Epstein defines Appeal to Emotion as a premise that says you should believe or do something because you feel a certain way. Breaking down emotional appeal into detail to understand it better, we learn that there are specific ways used to win people over with their emotions. Appeal to Pity caught my attention. When advertisers are trying to sell a product or trying to help a cause, they aim to melt the buyers heart and make them feel bad enough to support their cause or buy their product. We see a lot of this in TV Commercials. A well-known example of an advertisement using the approach of appealing to pity would be an ASPCA commercial. This commercial uses images of abused, hurt, and battered animals that are in desperate need of help. "Arms of an Angel" by Sarah McLachlan also plays as background music and enhances the emotional pity. Using this approach, animal lovers and pet owners can connect and be moved because of what they see; they have pity for these animals and no longer want to see domestic violence and decide to support the cause.
I really enjoyed reading your post. It was really interesting to see how much the appeal to pity is used within advertisements. It is such a good tool to persuade others and make them feel bad in order to sell a product. Your example of a real organization that does this is really good! I totally agree with you because even when I watch their commercials I feel so bad to see so many animals without a home. Another example of this is the commercials of children from other poor countries who need a shelter, clothes and food. I'll admit, they do a really good job in persuading people to support their cause.
ReplyDeleteI am glad you chose to discuss Appeal to Pity as it is a strong marketing tool that we often see. I am very aware of the ASPCA commercials as they do an excellent job on not only messing with your emotions and giving you the "guilt trip" on not doing anything for these animals that you see during the commercial. Commercials that also have to deal with Children's hospitals use the same strategy when they show us kids who have been diagnosed with cancer and are battling for their life. They use those images to encourage us to donate money and take action. If it weren't for this strong use of appeal, their donations to these hospitals would be a lot less. Good job!
ReplyDeleteIt is a convincing and interesting post that I have arrived on, because it pertains to appealing to emotion, in particular pity. Being a dog owner it is devastating everytime I see the ASPCA commercials that have images of malnourished, tortured, and ill fated animals. This is a prime example of how appeal to our emotions can get the better of us. It makes us want to donate a quarter or go to our local animal shelter and adopt a pet. Another example that uses appeal to emotion would be the commercials featuring the sick children of third world nations. You have greatly touched upon the problems of our pets and was written very well.
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