Persuasive Rhetorical Criticism Against Drunk Driving Using Aristotelian Criticism

Persuasive Rhetorical Criticism Against Drunk Driving Using Aristotelian Criticism

Bianca Jeanty

George Mason University

Abstract

I will be looking at and giving an in-depth analysis for this Rhetorical Criticism paper by look at a commercial advertisement that is against texting and driving. Through the means of Aristotelian criticism I will be examining this advertisement the means and usage of the ethos, logos, and pathos (p. 314) to try to persuade the audience to understand the consequences of texting while driving and why it is wrong driving. Not only that Aristotle's cannons of rhetoric invention, arrangement, style, delivery, and memory will too be discussed. (p. 317) I believe that this being said that we would see at the end if the advertisement were being used correctly.

For this persuasive piece the video massage about texting and driving called "The Last word" uses ethos, logos, and pathos, that make up the main body or components that leads he audience and convince them about consequences or outcome from while texting and driving a vehicle. The first thing I read before watching this video was Over 440,000 people are killed or injured every year by distracted drivers. Don't let a text be your last word was what caught my eye and began create a convincing argument for its audience.

In this advertisement we can see that ethos being used throughout the video, ethos is known as the "perceived character, intelligence, and goodwill of the speaker as they become revealed through his or her speech. (West and Turner, 2010, p. 314)" You can see this at the beginning of the video when he used basketball as a metaphor to driving. At the beginning of the video he give an analogy that when he is driving he can do many things like driving left and driving right. This is from Derrick Rose point of view where he makes the ethical decision not to text and drive because be believes that texting and driving will prevent us from doing thing we want to do for him it playing basketball.

This ad makes the most use of the proof pathos by playing on the emotions of those watching (p. 314) The first thing that you notice when watching the video is the emotion he as when delivering the message again as I said in my previous message paragraph is that he used basketball as a metaphor to driving. With this being this being he uses his emotional appeal to convince the audience that it is not ok to text and drive. Derrick Rose shares his views on texting while driving. He tells his friends and fans to stop texting and driving because "It Can Wait."

The final proof that is demonstrated in this commercial is logos that are the factual information and backing that is provided for an idea. (p. 314) When watching this video I felt that even though there was not a lot of evidence being shown to back up what