Visual Rhetoric

Remember the terms from Aristotle's Rhetorical Triangle from your assigned readings?

In case you've forgotten, they are:
Ethos
Pathos
Logos

This is an ad for Ethos Water from 2010 when there was a severe water shortage in many areas of Africa.

​Let's look at an example:

​Who is publishing this image?

• This is the main point to consider when analyzing credibility and whether or not information is coming from a trustworthy source.

  • This image was published by the Ethos Water campaign to encourage the sales of their product which benefit the H2O For Africa campaign.

  • Who has sponsored this image?

    • Besides the actual publisher/creator of an image, who supports the distribution of an image can also affect the credibility.

    • This image has been sponsored by the actor Matt Damon and the H2O For Africa Campaign.

    • The reputation or physical characteristics of people featured in images affects how they are received.

    • Matt Damon along with some children in Africa that will benefit from the sales of Ethos Water.

​(Credibility)

​(Emotion)
How does the ad elicit positive emotions in the audience?
• This advertisement relies on positive emotions to sell a product; however other types of images may use characters, colors, and text to inspire a variety of emotions in the audience depending on their purpose.
*Matt Damon is a well-known actor who appeals to the positive feelings for many.
*The children are part of communities in Africa that lack clean water sources. This advertisement “pulls on the heartstrings” of the audience to elicit feelings of pity.

​What claims does this image make?
How do they support these claims?
• Logic will often rely on data, statistics, factual claims, and appeals to “common sense” in order to convince an audience their purpose is logical.
*When this advertisement originally came out, there was a severe water shortage across Africa.
*The advertisement states that portion of Ethos Water sales is donated to communities that lack clean water sources in Africa.

​Logos
(Logic)