Rhetorical+Appeals

The goal of argumentative writing is to persuade your audience that your ideas are valid, or more valid than someone else's. The Greek philosopher Aristotle divided the means of persuasion, appeals, into three categories--Ethos, Pathos, Logos. > Ethos: the source's credibility, the speaker's/author's authority > > Logos: the logic used to support a claim (induction and deduction); can also be the facts and statistics used to help support the argument. > > Pathos: the emotional or motivational appeals; vivid language, emotional language and numerous sensory details.
 * A General Summary of Aristotle's Appeals . . . **

Football on Your Phone: Manning Brothers Yes, I Can Video Barack Obama

**Project One:** Create a 20-30 second commercial selling a product of your choosing. *The product must be original with a unique name. *The commercial must target a specific audience and everything about the commercial must be angled towards attracting and convincing that audience. *You may work independently or in your group. Everyone in the group must play a role in the commercial. *Make sure the commercial is filmed in a quiet location where all voices can be heard. *Adding music/special effects are optional. Your grade will reflect your application of the three rhetorical appeals.

In this paper, you must act as though you are selling your idea to an ad agency and persuade the company why your commercial is exactly what they are looking for to make this product a success. Explain. Pinpoint specific purposeful details of your commercial you don't want me to miss. What about your commercial is going to make people remember your product when they are shopping? Basically, dissect your own commercial and tell me why it has a lot of thought put into it.
 * One page min/max analysis of the commercial from each student is due next class. **

Possible details to mention: The reason you wore a certain color. Why someone looks sad before the product and happy afterwards? Why would this commercial idea work with your intended audience?

Email link to video to julia.overly@bsd.k12.de.us Use Youtube, Dropbox, Googledrive *Do not just send as an email attachment. It's too big and won't come up on BSD email.


 * Points 20 **

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 23px;">For this assignment, you will need to locate an interesting video example of persuasion. As reviewed in class, persuasion is an art that is best applied with <span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 23px;">1. A mindful awareness of the audience (needs, background, knowledge, FEARS). <span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 23px;">2. A well considered plan that uses all three rhetorical strategies. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 23px;">3. A specific goal in mind.
 * Project Two: **
 * <span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 23px;">Part One: Inform yourself on the directions. **

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 23px;">Smart advertisers rely on Aristotle's three major rhetorical devices: Logos, Ethos and Pathos. Now that we have reviewed the concepts, it is your turn to demonstrate your ability to spot these devices at work in today's media.

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 23px;">1. Popular commercials. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 23px;">2. Billboards or paper advertisements. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 23px;">3. Sales pitches or marketing infomercials. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 23px;">4. Political cartoons. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 23px;">You can find a lot on the internet, but please feel free to take a picture of something you see locally and attach it to your commentary.
 * <span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 23px;">Part Two: Look For... **

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 23px;">After choosing an interesting example for this assignment, open up an original post. Be sure to give it a good title so that your post will attract others to read yours. In the body, add the link and write a paragraph that efficiently discusses:
 * <span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 23px;">Part Three: Do **

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 23px;">1. Which of the three rhetorical devices are most heavily used here?

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 23px;">2. Do the designers of this commercial know their target audience? If so, explain your evidence. Why does this work?

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 23px;">3. What is the 'truth' about this product? Are audiences members misled and if so, what is the potential harm of this deception?

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 23px;">4. Would this particular advertising approach work for you? Explain why or why not.

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 23px;">5. When you are complete, you will need to explore three other original posts <span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 23px;">(fellow students) and give them feedback on their commerical. Perhaps you disagree about which device is most at work, or maybe you believe the author forgot to mention an important point. Maybe, you just think the piece is an excellent, hilarious, or scary example of how most people would nod right through this act of persuasion.
 * <span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 23px;">10 Points **