Rhetorical Situation and All of it's Friends

The ASPCA is the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. Have they convinced you to donate yet? Every time one of these commercials comes on the TV, I can't help but feel awful for these poor animals. They have been left behind and beaten by their ownersm but ASPCA is giving them a home.

The audience of this ad can really be anyone, but mainly people that love animals, specifically dog lovers. The ASPCA is targeting these people with just a small portion of the dog's face, but thats all they need. The sad eyes that appear to be slightly beaten will get all the repsonse they need from these people. The purpose is quite obvious, which is to get people to donate to this organization in order to provide a home for these animals. The exigence here is the cruelty that animals suffer from their owners. These people abuse, beat and may not even feed their pet cats and dogs, leaving them to die. The ASPCA does an excellent job of supporting these animals, as they have over 1 million members that are apart of their foundation.

There are three main components of selling an ad to the audience. Pathos, Logos and Ethos. Pathos is the component that appeals to the audience's emotions, be it anger, joy, sympathy, and so on. In this ad we can clearly see that they do a good job of appealing to our emotions. People who have even the slightest liking towards dogs will be affected by this ad. The infamous "puppy eyes" tug at our hearts and really get us feeling sympathetic. For those not affected by this, the text will get the rest of us. "Her life is in your hands." Could you feel worse about seeing this and not doing anything about it. Most of us will probably see this ad and move on with life feeling bad, but man, having the feeling that the poor dog's life is in your hands? That's some heavy stuff. The next component, Logos, is the reasoning, or logic, behind the piece. This ad once again does an excellent job ob portraying logic. It makes complete sense to donate to this organziation, and that these animals need our help. Clearly this dog has been beaten and mistreated, so it makes sense to help them out. In some of their other ads, the ASPCA shows a malnourished cat, or a cowering dog in a cage. It's quite logical to donate to this foundation and help the animals out. The third and final component is Ethos, which is the credibility of the writer or in this case, the foundation. With the ASPCA logo there on the bottom, it only encourages you to check out their website and convince you of their legitimacy. As mentioned before, they do have over 1 million members of their foundation, so it would seem that it is a credible and legitimate foundation. They mean business and take it very seriously.

Am I trying to sell you on the ASPCA and to donate? Absolutely not, but it is for a good cause. I myself have not donated to the ASPCA but I completely understand and respect everything they stand for. I hope this has helped you to further understand how companies advertise themselves and the meaning of rhetorical situation, Ethos, Pathos and Logos.

Thanks for reading!