English Language Arts
Grade 10
15 min
Identify appeals to ethos, pathos, and logos in advertisements
Identify appeals to ethos, pathos, and logos in advertisements
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1
Introduction & Learning Objectives
Learning Objectives
Define ethos, pathos, and logos in the context of advertising.
Identify the target audience of a given advertisement based on its content and tone.
Analyze how specific visual and textual elements in an advertisement create rhetorical appeals.
Differentiate between the uses of ethos, pathos, and logos within a single advertisement.
Evaluate the intended effect of each appeal on the advertisement's target audience.
Explain the advertiser's purpose by connecting it to the primary rhetorical appeals used.
Articulate how the combination of appeals contributes to the overall tone of an advertisement.
Ever watched a commercial and suddenly felt an overwhelming urge to buy that product, or felt a tear well up in your eye? 🤔 Let's pull back the...
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Key Concepts & Vocabulary
TermDefinitionExample
EthosAn appeal to authority, credibility, or character. It persuades the audience by establishing the trustworthiness or expertise of the speaker, brand, or a cited source.A toothpaste commercial featuring a dentist in a white lab coat recommending the product. The dentist's profession gives the recommendation credibility.
PathosAn appeal to emotion. It seeks to persuade the audience by evoking feelings such as happiness, fear, guilt, nostalgia, or compassion.A commercial for a phone company showing a soldier video-chatting with his tearful family from overseas. This evokes feelings of love, connection, and patriotism.
LogosAn appeal to logic and reason. It persuades the audience by using facts, statistics, evidence, and clear reasoning to make a compelling argu...
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Key Rules & Conventions
The Rule of Interplay
Effective advertisements rarely rely on a single appeal.
Most ads strategically blend ethos, pathos, and logos to create a more compelling and multi-faceted message. Your task is to identify which appeal is dominant and how the others provide support.
The Audience-Appeal Connection
The choice of appeal is dictated by the target audience.
An appeal is only effective if it resonates with the values, fears, desires, and beliefs of its intended audience. An ad for retirement planning will use different appeals than an ad for a new energy drink.
Analyze All Elements
Appeals are conveyed through text, images, sound, and structure.
Don't just read the words. Analyze the music, colors, camera angles, body language of actors, and the overall mood. A...
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Challenging
A company that sells rugged, expensive outdoor gear runs a print ad showing a lone hiker on a remote, treacherous mountain peak at sunrise. The only text is the company logo and the words "Earn It." The ad contains no statistics, testimonials, or product descriptions. What is the advertiser's most likely purpose, derived from this appeal strategy?
A.To sell gear by appealing to the audience's desire for challenge, achievement, and identity (pathos), rather than by listing features (logos).
B.To demonstrate the product's features through a logical visual.
C.To use the ethos of the anonymous hiker to build brand credibility.
D.To inform the audience about the dangers of mountain climbing.
Challenging
An advertisement for a high-fashion perfume brand features an abstract, artistic video with a beautiful model, evocative music, and no spoken words or text other than the brand name. Why would the advertiser deliberately choose to rely almost exclusively on pathos and omit logos?
A.Because the advertiser is not confident in the product's logical benefits.
B.Because the target audience for luxury goods is often persuaded by feelings of desire, exclusivity, and sophistication, which logos could undermine by making the product seem too common or practical.
C.Because it is impossible to represent a scent using logos.
D.Because the ad is primarily targeting scientists who can deduce the perfume's composition from the visuals.
Challenging
An ad campaign for a new, highly secure online banking service targets older, less tech-savvy customers. The ads feature complex, fast-moving animations of data encryption, while a voiceover rapidly lists dozens of technical security features. Based on the "Audience-Appeal Connection," what is the most significant flaw in this strategy?
A.The ad fails to establish ethos because it doesn't use a celebrity spokesperson.
B.The ad's use of pathos is too weak to connect with the audience's fears.
C.The ad's attempt at a strong logos appeal is likely to alienate its target audience, who may find the technical details confusing rather than reassuring.
D.The ad should have focused on a single, emotional story instead of any logic.
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