Preliminary Thoughts

For this first paper assignment I think I am leaning towards using a commercial.  It would probably be one the Crest White Strips ads found on television.  Those advertisements have many appeals to the three main aspects.  If I used this particularly ad I have in mind, I would definitely address the large amounts of appeal to pathos.  The women in the ad are smiling the entire duration of the commercial.  They seem to be extremely happy and are having fun.  The women are also seen with guys, talking and laughing on the phone, jogging and going out with other smiling women.  This commercial is obviously trying to appeal to the audience’s emotion through the happiness and joy expressed by the actors of the ad.  The display on such contentment when using white strips plants the idea that if one uses the Crest White Strips they will as a result be happier.  I would also discuss the appeal to logos that is present in the ad.  In the commercial it displays the women do many daily activities while wearing the white strips. The narrator of the commercial claims that one can wear the strips while doing just about anything.  One woman is changing her clothes, one is washing her face, talking on the phone and another is drinking water.  These details of the ad are appeal to the logical and convenience of using the Advance Seal Crest White Strips. The commercial also claims that the Strips use all new technology that allows them to adhere better than the regular white strips.  The narrator also says that these particular whitening fits any life and every smile as pictures of very different women scroll across the screen. At the very end of the commercial it displays a fact at the bottom in white letters, stating that these Crest White Strips are the number one dentist recommended brand. This can be categorized as logos because it is a type of fact or statistic, but also as ethos because it is using the trusted figure of a dentist to convince viewers to buy the product. It also has an appeal to ethos through the fact that Crest is a well-known and trusted brand that has provided the public with many products for teeth.

            I feel that this commercial does a very good job of appealing to all three areas and I find the ad to be effective in its goal to convince women to invest in white strips.  I am not quite sure of roadblocks that I may have to overcome between now and completing my first paper.  I feel pretty good about the ad I have chosen and my ability to expand on it and complete a rhetorical analysis.  I may have a little trouble with meeting the length requirement, but hopefully Robert’s article gave me the right helpful information to put to use in the paper. I think if I just remember the tips of how to write a great paper I won’t hit too many roadblocks.