Kevin Fisher
Kelly Goss
English
10/14/13
Rhetoric Response Essay
Consumerism, it’s one of the things that runs the U.S. economy, so that means that
people and companies are constantly trying to sell us the consumer’s products. One of the most
used ways to get us to buy these products is by advertisements, trying to get us to purchase these
items. What you have to think on however is, what is it exactly that makes us see a product and
decide that it’s something we need or want. What if I told you that there is a literary device used
to try to almost secretly persuade you into buying there item. Now however if you know how to
look for this literary device it becomes very apparent and obvious in almost all advertisements,
this device is called rhetoric.
According to the Webster’s definition of rhetoric states that it’s the art of speaking or
writing effectively. Now since this is such a broad term for such a huge topic it can be broken
down into three different subcategories consisting of logos, pathos, and ethos. Now logos one of
the most important of the three subcategories is the part of persuasion that uses logic to support
your claim and that can be done with inductive reasoning or deductive reasoning. If you look at
deductive and inductive reasoning, and discuss what makes an effective, persuasive reason to
back up your claims. Giving reasons is the heart of argumentation, and cannot be emphasized
enough. Looking at pathos it means persuading by appealing to the reader's emotions. You can
easily look at texts ranging from classic essays to contemporary advertisements to see how
pathos, emotional appeals, are used to persuade. Language choice affects the audience's
emotional response, and emotional appeal can effectively be used to enhance the argument.
Lastly there’s ethos or ethical appeal, means convincing by the character of the author. We tend
to believe people whom we respect. One of the central problems of argumentation is to project
Kevin Fisher
Kelly Goss
English
10/14/13
an impression to the reader that you are someone worth listening to, in other words making
yourself as author into an authority on the subject of the paper, as well as someone who is likable
and worthy of respect.
Now for this assignment I chose the company Axe and typically in there commercials and
advertisements they uses rhetoric in almost every single ad that they produce and it’s a lot easier
to see in their advertisements then many other companies. I believe that before you can really get
down in to the pathos, logos, and ethos of the advertisement you need to first break down the ad
and fully analyze it. Now first since companies have to pay such a large amount of money for
such short ads they have utilize every aspect and every second of the whole entire ad. Now the
first thing that we hear once the advertisement starts is the song The Wash by Brenda and the
Tabulations. Now I think that they use this song because it has a 60’s surf pop vibe that just fits
the setting of the commercial. Another reason that they may have incorporated it as well is
because it sort of serves as a good attention grabber to the audience since it’s a catchy jingle and
it’s what could decide if the viewer decides to change the channel within the first three seconds
or continue to watch. Next is the place that the commercial takes place and at first it appears that
it could possible take place somewhere very exotic because you see huts that are made of palm
tree leafs as well as exotic bars. However as the commercial progresses on you start to see things
like buildings and lots of people possibly hinting to a more of urban setting. Another thing to
take into account is who is the ad is focused toward as in who are they trying to sell their product
to. Now with a company like axe who specializes in men’s fragrances it’s very easy to see that
the audience there focusing on is males. However if you look at the age of the male and the
women in the commercial it’s easy to tell that there specifically targeting younger males who
Kevin Fisher
Kelly Goss
English
10/14/13
would possibly want this female attention. Lastly there’s the words that they put in at the end of
the commercial that say the cleaner you are the dirtier you get. Now this is another appeal to the
intended audience stating that if you use this axe shower gel you will be very clean but you will
also get dirty from fooling around with all the endless girls that flock your way.
So the first thing to cover is ethos, which again is the ethical appeal or how trust worthy
is the company that is trying to sell there product to you. Now with this commercial what they
try to convey to you is that if you use axe body wash it will cause tons of women to come
flocking to you. Now it’s very obvious that the thought that a body wash could somehow put a
magical Trans over women and cause them to come flocking toward you is very unrealistic and I
believe that axe has the trust in society to not think that this is actually what happens. However
the credibility that axe has as a company is very out standing in the fact that they are one of the
main and best producers of male fragrances. Now the fact that I said there one of the best
producers is my own personal opinion although the fact that you can see a new axe commercial
almost every month shows that they are still being successful. The reason being that since they
have to pay TV stations and magazine publishers thousands for just one ad shows that they are
still pulling in a lot of money from people purchasing there product. So this comes to show me
the viewer, which they must be a credible company because they can keep throwing money into
new commercials because people are obviously being satisfied with there product telling me that
they are a pretty trustworthy company.
Secondly there’s pathos which is the part in the ad that is supposed to play on the
viewer’s emotions and try to use their emotions to persuade them to buy the product. Now I think
it’s very interesting to watch a commercial for male fragrance like this one and then to watch one
Kevin Fisher
Kelly Goss
English
10/14/13
for female fragrance like Pantene. If you compare the two it becomes very easy to see the
difference, where for women it’s all about the beauty and looking as sexy as possible, whereas
for men they play off of the male’s sexual emotion or desire. As I talked about in my last
paragraph and how it’s unrealistic to think that a shampoo could case women to come flocking to
you. However I believe that it’s the axe company saying that women will love the way you smell
after you use there product and that it will increase your chances of getting the girl. Also
considering that all the women in this commercial are very attractive, the girl that will want you
will be very attractive as well. Another thing to play on this sexual appeal to males is the
statement that they put at the end of the commercial is the statement the cleaner you are the
dirtier you get, and to put it bluntly the translation to this statement can really be seen as the
cleaner you get with there shampoo the more women will want to lay with you. This once again
is meant to play on the sexual emotions of males in the fact that they want to get as many
beautiful women as possible.
Lastly there is logos which is the persuasion the commercial uses by the use of reasoning
usually by inductive or deductive reasoning. Now just watching the commercial just once it’s a
little bit tougher to find a logical use of logos that they used in the commercial. The reason is
because as I have mentioned many times in the essay the thought that the shampoo will cause
women to come flocking to you is very unrealistic. Though if you look carefully at the
commercial and look at the guy actor that is in the commercial who is taking a shower he’s not
some superhot super model. He is definitely not unattractive either, he looks a lot more average
so that the males who may be watching the commercial won’t feel that the reason all these
females want the male in the commercial is because he’s supermodel hot. The actor in the ad is a
Kevin Fisher
Kelly Goss
English
10/14/13
lot more relatable to the general public so that they may believe that the actor’s attractiveness is
somewhat close to their own. Therefore is might cause them to believe that with the help of this
shampoo they can get more women them self. Secondly is the place that the ad takes place like I
talked about earlier at first it looks like the commercial takes place at a tropical resort type place.
However as the ad progresses you start to see things like building and massive amounts of people
on the beach pointing to the fact that it might be more of an urban environment. This leads the
viewer away from thinking that this is just some unrealistic place where this could never happen.
It allows them to relate to the place and feel as though they could possibly go down to there local
lake or beach and have a women think they smell great.
We are an open market country in the U.S. and companies will always be trying to sell
you there product trying to prove to you why you should buy there product. On the surface it
may just seem that it’s just another commercial but there’s actually tons of work that goes into
these commercials that a lot of the time we may not even notice but is effecting us without even
knowing it. When you break down the ad however and take a second to look at it, it becomes
easier to see the message the ad is trying to convey.
Kevin Fisher
Kelly Goss
English
10/14/13
Readers Response
This assignment was very interesting for me especially since in my business class we learned
about these sub meaning that many people don’t even ever see but affects them every day. It was
also very interesting to learn about how it is that the professional world try’s to persuade you to
buy things and convince you that you want something. I really like the hidden meanings in the
ads to that affect you but on a subconscious level since I’m in psychology its cool to see things
that affect you without you even knowing. I thought that the whole part of rhetoric was as well
very cool in the fact that it makes a lot of sense on convincing people in not just ads but as well
other things like arguments or debates. I think the use of ethos pathos and logos is something I
will probably using for a lot of my life.