By:
Frida Palencia |
Pathos comes from the greek language meaning suffering or experience. Pathos is the most common use of appeal. It is used to convince or persuade the viewers/readers by arousing their emotions. A common use of pathos would be to draw pity in the audience. The emotions that are usually drawn from the audience is fear, pity, sorrow, and empathy.
This anti-smoking commercial appeals to pathos most, compared to ethos and logos. However, this appeal can easily pass as unnoticed because it is shown through discrete body language rather than spoken language. For example, this commercial start off with a pretty and ordinary girl buying cigarettes. As we get further into the commercial we see the same girl but we change our opinion about her. She is no longer pretty nor ordinary. It appeals to emotion because we can tell by her face expressions and her body language that she is scared. Not to mention, it almost seems as if she feels obligated to pull her skin off. She has trouble making eye contact with the cashier which infers that she is ashamed of what she is doing. Because she acknowledges the shame that comes with her action, we can assume that she wants to stop smoking but she physically cannot. We can see her battling with her addiction which appeals to the viewers emotions, causing them to feel bad for her. The body language that the cashier expresses towards the girl also induces a feeling of pity in the viewers. The cashier looks at the girl with a look of disappointment and feels nervous for her. You can tell this by the way she lifts her eyebrows and gulps. The last thing said by the chashie is “see you again”. This phrase evokes fear because the viewer cannot help but to think about what might happen to the girl when she comes back to buy more. The viewers are able to see a realistic example of what a person can look like or what can happen to someone who smokes. Most people are at least slightly concerned about their appearance and their vanity which is why this message is so powerful. The rhetorical question that is asked at the end of the video, “What are cigarettes costing you?”, encourages the viewer to reevaluate why they even smoke to begin with or why they should never considering smoking. This question can also evoke a feeling of disgust in the viewers which can lead to them subconsciously staying away from cigarettes. |