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Ms. Thompson
AP Lang, Block 2, Skinny B
February 8, 2015
Rhetorical Analysis Paper, Final Draft
of life, usually associated with nostalgia and general innocence. By stating that
Zyrtec is used to help children, the advertisement attempts to associate itself with
such sensations, as well as the intrinsic human desire to care for the young and
defenseless; readers will come to relate the provision effective aid and the
preservation of pleasant conditions with the product and will thus be more likely to
purchase it for their own needs. Logos is present here in the form of the image: Its
presence proves the original assertion that Zyrtec was effective in its task by
providing an example of child at play, something that was said to be impossible
prior to the administration of the medication. This rhetorical strategy is meant
simply to enhance the effect of the original appeal to pathos by assuring the reader
that the original statement was not unfounded but is rather supported by evidence.
Likewise, ethos exists in the limited sense that, as helping children is widely
considered a noble purpose, the advertisers position becomes difficult to counter:
Any argument against it will force the dissenting party to appear callous and
uncaring; as such, the advertisement has taken the moral high ground. These
appeals taken together constitute a position that is comparatively well-supported
and difficult to oppose; however, the method of delivery is somewhat clich
(advertisements involving children are fairly ubiquitous, and the text itself states
exactly what one would expect of a marketing device), which weakens the
argument as a whole and makes the advertisement less memorable.
The second advertisement is less conventional; it markets not a product but
rather a travel destination, in this instance Colorado. The message is rather shorter
than in the previous selection, but is also set against a relevant background, the
vivid hills of the aforementioned state, and reads simply, Color is our first name.
This, though it constitutes the majority of arguments present in the advertisement,
discourse and is stating its message directly, whereas the reader has a greater
range of interpretation for the second. While the former strategy is perhaps better
for clarifying ones point, it makes the argument more rigid; if the audience
disagrees with an assertion, such as that Zyrtec is effective as was stated, there is
very little else that the advertisement employs to be convincing. The second does
not suffer from this problem as its messages are not as defined, and thus can
support multiple interpretations by people with differing opinions and attitudes;
likewise, its construction of an environment conducive to fallacious logic in its favor
leads the audience into self-deceiving and spurious assumptions, which can be far
more effective than employing direct persuasion. Finally, the clich delivery of the
first advertisement weakens its argument (as most readers will simply glance past
it, having seen its ilk repeatedly in the past) and reduces its memorability; there is
little to distinguish it from most others, whereas the advertisement for Colorado is
more subtle and less common, and is thus more effective advertising.
As has been shown, each advertisement utilizes a variety of distinct appeals
and messages to create a strong position aimed at persuading their audiences to
purchase the product or service offered; both use logos, pathos, and ethos, and
both attempt to create a well-supported, impactful, and morally sound position.
Although each succeeds in its task, the second advertisement delivers its message
in a less clich and more subtle fashion than the first, and is thus more effective in
argument and persuasion than the latter.