Rhetorical Modes of Persuasion

In identifying and describing rhetorical modes of persuasion, I selected an advertisement commercial that showed a father, mother and daughter telling a slow motion imitation story about driving without a seat belt.

The commercial began with the father sitting in a chair as if he was driving a car. For a few seconds everything appeared to be happy and serene. The initial scene was obviously one of happiness and contentment with his wife and daughter looking on as the father is taking a drive. This loving family picture depicted by the commercial definitely plays on our emotions of family, love, togetherness and support. In a matter of seconds it was evident that a problem had occurred with the father during his drive. There was fear on the father’s face and this panic transferred to the mother and daughter as they looked on in disbelief that an accident was about to happen. It became evident the father was not wearing a seat belt as his wife and daughter began moving toward him. The mother and daughter symbolized a seat belt as they both began locking their arms around his waist and his shoulders forming a human seat belt. There was a huge sense of relief when the mother and daughter came to his rescue.

By creating this sense of love, family, fear, danger, and relief, it is evident that this commercial played heavily on a strong pathos mode as their primary tool for persuasion. The message that we receive is that if we love our family, we will wear our seat belt. The scene of the mother and daughter playing the role of the seat belt signifies the logos mode by playing on our logic and reason. The underlying meaning is one of logos mode, as we all know statistics show we have a much better chance of surviving an accident if we wear a seat belt. The weakest mode portrayed by this commercial is the ethos mode. There is no famous character or authority figure, however, the love and strength of the family becomes the central characters and authority in this commercial by portraying the seat belt. After viewing this commercial at http://adland.tv/commercials/ssrp-sussex-safer-roads-partnership-embrace-life-2010-90-uk , if this doesn't encourage you to wear a safety belt, I don’t know what would.