Ethos, logos, and pathos are integral and essential components of a rhetorical appeal. They are all responsible for different aspects. Thus, logos is responsible for the expediency and logic of the arguments and information given, while pathos is responsible for the emotional component. The main goal of ethos becomes an appeal to the status, which contributes to the formation of trust and loyalty of people. The first source does an excellent job of bringing arguments proving the magnitude of the negative impact of advertising on young girls’ self-esteem. In addition to data, images also help in transmission, which serves to achieve greater involvement and trust of the public.
Jean Kilbourne’s video provides a well-grounded and well-structured insight into the problem of the influence of the image of skinny models on advertising posters on the self-perception of women. A valuable thought can also be considered how the unhealthy emphasis of advertising companies connects thinness and bad habits (Challenging Media, n.d.). It is also worth noting that with regard to kairos and context, modern viewers can perceive this video positively since the problem discussed in it is still relevant. Despite the strengthening of concepts such as diversity and inclusion, there are still a large number of advertising companies using slim women for promotion.
The underlying thought in Jean Kilbourne’s speech, which is also pursued in Ashley Graham’s speech, is the negative impact of society’s standards for women. Thus, the modern speaker supports the opinion about the harmful influence of public views about the norm for the female body and what belongs to the “plus size” category (TEDx Talks, n.d.). My personal reaction was positive when viewing the data from two sources, as I can relate to the message, since being a female means that society tries to impose the unhealthy standards on me and my body. I believe they have significantly incorporated all three aspects of the rhetorical appeal, and I find them persuasive. Moreover, I can add that context or age of Kilbourne’s videos does not affect my receptivity to her message due to the relevance of the topic the author is discussing.
References
Challenging Media. (n.d.). Slim hopes: Advertising & the obsession with thinness [Video]. YouTube.
TEDx Talks. (n.d.). Plus-size? More like my aize | Ashley Graham | TEDxBerkleeValencia [Video]. YouTube.