Ads, commercials, public service announcements... they are everywhere. All are meant to get consumers to do something. Buy this car, wear those clothes, don't pollute, vote for this guy.... if you didn't know you wanted it, now you will when you see it. Some ads are funny, some are serious, and some just don't make sense. I think it is funny to watch old TV ads from when I was a kid. I can't believe that what they were trying to sell back then was important, but it must have been. I can remember when all the toy commercials would start being blasted about mid-November.. that was how I learned what I wanted for Christmas. I believed I needed all those toys to be as happy as the kids playing with them on TV. I didn't realize back then that those ads were geared to do just that, using Pathos, the appeal to emotion. I guess they also used Logos, because I perceived from seeing them that if I had certain toys, I'd have as much fun and be as happy as the kids in the commercials. And, guess what? They worked! I wanted a Baby Feels so Real, and Santa brought me one! I wanted a Speak and Spell, and he brought me one of those too!
I could never be a salesman. I've tried, and I just can't be convincing enough to persuade someone that they need something. I have been suckered in though, to other people's persuasion talents. I am every ad-man's dream! I can watch an infomercial and become convinced I need the Slice-O'Matic or any of the other kitchen inventions Ron Popeil tells me I can't live without. And don't ever take me to one of those time-share meetings! I went to one once in Gatlinburg for the sole purpose of getting free tickets to take my kids to the aquarium, and those peoples' sales pitch was so persuasive, that I pretty much convinced myself and (almost) my husband that we could figure out how to come up with $26,000 and buy the vacation home of our dreams. Good thing my husband isn't as gullible as I am!
I have been thinking about all these instances, and looking at ad after ad on the internet. I have to admit, the topic for this paper and what I am going to write about has been difficult for me to come up. I want to use an ad that is "beefy" enough to analyze for me to fill a 750-word paper. I also don't want to use one that I will have a hard time trying to sell to the class. I think I'll be more successful in persuading others, if I myself believe in what I am selling, and am truthful about that to my audience. That reasoning (Ethos)is what I think is most convincing in any form of advertisement. If I can tell that the author, or sponsor truly believes in their product or plea, it shows, and then others begin to trust that and then believe in it too. Finally, since I will need to come up with a new, unique way to market the product or service depicted in the ad I choose, I am considering every ad that catches my eye, and really brainstorming. There are so many out there, about any and every subject imaginable. It is crazy how many times a day humans are subjected to advertising, and how much we actually retain of what we see, whether consciously or not. That fact alone seems to make it harder for me to find something and think of a new idea about it. I'll keep looking, because I know I will find the right one, and it will be appealing to me all the way around!
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