Blog Post #1

Home Depot Commercial

1) In the link above, a commercial by Home Depot shows an example of ethos, pathos, and logos in a quick thirty second spiel. The advertisement appeals to the male audience. It shows a typical situation in an American family home: the father is redoing the deck and wants to save money. Pathos is shown when the speaker says "give your backyard what it needs most". This statement could potentially make the male figure in the audience feel bad for neglecting his yard, thus bringing him to Home Depot to get the supplies for the next project on his 'honey do list'. Further into the TV commercial, the father figure goes to Home Depot and the speaker says that Home Depot is "the know how you trust", which refers to ethos. They are saying that Home Depot is the right choice and that we can absolutely trust their expertise in any area of home improvement. Finally, logos is shown in two statements: "Grow a small budget into a big difference" and their slogan "more saving, more doing".  Everyone wants to find the best option for the lowest budget, our logos shows that Home Depot is going to fulfill those needs. When the average consumer hears their slogan, he/she is going to believe it is logical to go to Home Depot because of their persuasive techniques about saving money.

2) As a part of Florida State University's 'Healthy Campus 2020' campaign, the campus has prohibited the use of tobacco products on all university owned property. As Bitzer explains in the 'Rhetorical Situation' article, the audience in the case of the new tobacco ban is the student population at large, and the exigences of the ban is to eradicate the consumption of tobacco in youthful adults, who are at a pivotal age for developing an education of life long health and healthy habits. The constraints of this ban would be that it is only targeted toward FSU students and faculty. It does not reach out to the city of Tallahassee and beyond. This new initiative does not carry any rewards or punishments for those who do or do not comply with the tobacco ban.  

3) After Thursday's class and my prior knowledge, I believe rhetoric to be the art of persuading effectively and efficiently to one's audience with a purpose in mind. Through the act of devices like language, tone, style, syntax, diction, and other devices the speaker is able to articulate their message through persuasion or simply communication. Studying rhetoric is imperative to better understand written and verbal communication.