Ethos pathos logos advertisement essay

Coca Cola commercial

April 3, 2017

Ethos, pathos, and logos are fundamental components in any rhetorical assessment, and it is important for both individuals and companies to incorporate them into their analysis to drive the points and the message to the people in an intentional way. Cognizant of the huge role played by ethos, pathos, and logos, this study will carry out a clear rhetorical analysis on the commercial ‘brotherly love’ by Coca-Cola with the end role being to unravel and the ethos, pathos, and logos within the advert. The study will, however, begin with a detailed overview of the entire situation that happened in the advert.

The advert starts with a boy sitting alone with a coke in a room. The boy is playing a game in his room, but his brother enters the room and takes out his cap in a provocative manner, but despite the disruption, the boy assumes him and continues playing the game as though nothing happened. The boy playing the game is the little brother whereas the other one is the older brother. The little brother then attempts to pick headphones from the shelf, but the older brother follows him, takes the headphones and places it on a higher shelf far beyond the reach of the little brother and then walks away. The advert then sees the older brother walking in the rain with an umbrella, but the little brother is left alone without an umbrella to walk in the rain. The advert then shows the two brothers taking a coke at dinner time, but the old brother continues with his provocative habits by knocking the foot of the little brother under the table, which triggers a frustrated face from the little brother.

The little brother is then seen sitting on a bench in a park with a coke, and three older guys appear and try to take the coke from him. After taking the coke from him, the older brother appears and grabs the coke from the guys and scares them away. The commercial ends with the older brother holding the coke and then contemplating whether to give it to his young brother or not but later decides to give it to give the Cola back to him with a little tease. The little brother drinks it happily, and the last scenes depict both of them a happy lot since they are both laughing and smiling as the older brother is walking away. This, therefore, summarizes the advert as one where an older brother torments a brother at every opportunity, but Coke eventually brings a happy ending.

The use of pathos

There is a constant use of pathos throughout the commercial for instance in the entire scene of the commercial when the older brother makes, the younger brother feels weaker and smaller compared to him. This consequently generates sympathy on the part of the audience since they feel sorry for the younger brother. Also, pathos is evidenced by the fact that the commercial was intended to show a situation where the little brother is afraid of the older brother.

Moreover, pathos is also evidenced by the fact that despite all the suffering and tormenting by the older brother, his loyalty towards his little brother was intact as it was evidenced in the situation where the older brother grabbed the coke from the older guys and gave it back to his little brother and thereby exhibiting loyalty. Emotions are therefore prevalent in the commercial, and this is also evidenced in the culmination of the commercial where it is made evident to the little brother that despite the older brother picking on him, he loves him.

The lyrics used in the song of the commercial is also pathos, “the water is sweet, but blood is thicker” and “if the sky comes falling for you, there is nothing in this world that I would not do” (Youtube). The use of suspense to trigger emotions is also pathos, for instance in the situation where the older brother holds the bottle of coke contemplating whether to give it to him and thereby leaving the audience guessing his next move and the ultimate aim of the coke to bring the two brothers together.

The use of ethos

The technique of ethos is evident in the situation where the older brother exhibits loyalty to his little brother by scaring away the older bullies who had took his coke. This is because he affirms to his brother that he loves him and he is not bad.

Logos

At the conclusion of the commercial, there is the evident use of logos since the commercial is consistent both in terms of its message and also its logic. It is evident that the commercial aims at bringing people together and further exhibiting the importance of loyalty and connecting between families.

In conclusion, it is evident from the commercial that the use of pathos, ethos, and logos techniques are prevalent. The study affirmed that pathos is exhibited through the emotions within the commercial, ethos is shown through loyalty while logos is exhibited through the consistency of the message and logic.