Rhetorical appeals
From DigitalRhetoricCollaborative
Contents |
[edit] Introduction
Background Information
The ad https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nj70XqOxptU that is analyzed through the lens of rhetorical appeals is “understand” by Priorities USA action. Priorities USA action is an independent expenditure, essentially means it is a “political campaign communication” system that explicitly looks to support or derail a candidate by means of advocacy or attack ads. This campaign communication is prohibited to have any contact with the candidate, or the candidates committee. It also happens to be a PAC, political action committee, which funds a campaign by donating funds allocated from members and other contributors. The ad in support of presidential candidate Barrack Obama attacks Mitt Romney, his political opponent running for the presidency, on the belief that because of his closing of a steel plant, Joe lost his job and was unable to pay insurance for his sickly wife in the ensuing days died.
Rhetorical appeals are used to help achieve a desired effect on an audience. The three appeals are ethos, pathos, and logos. Ethos is an appeal to credibility. The rhetor uses ethos to show the audience that he/she is qualified to discuss the given topic. Pathos is an appeal to emotions. This can mean anything from making the audience laugh to making them cry. By appealing to the audience’s emotions, the rhetor forces his/her message to have a stronger impact on the audience. Logos is an appeal to logic. In using logos, the rhetor communicates his message using simple reasoning. He/She is trying to make his/her message as logical as possible so that a reasonable audience may come to agree with it, or at the very least, understand where the rhetor is coming from with his message.
[edit] Ethos
Ethos is in collaboration with and an adherence to credibility and validity. With ethos the reader, respondent, or audience must be assured of the certainty of character wherein the speaker or rhetor is concerned. Ethos looks to establish a sense of respect and acknowledgement that, “the speaker knows what he/she is talking about”. Ethos should alleviate any questions of why should I believe you, i.e ethos is the unspoken credentials.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nj70XqOxptU
So why do we believe this Joe?
Why should I humor what he says as truth?
The ethos in this particular video comes from the “personable” nature of the speaker. As we watch the video we are assured that anyone can be this man, though we do not know him we understand his plight as a common man. Joe is able to assure the audience of his honesty because the audience acknowledges his beliefs and his standard of values that being family and his concern for job security. His ethos ultimately is intertwined and heavily contingent upon his pathos.
[edit] Pathos
Pathos is heavily present in this advertisement. The entire commercial focuses on an individual who's life was turned upside down by Mitt Romney's decision to close a steel plant. As a result of this decision, the man in the commercial and his wife lost their health insurance. This lead to the couple not being able to afford healthcare for the wife's cancer, and eventually, she passed away. Priorities USA Action uses this individual narrative to show the audience that Mitt Romney supposedly isn't concerned with the consequences of his actions on his constituents. The whole advertisement has a very melancholy tone to it due to the sad background music and the tragic individual story. By drawing out sadness within the audience, Priorities USA Action shows them why Mitt Romney is not the right Presidential candidate. In this rhetorical situation, the rhetor uses pathos to portray Romney as a cold and unforgiving man, and communicate that the audience should not vote for him.
[edit] Logos
Priorities USA Action’s goal is to provide more evidence to support their claim that “if Mitt Romney wins, the middle class loses.” This specific commercial is meant to portray Romney as someone who is out of touch with the middle class.
Their argument develops as follows:
- The reference to Romney making “millions” before closing the plant depicts him as someone of considerable wealth, or not middle class.
- Joe (representative for the middle class) watches as his life begins to fall apart after losing his job at the plant:
- He has to take a job as a custodian making less than half of his previous salary.
- His wife dies because her cancer was discovered too late.
- Her cancer was discovered late because they couldn’t afford health insurance.
Priorities USA Action’s conclusion is that the death of Joe’s wife is a direct result of the plant closing. Their message to the audience is that if you wish to avoid ending up in a situation like the one Joe found himself in, then you must vote for Obama.
The target audience for this commercial are voters who consider themselves to be middle or working class individuals. They believe that the commercial will resonate with the intended audience because it is expected that they have similar concerns (affordable health insurance, job security), and it is implied that if Romney is elected then your life (the viewer) could take a turn for the worst, and you might lose your job and health insurance like Joe did. Their purpose was to convince the viewer that Romney doesn’t have their best interests at heart, and that they need to vote for Obama.
[edit] Additional Resources
http://www.simeondata.org/cst/media/doc-khughes-anatomy.pdf https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/588/04/ http://writingcommons.org/open-text/information-literacy/rhetorical-analysis/rhetorical-appeals/595-kairos
[edit] References
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nj70XqOxptU
Bibliography Hughes, Kent. "The Anatomy of Exposition: Logos, Ethos, and Pathos." The Southern Baptist Journal of Theology, (1999): 44-58. Purdue Univeristy Online Writing Lab. Purdue OWL. 11 03 2013. 16 04 2015 <https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/588/04/>. Writing Commons. Rhetorical Appeals. 16 04 2015 <http://writingcommons.org/open-text/information-literacy/rhetorical-analysis/rhetorical-appeals>.
