Zhou 1

Kevin Zhou
Ms. Thompson
AP Lang, Block 2, Skinny A
December 1st, 2014
Draft 1
Rhetorical Analysis of Advertisements Draft 1
Rhetorical devices aid in helping a writer or content creator to tell an effective story or
convey a meaningful message. This is evidenced through the many advertisements that can be
spotted on any trivial newspaper or magazine. Chances are, every advertisement on these
mediums will employ different rhetorical devices to help them grab the readers attention and
hold on to it until they have parted their message or agenda onto the reader. By analyzing
rhetorical devices on such common day things like advertisements, one can enhance their own
skill and ease with using rhetorical devices.
The first ad that will be analyzed is an anti-torture ad by the Advico Y&R agency in
Zurich. The ad depicts an airplane seat with a picture behind it. That picture is a persons hands,
bruised and cuffed with a wire, positioned in such a way to make it look like they are the hands
of the person sitting in front of you. The ad then says that victims of torture are people like
everyone else, or you and me, as they put it. This advertisement utilizes a strong appeal to the
readers pathos, or emotions, as seeing a rather profound picture on an airplane seat with make
people realize that torture can happen to anyone, and it is designed to invoke these compelling
emotions to try and make people realize this. This is primarily an appeal to pity and fear, as well

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as sympathy, as they want to make the readers feel sympathetic towards torture victims so that
they take action against torture. This appeal to the personal feelings of the reader is extremely
effective for conveying their message. Also, this advertisement also contains realism, as they try
not to soften up the issue of torture. Rather, they just lay it out for you in a blunt but effective
manner.
The second advertisement is a picture of a man holding a book that is not flipped to the
end of the book, but it still says The End on the page, with a note that says, If you smoke,
statistically, your story will be 15% shorter than it should be. This ad is also using pathos,
which is appeal to fear, to try and get people to stop smoking by showing how their life is
tenuous while they smoke. By showing a person holding a book that is clearly not flipped to the
last page, it shows just what is at risk for those who smoke. It is also effective in that it shows
the reader how much of their life will be cut short by smoking by providing a visual cue; namely,
a book that is only 85% of the way done. This also uses euphemisms, as it says your story will
end sooner, which is a euphemism for if you smoke, you will die earlier. The euphemism does
well to add a sense of doom and gloom to the already depressing ad, which may be enough to
make people think twice about smoking again.
In short, every single advertisement that that can be seen nowadays, from billboards to
magazine advertisements, to advertisements on TV, all use rhetorical devices. Even the most
superficial advertisements use rhetorical devices. Without them these advertisements would be
inconsequential, as rhetorical devices are extremely effective at conveying messages that the
advertisers want consumers and readers to see.