Advertisement - Pathos, Ethos and Logos

            
There are advertisements all around us. They can be shown on billboards, television sets, newspapers and even on the internet. The whole point of an advertisement is for it to persuade you into buying the product. For example McDonald’s have TV spot ads with happy people enjoying the food, the point of this is so that you would want McDonald’s as well because you will be satisfied. This is all persuasion. What some people don’t know is that there are different techniques that advertisers use to make their work effective on us. These techniques are known as: pathos, logos and ethos. These are targeted at different types of individuals for a better response to the product. The factor known as pathos involves emotions. When using pathos in an advertisement you tend to prey upon a specific emotion, in videos regarding animal cruelty they tend to use sad and emotional music while images of abandoned and abused dogs are shown on-screen. This is supposed to make you feel upset and cause you to do something about it; the advertisers are using pathos to persuade you to help the animals. The technique known as ethos involves credibility. This would convince a consumer to buy the product because if someone of significance is telling them to buy it, or if the company that makes the brand is respectable the consumer would purchase it. For example, the brand Kitchen Aid makes kitchen appliances such as blenders, microwaves and even drain boards, if a consumer were to see the bran Kitchen Aid on the box of a household appliance they would buy it because it is a good quality brand known for those types of products. The final technique is Logos, this involves facts and statistics. For some consumers, appealing to their emotions or knowing the brand well isn’t enough to convince them. However hearing about the product itself with actual results and information they would purchase it. For example when hearing about a hair growth product, they can use statistics such as “75% of buyers saw a difference with just 2 weeks,” with this it can be enough to convince the person by using facts and figures. Every consumer is different, so knowing your audience can assist you when deciding between pathos, logos and ethos. The M&M's commercial with Naya Rivera uses the technqiues ethos, Naya Rivera is an attractive known young-actress. By having her in the M&M's commercial her fans will want to buy it because she promotes and supports it.