers need to be logicians and psychologists. Aristotle essentially breaks down persuasion to three rhetorical modes or appeals: ethos, pathos, and logos. Brief background continued

5. Often equated to “ethics” or “morals” Can refer to the ethics of the speaker or of the argument Ethos for a speaker: likability, trustworthiness, credibility Ethos for an argument: is the position ethical or moral Ethos

6. Often remembered as “passion” or “emotions” When a speaker makes an emotional argument, they are hoping to make an audience feel something, which in turn may persuade them to act or think in a way the speaker wants them to. When analyzing rhetoric, you need to specify what emotion is being appealed to...can’t just say the speaker is using pathos. Pathos

7. Often remembered as “logic” or “reason.” When a speaker makes a logical argument, they are hoping to persuade an audience through reason...an argument that makes sense. Facts and statistics are used as evidence in logical arguments. Logos

8. Need to be able to incorporate all three modes (ethos, pathos, and logos) to be truly effective. Each mode contains fallacies (errors in argument) that speakers use unintentionally when they have a weak argument. A speaker may also choose to use a fallacy on purpose when they know they have a weak argument, in hopes of tricking the audience. (We will learn about some common fallacies later.) Bringing it all together

11. Commercial #1 https://youtu.be/owGykVbfgUE Who is the intended/target audience? What appeals are used in the commercial? Are these appeals effective in achieving the purpose of the commercial? Explain. Rhetoric in commercials

12. Commercial #2 https://youtu.be/iCWKGX8rM3o Who is the intended/target audience? What appeals are used in the commercial? Are these appeals effective in achieving the purpose of the commercial? Explain.

13. Commercial #3 https://youtu.be/fxGYofikPzI Who is the intended/target audience? What appeals are used in the commercial? Are these appeals effective in achieving the purpose of the commercial? Explain.

14. Find a commercial and analyze what rhetorical appeals the advertising company uses to persuade the target audience. You will need to explain to the class what effect the rhetorical appeals are supposed to have on the audience. You may use notes. Here’s a sample of how you will need to talk about your commercial: https://youtu.be/fhluQyASPAY Rhetoric in commercials—your turn