State of the art rhetoric?
Infomercials today are found on every channel on television and cable here in the United States; these effective ads are made to persuade a wide audience to buy their product and are displayed throughout the day. These ad companies use various powerful elements of rhetoric; Logos, the use of logic to support a claim; Ethos, the use of authority/credibility and Pathos, the usage of emotional appeal. Like a game of rock, paper, scissors each and every element has its strengths and weaknesses and to effectively persuade the audience each element must be equal, and not overpower one another. From a list of ads, I found an ad titled “Micro Boom as Seen on TV” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=agcbsR8oFms). This infomercial …show more content…
If the use of ethos is effective, an increase in credibility is given to the seller. If the ethos portion is weak it could cause distrust from the viewer and effect the credibility of the Logos, or facts used. Ethos can be conveyed through several mediums, the speaker’s voice, clothing of the actors, etc. These mediums also change according to the target audience. An example where this would take place is the speaker’s voice, a confident speaker with a lower tone of voice may appeal as “credible” to an adult as where a higher pitched, more energetic toned speaker could give more credibility to a child or teenager. What the actors wear could also affect the amount of credibility given, like with the speaker’s voice, what the actors wear for the commercial change with the audience. A man in a cool graphic tee shirt and spiked up hair might give the impression of “coolness” or credibility to a teenager but would seem immature to an adult audience, this is why when infomercials are targeting adults the actors are usually dressed formally with more mature styles. This Micro Boom infomercial caters to all ages, they accomplish this feat by splitting the ad into segments where different actors of different ages are used. As explained in the beginning of this paragraph this establishes credibility of the speaker and the