Pathos is used everywhere in our lives. It is a fundamental to get people to react to something. Pathos is used to draw the reader in and get their attention through emotions. Creators use it to pull on the heart strings of the readers to get a reaction and an emotion. The use Pathos to bring out a rise in people and cause a bigger impact when it comes to ad's or scripture. Pathos is used in many places for emotion but what we also need to understand is that it can be used in the wrong ways as well. If companies want to get a point across they can use pathos but sometimes certain adds can become too emotional or have too much of an impact, that it makes people cringe at the sight of them, therefore turning them away and ending in the company not getting what they are trying to produce across.
When I think of Pathos, I immediately replay the BCSPCA commercial above with Sarah McLachlan. Every time i hear this commercial come on I immediately have to change the channel. I do this simply because for me, it's too much. However, this is a good example of pathos. It pulls at the heart strings by showing images of the animals and it also uses music that brings out a sad emotion. To me this is a good example of Pathos because it does just that, it brings out emotion. On the other hand I think this can also be a bad representation of Pathos. It makes me change the channel every time it comes on because it is almost too much for me to handle.
I agree with Austin, that pathos can be very effective and cause you to act out without a second thought. In my experience commercials that use mostly pathos are much more effective than other commercials. Because it becomes a personal thing like what Austin said about the commercial he posted. Obviously if something brings out so much emotion it causes you to change the channel though it’s not very effective. There defiantly needs to be a happy medium, so that it does not play with the minds of people and guilt trip them into something they do not necessarily believe in. I have seen this same commercial and although it is very sad, I feel like I am almost being pressured into feeling bad, like they are only focusing on the bad, and not the good of the program. I would rather know what the program is actually doing then see a bunch of sad and sick animals. Plus if they are being helped the dogs should look happy to be in their care. I feel as if I am a very resistant to the pathos used even when it is sad, because I already know what they want and generally it is just money. I think for commercials that use pathos to get this should attack deeper more sophisticated emotions, I mean they are rich enough to hire a psycho analyzer, and would produce a much greater effect if they found a way to get deeper into the human mind.
ReplyDeleteOh gosh… the famous Sarah McLachlan commercial! I hate watching it but whenever it’s on I feel so tempted to play it all the way through. I can never watch the whole thing but this is where the skill of pathos is used. I feel like changing the channel makes me a bad person. As we all know, this is probably the most intense pathos ever. Pathos is used to provoke emotion and in my opinion, the most successful type of persuasion. That is probably because I’m pretty emotional when it comes to touchy subjects. It completely crushes my heart to see these animals in such horrible situations. Right away a sad-looking dog is shown on the screen. I never really thought of pathos as a bad thing until now. Why would someone want to make the viewer feel so much pity? It’s almost sickening how desperate they seem. It’s awful; I wish I could rescue every single one of those animals. But I agree with Austin, I am always skeptical with these types of commercials, I feel like I cannot trust them. I have never donated money from a foundation I saw on television. I also agree that they should have more positive in the commercial. Instead of it being so depressing, they should add more happy stories. Maybe a happy story such as an animal that was rescued and now living at an amazing home. It would prove to the viewer that there really is hope for these animals.
ReplyDeleteMan, not only this commercial but all of those commercials have such an emotional toll on me. Every time the commercial shows I have to change or ask for it to be changed. By far this is the most successful and probably never topped form of pathos there is. Pathos is being used to draw out emotions from the audience and most likely has to be the best way of convincing a group, audience or person. Me being a pet owner and being surrounded by pets since the day I was born has caused me to grow real close them and actually take them as part of the family. So seeing this video commercial and others alike, draws out the pity in me for these animals especially when the first image you see is of a dog who has had his/her day of struggles. One of my missions upon graduating as an engineer and making enough money to sustain myself is to open an animal rescue and do something beneficial in the world rather than live a boring and lavish life. Though, these commercials ask for donations, I haven't donated because you cannot trust where the money is going or what it is actually being used for. So that thought transpired into my goal of starting an animal rescue shelter. The commercial does not in fact have any bright spots, meaning there is no points in time where the animals look happy. Which could really work against your audience. Wouldn't people who are donating their spare change to those animals like to know that those animals are actually getting the money and on a new path in life that is supposed to be filled with happiness? Maybe taking that into account might draw out a bigger crowd and allow them to receive more donations. Giving the audience the impression that there is hope for these dogs, cats and other animals could also be the key.
ReplyDeleteI think this video is an excellent example of pathos. Every part of it makes you feel like you need to help animals. That is the exact purpose of this video. They try to make animals look extremely sad or have them look like they are in pain in order to make you (the audience) feel sorry for them and eventually help them. Either by giving money to the organization to help animals or by buying one of your own this commercial is extremely effective. I disagree with Austin in that this commercial does not make me want to change the channel. As a matter of fact changing the channel would make me feel worse about not helping these animals. That makes me think that I am just avoiding this problem that this commercial presents. Overall this commercial is very successful because it uses cute and innocent animals in order to persuade the audience to want to help them.
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