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Why is Pathos so effective?

“Because public discussion and debate are essential in a democracy, and because leaders are obliged to rule the sovereign people by means of constant persuasion, rhetoric is absolutely central.” (Kane and Patapan, 2010)

Passion - A notoriously strong emotion, drives much political debate and action. Emotional appeals, or appeals to PATHOS, are so effective because they are often harder-hitting than pure reason; they cause the audience to feel and experience the emotion that the rhetor believes will lead to a shift toward their (the rhetors) position! (Grant-Davie, 1997)

(Rosenau, Youtube.com)

Before we really begin exploring Pathos, here is a helpful video that explores use of emotional appeals (Appeals to Pathos) in advertising, in order to persuade the audience to purchase their product.

So to sum it all up: Pathos

"When writers and speakers find the words and images that evoke certain emotions in people, they might also move their audiences to sypathize with ideas that they connect to those feeling and even to act on them." (Lumsford et al, 1999)

"The Axe Effect", an advertisement that uses PATHOS by implying a males heightened sexual appeal, as well as a surrounding of beautiful women, if their product is used. The image also attempts to create positive feelings associated with sex appeal, and cause the viewer to then link them to the use of Axe products.

(The axe effect, Marketing Society SRCC)

The Goal:

PATHOS - Emotional Appeals

The goal of an appeal to the Pathos, or Emotions, of the audience is simply to move the audience, through the use of emotionally saturated content, to share the same position as the Rhetor on the exigent condition at hand.

Here's another explanation of another use of Pathos in a Rhetorical Appeal.

Let's use lung cancer for example of an Exigence.

"Exigence is 'an imperfection marked by urgency; it is a defect, an obstacle, something waiting to be done, a thing which is other than it should be' (Bitzer, 1968). A rhetorical exigence is some kind of need or problem that can be addressed and solved through rhetorical discourse" (Davie, 1997)

Expanding up on Rhetoric

"A mode of altering reality, not by the direct application of energy to objects, but by the creation of discourse which changes reality through the mediation of thought and action." (Bitzer, 1968)

Here is an advertisement issued by the group trying to get people to quit smoking.

So how do we go about changing the exigence at hand?

Well, for this example the exigence is lung cancer. Here is where the rhetorical appeal to PATHOS comes in. The group who wants to prevent lung cancer decides that persuading the public to quit smoking is best done by invoking an emotional response; targeting the PATHOS of the public, they believe, will achieve the goal of persuading the public to quit smoking. Let's take a closer look.

(Feed the future, Usaid.gov)

Cigarettes Cause Cancer, NY Daily News)

The image attempts to use graphic images to bring out fear in its viewers. By causing the fear response it its audience, the group hopes it will contribute to peoples decision to finally quit smoking.

What does that mean?

The photo we just saw contained a bewildered child, and that child was placed in the public service announcement specifically for the purpose of inducing an emotional reaction within the audience. The author of the photo knew it would help to invoke compassion in the viewer, and in turn get the viewer to take the action that the Department of International Development wants its audience to take.

Works Cited

Ansari, Nadia. "Rhetorical Analysis." Write a Writing. N.p., 15 Mar. 2012. Web. 24 Oct. 2013.

Bitzer, Lloyd F. "The Rhetorical Situation." Philosophy and Rhetoric 1 (1968)

Bitzer, Lloyd F. “Contemporary Theories of Rhetoric: Selected Readings.” Ed. Richard L. Johannesen. New York: Harper, 1971.

Cigarettes Cause Cancer. 2012. NY Daily News, New York. All Voices. Web. 26 Oct. 2013.

Feed The Future. Digital image. U.S. Agency for International Development. US Government, n.d. Web. 25 Oct. 2013. <http://www.usaid.gov/sites/default/files/touts/ftf_tout.jpg>.

Graff, Nelson. "Teaching Rhetorical Analysis To Promote Transfer Of Learning." Journal Of Adolescent & Adult Literacy 53.5 (2010): 376-385. Academic Search Premier. Web. 24 Oct. 2013.

Grant, Davie, Keith. "Rhetorical situations and their constituents." Rhetoric Review 15.2 (1997): 264-279.

Kane, J., & Patapan, H. “The artless art: Leadership and the limits of democratic rhetoric.” (2010) Australian Journal of Political Science.

Lunsford, Andrea A., John J. Ruszkiewicz, and Keith Walters. Everything's an Argument. Bedford/St. Martin's, 1999.

Rosenau, Matt. “Pathos, Logos, and Ethos in Advertising.” Online video clip. Youtube. Youtube: 12 Mar. 2012. Web. 24 Oct. 2013.

Singleton, Matthew. "Rhetorical Analysis: Explaining Strategies" Online video clip. Youtube. Youtube, 9 Apr. 2013. Web. 24 Oct. 2013.

Taboada, Maite, and Christopher Habel. "Rhetorical relations in multimodal documents." Discourse Studies 15.1 (2013)

The Axe Effect. Digital image. Marketing Society SRCC. Axe, n.d. Web. 26 Oct. 2013. <http://www.aprilmay.de/site/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/AXE_Effect2.jpg>.

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