Advertisers Are Rhetoricians.

Chapter 2 in Envision is all about analyzing ads and using them as arguments. Even advertisers are rhetoricians! They often use narrative to sell their product—this is to tell a story to sell their specific product. They also use compare and contrast strategies. They using compare and contrast strategies, they are using rhetoric to persuade you to buy their product over a competitor’s product. They also use examples or illustrations, cause and effect, definitions (to clarify their product’s purpose or function), analogies, processes, description, and classification and division. All these strategies are equally effective in both visual and written texts. Some might be more appropriate than others, though. Simply, advertisers are rhetoricians—whether you want to give them credit or not. Advertisers also try to use logos, pathos, and ethos effectively to persuade their audience to become customers. They also use question of policy, question of fact, and question of value to advertise. We learned about that in my Comm210 class during our persuasive speech and I believe the same concept would go for advertisers.