Throughout this semester we have studied, reviewed, reviewed and reviewed the importance of of incorporating the rhetorical triangle in our work. We learned that each corner of the triangle must be used to form a valued credible impression to our readers. This is done in an effort to convince our audience of something. Here is a basic example of the rhetorical triangle. Note that each corner is a 60 degree angle.
After doing research for my earlier blogs (#2 & #7) and my WP #1 (History of Advertising) this semester, I learned quite a bit about advertising. The one thing that I noted most about advertisements both past and present, is that they tend to employ only the Pathos corner in their ads. Please take the time to view these short TV commercials. The first one insults our intelligence while attempting to use the emotion of laughter/joy to sell their product. The second one, which we viewed in class, attempts to sell their product to us under the guise of love and warmth.
Neither commercial offers any credible sources of the validity of their products. They seem to only use one corner of the rhetoric triangle. As noted in my WP #1 evidence seems to support the fact that commercials do help product sales. Apparently they don't need to include either Ethos or Logos to sell their products.
I have a first cousin that owns a small advertising firm in Michigan. About twenty years ago we had dinner one night and I asked him about the reasoning behind these commercials that insult our intelligence. He explained it very well. He explained that the most important part of any form of advertising is to get the consumer to let their guard down. He said that by allowing consumers to think they are intelligent because of stupid commercials, we don't consider the need to become defensive. He also pointed out that people remember stupid commercials and sometimes even discuss them with friends and family, thus making those commercials a "Must See" commercial.
I have seen a few ads that attempt to incorporate important facts in their ads, particularly the automotive ads. They all seem to have the best gas mileage, best safety record, best something or other in their class. They all appear to receive these awards for the same claims from different automotive statistic groups. Having personally worked at the International Auto Show in Detroit (still the most prestigious show in the world), I can tell you for a fact that the auto companies wine and dine the hell out of these "independent" automotive statistics representatives. I have sat in the same downtown restaurants as these meetings occurred.
Certainly not all commercials ignore 120 degrees of the rhetoric triangle, although none come to mind for me at this writing. Maybe you can comment back to me about current or past ad that uses even two corners of the triangle. I'm looking forward to hearing about any commercials that include more than 60 degrees. .....Cane Man
That Right! I agree with you that most of the commercial nowadays are tend to employ only the Pathos corner in their ads, which is the more emotional way.
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