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Rhetorical Analysis

Ethos, pathos, and logos are the most significant rhetorical devices in advertising. Ethos is the appeal to ethics and is used to persuade audiences through the credibility and authority of the persuader. Moreover, pathos is the appeal to the audience’s emotions and is used to convince the target audience of an argument through eliciting emotional reactions to a convincing statement or plea. On the other hand, logos (logic) is the appeal to logic and is a strategy of persuasion that uses reason as well as facts. In the Oh Yeah nutritional shake ad, ethos pathos and logos have been utilized, and although ethos might be the strongest, the ad represents the other devices expertly as well.

The audience needs to believe the advertisers for an ad to be successful; therefore, establishing ethos may be one of the factors viewers look for in the ad. In the Oh Yeah nutritional shake advertisement, the advertisers were extremely keen to utilize authority and credibility to convince readers of the viability of their product. The ad contains different messages that promote the credibility and authority of the manufacturing process of the Oh Yeah nutritional shake to convince readers of the quality of the product. For instance, on the top right corner of the ad, the advertisers mention how the flavors used in the shake are award-winning. Furthermore, they also utilize authority to convince viewers when they state that the shake is “#1 Nutritional Shake in America by the Masters of Taste Foundation”. They use the authority of the organization with the mandate of confirming the quality of a product to show audiences the quality of the shake. Furthermore, the advertisers also incorporate a mark of testing to enhance the credibility of the product as a safe and nutritious product for human consumption. The mark, which, according to the advertisers, belongs to NSF international, is incorporated to further convince viewers of its credibility in terms of being safe for consumption. Besides, in the advertisement, they incorporate the picture of a cow with the words” Oh Yeah” labeled on its mouth. This is an attempt to portray ethos as they try to use the appeal to authority. Since cows are the natural produces of nutritious milk, their approval of a product would mean that it is actually safe for consumption and nutritious. With all of these aspects, the ethos has been used more compared to the other devices to convince viewers that the nutritional shake is the best in the market.

Pathos, the rhetorical device responsible for eliciting emotional responses, also plays a significant role in the Oh Yeah nutritional shake advertisement. In the advertisement, one is greeted with the image of a cow with the words “Oh Yeah” inscribed on its mouth. The site of a cow saying those words create emotional responses from the audiences as it makes them happy. In reality, cows are animals, and therefore, they cannot talk. However, the depiction of the cow in the advert creates a comedic effect among the audiences, and this intron leaves the viewer’s happiness. Moreover, in the ad, the advertisers depict the words “Made with Fresh diafiltered milk” in a huge font. This creates emotional reactions among the audiences as they feel special since the manufacturers of the products actually use fresh products to create the Oh Yeah nutritional shake. Furthermore, using the diafiltered milk shows that the manufacturers actually thought about individuals with lactose intolerance and allergies. Therefore, the words make the audiences feeling considered and cared for and, in this case, are convinced the manufacturers made the product with their best interests in mind. In this case, the audiences are more likely to purchase the product since the use of pathos is extremely convincing that the product is great for their use.

While ethos and pathos are important for convincing audiences of an argument or plea, it is imperative for advertisers to utilize some sort of logic to convince the skeptics. Logos, while not necessarily strongly used like ethos in the Oh Yeah nutritional shake advert, plays a vital role in creating a convincing ad. The use of logos in the ad is almost instantaneous in the ad, as the viewers can easily identify different forms of logos around the ad. On the top corner in the left-hand side of the ad, there is a statistic given, and it states, “32 grams of portable muscle-building protein”. To the left of the ad on the top corner, there is a message that reads “five award-winning flavors” The use of these facts and statistics help to show the viewers the quantities of ingredients in the shake as well as the number of flavors they can get respectively. However, the information is also convincing as it offers readers insight into the product and its manufacture, and this information makes it easier for the viewers or target market to trust the manufacturer. In view of this, logos are used superbly in the ad to show the ingredients of the nutritional shake and convince the audience of its quality and viability for consumption by humans.

The most important rhetorical devices are ethos, pathos, and logos because they are utilized to convince people of different pleas or statement. Advertisers utilize these rhetorical devices to market their products and get a wider market share. When all three are used properly and adequately, it becomes easier for manufacturers to convince the target market to purchase the product. Besides, even when one of the devices is used more than the other, the results may also be similar to when they are all utilized in similar ways. The Oh Yeah nutritional shake advertisement is extremely convincing due to its use of rhetorical devices. By appealing to credibility and authority through the use of ethos, viewers are persuaded of the quality of the product. Furthermore, appealing to the emotions of the audience through pathos ensures that viewers feel important or considered by manufacturers, and thus they trust them. Accordingly, the use of the appeal to logic shows viewers the raw materials used in the manufacture of the product and the quantities used, and this convinces them of the viability of the product.