The word pathos is categorized with emotions. It is used to persuade by appealing to the audience’s emotions. People most likely see things that use pathos everyday and may not even be aware of it. It can be found in almost anything, books, movies, commercials, and billboards. Those examples are only a few of many more.
There is a commercial that uses pathos to accomplish its goal. The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) uses pathos in their commercial that states facts about animal cruelty and even shows some animals that have been abused. It is a very sad commercial and does a great job of making the viewers feel sympathetic towards the animals. It is not only the images that are shown that make the viewers feel bad, but also the song. It is amazing how much emotion a commercial can bring to the audience watching with simple things like the song playing in the background.
What this commercial is arguing is that no animal deserves to be abused and if it does happen, people should try and help any way they can. The SPCA tries to get the viewers to feel enough emotion to call the number and donate money to the organization. The targeted audience can be anyone. Even if you are not an animal lover, this commercial will probably make you feel sympathetic for the animals. When I was reading the comments for this video on YouTube, I noticed that a lot of people were saying that they would not even watch this commercial. These people won’t watch the commercial because it is so sad. Obviously, whoever created this commercial wants people to see it but in a way, the objective is being complete. Yes, the main objective is to get the audience to send money to the organization, but the other objective is to get the audience to feel something. People saying that they won’t even watch it shows how much emotion this commercial can bring to people.
Like I said before, there are many other things that use pathos. If you pay attention, you will start to notice how common this tool really is.
This link will lead you to the SPCA commercial.
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