Analyzing Ads: Ethos

Before we talked in class about analyzing ads and the rhetoric that we can find in them, I’d never really thought about them; most of the time, I’ll just tune them out but there are some ads that just stick out. Some that are so annoying I can’t get them out of my head, and others that are persuasive and make me feel involved. I never really thought why this happens though. Now that we’ve done these ad analyses though, it’s a lot easier (and more entertaining) to pick out what advertisers are trying to sell in addition to their product, instead of just sitting there and waiting for the onslaught of commercials to end.

The speeches we heard today and Tuesday really made me think especially about how advertisers use ethos. Almost everyone’s seen the Got Milk? campaign ads depicting celebrities with a milk mustache- if Hayden Panettiere drinks milk, so should I, right? I have to admit though, that celebrity endorsements don’t usually persuade me to buy a certain product; even though they’re famous, I can’t really trust their endorsement, especially if I know they’re being paid for it. I have noticed however, that in Asia, ads feature celebrity endorsement almost everywhere, from cell phones to bread. What makes this use of ethos so much more prominent? From what I’ve heard and seen in the news in Asia, celebrities are held to much higher standards than they are in America--if they’re involved in a scandal, it’s much harder for them to bounce back into the spotlight. Thus, it makes sense that ethos-based celebrity endorsed ads are much more common in Asia; celebrities are expected to be more “role-model” type figures.