Michael Tran

April 28, 2015

Ms. Diaz
ENGL 120-060
Kindness is the Best Medicine
The YouTube video created by TrueMove Corporation, Giving is the Best
Communication, illustrates the perfect example on the effects of displaying kindness to others
and how improving others quality of life directly affects your own. The ad is a great example of
how doctors affect the lives of others every day. The ads multiple themes and concepts build on
its rhetorical situation and rhetorical appeals of ethos, logos, and pathos, to inspire and engage its
audience. It effectively delivers its message and clearly defines its rhetorical situation. It utilizes
universal themes and multifaceted ideas to invoke strong emotions from its audience. The ad
depicts a simple story about a young boy needing help to save his mother and his future in
helping others.
The ad portrays a young boy from poverty having to steal in order to acquire medicine for
his sick mother. He is caught, but a selfless stranger decides to pay for the stolen medicine and
even goes so far as to give the boy extra food. Thirty years later, the stranger suffers from illness
and is hospitalized. The mans daughter receives the bill, an extreme amount that she cant
afford. This results in her having to sell her fathers shop. Shes frozen in stress and brought to
tears having to give up the things she loved in most in life. But the next day, she receives a new
bill with the total cost amounting to zero expenses and a note saying that the bill had been paid
for thirty years in advance. The doctor was none other than that little boy that the stranger tried to
help in the past, and now this little boy is all grown up and returns the favor.
The ad clearly defines its rhetorical situation through its purpose, point of view, context,
audience, and tone. The ad contains apparent themes towards human nature and kindness, but it
also contains many hidden messages. It depicts poverty, the inaccessibility of health services,

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and the effects of doctors. Since the ad contains many themes it attracts a large audience from
many communities. These several topics and themes state various problems to multiple
audiences. It addresses the audiences in poverty, those who cant afford healthcare, and the
general population. The ad addresses the general population through its themes towards human
kindness and compassion. This effectively increases the viewership of the ad and assists in
spreading its message.
The ad uses a third person point of view through multiple characters. The ad begins
through the eyes of a little boy in need of help. Then, the video transitions to the thirty years in
the future. The point of view shifts from the boys perspective to a womans, distressed over
medical bills for her father. The ad uses these angles and positions to illustrate its various topics
and engage the audience. The multiple perspectives assists in bringing out the various visible
and hidden themes. The boys angle brings about poverty and inaccessibility to health care. The
womans angle conveys messages about human nature, poverty, and how doctors affect lives.
The two different viewpoints are more effective in portraying its themes and messages than
through a single perspective. It helps engage the audience into the video and successfully
displays the ads purpose.
The ad portrays a primary message about how kindness and giving to others will
positively affect you in the future. The main purpose of the ad is to raise awareness for the
effects of displaying kindness towards others. However, other problems portrayed in the ad may
also be used raise awareness. The video addresses the problem of poverty and the inaccessibility
to healthcare for those in it. The boy stealing medicine for his sick mother displays the
unavailability of healthcare and the fact he has to steal represents the poverty in the region. The
woman receiving her fathers medical bills shows the high costs of health care. The ad

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effectively portrays these messages by utilizing all three rhetorical appeals of ethos, logos, and
pathos, with pathos being the most prevalent.
Pathos, the appeal to emotion, can be a very strong vector for conveying messages and is
the strongest used appeal in the video. The advertisement taking the form of a video allows it to
almost personally engage the audience. It evokes strong emotions and depicts relatable scenes to
the audience. Its moving messages and displays on the best of human nature cant help but give
the audience a tear in their eye. The audience can empathize with the emotions of the little boy
when trying to help his mother or the daughter trying to save her father. From start to finish, the
ad engrossed the audience into an emotional ride from sorrow, shame, and anger to happiness,
redemption, and compassion.
The next strongest appeal that the ad develops is logos, the appeal to logic and reasoning.
The ad demonstrates high morals, beliefs, and the best of human nature in a cause and effect
manner that applies to logos. The ad also displays information/evidence to support the beliefs of
the audience and those in the video. The man assisting the child in the beginning of the video
appeals to beliefs and morals that those with the ability to help others should. That man went out
of his way to help the child help his mother. Through cause and effect the child, the doctor in the
future, goes out of his way to clear the medical expenses for that man. The outrageous medical
expenses can be interpreted as logical information. The high cost of health care can be
understood by many people and they can relate to the situation that the daughter is going
through. The high costs of health care causes stress and anxiety to the daughter by making her
sell her fathers shop and find ways to pay the bill.

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The least effective appeal in the video is ethos, the appeal to credibility and ethics. The
ad doesnt contain very much ethos apart from being about the personal story of Dr. Prajak
Arunthong. However, the ad makes up for the lack of ethos through its strong use of pathos and
logos. Depending on interpretations, the primary purpose of the ad is to inspire the audience,
meaning ethos isnt as necessary as the other rhetorical appeals. When the audience does find
out the video was based on a real life story, they may become even more motivated. This is
where the appeal to ethos could help strengthen the video. Improving the ads credibility could
further inspire the audience.
A multifaceted ad with universal themes and strong rhetorical appeals is very effective in
expressing its messages to a wide audience. This ad provides a model for strong morals, values,
and doctors changing lives. Its use of emotion, reasoning, and logic inspires the audience to
grow their personalities and treat others with kindness and forgiveness. Other subtle messages
were conveyed to notify people about the issue of poverty and discrepancies in health care in
those areas. The ad successfully addressed its rhetorical situation to inform the public about
ongoing problems and the little things people can do to fix them. Although these problems may
never be completely solved, people can strive to make the world a better place every day by
doing little things to help others.