Report on the Advertisements Analysis using Ethos, Pathos and Logos.

Advertisements in today’s era have become an essential part of our lives. No matter where we go, we directly or indirectly come across some form of advertisements. Everywhere we go, advertisements are catching our attention consciously or subconsciously. These advertisements aim to attract the attention of the target audience into buying the company’s products (Taylor, 2018). Although the advertisements appear simple to our eyes, there is a complex process involved in their creation (Harris, et al., 2015). Companies target different audiences for different products using many psychological techniques. The three primary concepts involved in analysing an advertisement are the appeals of Ethos, Pathos and Logos. In this essay, we will analyse two ads based on these appeals and will discover how well built these advertisements were. In our daily life, we come across many ads some of them are focusing on Ethos, some on pathos and some on logos but the most effective ones are those which integrate all these three features and efficiently incorporate these in their advertisements and campaigns.

The selected type of advertisement is by Cadillac. The first words one sees is Cadillac supremacy, and the image that is shown with it is of a white Cadillac behind which a man in a tuxedo and a woman in formal clothes is standing in a well-lit entrance and above them are stars and big lights. The rest of the ad shows night and darkness. In this advertisement, Cadillac used a neat trick to attract the attention of their audience. They started by using the word “supremacy” which instantly links the car with a luxury and premium feel. (Bonsall, 2004) The rest of the ad is just capitalising on these words. The car standing outside shows its importance, and the way the man and the woman are looking at it depicts the car as an item to brag and show off. Then the clothing of the man and the woman emphasise on the word supremacy as they are shown wearing formal and extravagant clothes. The entrance is also created to appear as it was of some expensive building or villa and finally the lights behind makes the car synonymous with celebrities and Hollywood and the stars above it do the same, putting the idea in viewers mind that the car is a reason for the fame and famous people use this. Cadillac uses Ethos to show the car as a reason for pride and fame and then pathos to show how happy the couple is, and their life is good. However, one could not find any use of logos in this ad because the ad is merely capitalising on ethics and emotions and not giving any logical reasons for one to consider buying the car. (Percy, 2016)

Moreover. Cadillac advertisement uses Ethos and pathos more efficiently than logos even though there is hinting of logos as well. The women with her beautiful body and calm expressions and luxury sitting style in a car increase the reliability of the advertisement in the eyes of the audience, and the pink colour shades are inclined with affecting emotions and taking advantage of the insecurities these emotions are giving rise to. This will evoke the emotions of those women who looked at others with smoother skins or the women who notice the celebrities in the media and their flawless skin. This advertisement escalates those emotions and exploits this insecurity to sell their products by giving the women hope that they could get the same flawless and delicate skin by using this product. (Wikimedia, 2016)

Furthermore, in the Cadillac advertisement, the main focus is on the pathos as the advertisement associates fame, happiness and Luxury with their car. This ad exploits those insecure men who feel like they are not at the top and are envious of others as well as those men who are aspiring to be on the top. In this way, the already established men who have the money were attracted towards the product, and at the same time for the men who are struggling for the top, this appeals to them as the opportunity that could finally help them in achieving their dreams. The only Ethos part we see in the advertisement is that the man and woman are a couple and are happy because of the car. The logos part is diminishing because the advertisement is focusing on quality and exoticness of the car rather than its reliability and features.

Logos are an essential component of advertising. If the advertisement is lacking any logic behind it or the logic present is not clear, then the advertisement and the whole campaign is pointless. The main resolution of the advertisement is to persuade the target audience to buy the Lustre crème and Cadillac. The ad of Lustre crème shows the audience that if they want to look beautiful and want clean skin, then they should start using their products. The Cadillac, on the other hand, gives the reason that if one wants fame and popularity, they should buy their car. Both the advertisement is giving similar messages then why there is an issue with Cadillac ad? The issue is because of the difference like the product. Lustre crème associated their product with some substantial gain and achievement but the Cadillac even being a more physical oriented product only approached to a theoretical aspect. The Cadillac ad needed the implementation of logos more. IT should have justified the buying of the car other than becoming famous. Some of the features of the car should have been mentioned that made it illogical to buy it, and the beauty of the car and reliability should have been appropriately depicted by associating it with some gesture in the ad.

The advertisers in these ads did not ask the audience any direct questions or made any direct statements about their product and its use. However, they used Ethos, pathos and logos to make the audience conclude by themselves, and the audience can draw the truth by themselves. After the audience was able to deduce the message, they subconsciously agreed with the advertisement and the message. The rhetorical appeals implemented in these advertisements have been successfully able to persuade the intended audiences. The combination of Ethos, pathos and logos used by these organisations was still not ideal, but yet it was competent enough to deliver their message and ineffective communication with their consumers. These ads associated the product with emotions, hope and achievements, which are essential pathos to capitalise on. This motivated the women to buy Lustre crème for their desired skin and the men to buy Cadillac for fulfilling their ego and sense of pride. (Baack, et al., 2016). The initial impression that one gets from the ad is that it is beautiful and pretty. However, after careful analysis, one can realise that neither pink is their favourite colour nor they are as perfect as the women in the ad showed. In this advertisement, the advertiser first uses the beauty of the poster to attract attention and then they deliver a robust psychological message. First, one is delivered the idea that they are delicate and the pink colour is depicting that, and then it proceeds to show that without the product, their skin would not be as delicate. This ad perfectly leeches on the insecurities of the women that have been deployed in their minds by media and culture and exploits those insecurities for profits. When one carefully analyses such ads, this makes him question his perception about the every day ads he comes across. The ad is using Ethos by showing a woman with the perfect body using at as a source of credibility and then using pathos by creating the demand how necessary is delicate skin for one to look good and for the logos part the cream and products are presented to give the solution of the problem of not being beautiful. (Vu, 2017)

Today we are surrounded by advertisements and commercials. All the time, we are exposed to some sort of marketing strategy. In this competitive environment, advertisers need to rethink their strategies. They need to focus on making their advertisements stand separate from their competitors. The advertisements need to be more logical so that the consumer can see clear benefits of getting the product. Another thing the advertisers should not forget is that their advertisements should not just appeal to new customers but also assure their existing customers that they made the right choice. Finally, the ads should capitalise on rhetorical appeals and the emotional needs of society. Every advertisement that a consumer comes across should be able to integrate rhetorical appeals, purposes, aims and define its targets.

References of Advertisements Analysis using Ethos, Pathos and Logos.

Baack, Wilson, Dessel, v. & Patti, 2016. Advertising to businesses: Does creativity matter?. Industrial Marketing Management., pp. 169-177.

Bonsall, 2004. The Cadillac story: the postwar years.. s.l.:Stanford University Press..

Harris, LoDolce, Dembek & Schwartz, 2015. Sweet promises: Candy advertising to children and implications for industry self-regulation. Appetite, pp. 585-592.

Percy, 2016. trategic advertising management. s.l.:Oxford University Press.

Taylor, 2018. Generational research and advertising to millennials, s.l.: s.n.

Vu, 2017. Rhetoric in Advertising.. VNU Journal of Science: Policy and Management Studies, 33(2).

Wikimedia, 2016. File:MonroeLustreCremead. [Online]
Available at: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:MonroeLustreCremead.jpg
[Accessed Saturday May 2020].