Rhetorical Appeals in Advertisements
When trying to understand the persuasive techniques used in advertisements, ask yourself the following questions:
- What is the purpose of the ad? (What does it try to make people think or do?)
- Who is the target audience of the ad? (Is it aimed at old people? Young people? Women? Men? Americans? Koreans? Students? Parents? Single people? Married people? Sick people? Active people? Sports-lovers? Dog-lovers? Etc.)
- Which rhetorical appeals are being used in the ad? (Ethos, logos, or pathos? Or all three?)
Practice: Let's identify which rhetorical appeals are being used in these ads:
Level Two:
In a group of 2-3 people, you will create your own ORIGINAL advertisement or public service announcement that uses all three rhetorical appeals. You can create a speech, performance, image, video commercial, etc. Your presentation can be no longer than 3 minutes in length.
- An advertisement convinces you to buy something or do something for the purpose of making money (for example, "Buy Pepsi!" or "Visit Australia!")
- A public service announcement convinces you that something is good or bad for the purpose of bettering the world (for example, "Don't smoke cigarettes!" or "Don't test products on animals!"