Rhetorical Analysis #1

The ad I'm advertising comes from the back of the May National Geographic and is an advertisement for the iPad. In the ad, the iPad is in the foreground. On the screen is a page from Nicholas Sparks' novel The Last Song. A woman is holding the iPad on her lap and has her feet up on the couch while she reads the electronic book.

#1: What as the ad's goal?
-To sell the iPad.

#2: What is the argument?
-You should buy the iPad because it's classy, fashionable, and comfortable, allowing you to do relaxing things around the home, like read a book, with greater ease.

#3: Who is the audience?
-The broad audience is people, mainly women, who are reading National Geographic; the narrower audience is people reading the magazine who are 1) women, 3) middle-class, 2) enjoy doing things associated with relaxing around the house, like reading romance novels, and 4) perceive the iPad as something that only businessmen would want to buy and use.

#4: How? What rhetoric does the ad use?
The ad uses pathos to sell its argument by appealing to the reader's sense of comfort, relaxation, and ease. The woman in the ad has her feet up and is obviously relaxing in her own home; we can see the curtains billowing in the window by her feet and light streams into what is presumably her living room. She is wearing fashionable shoes and a classy skirt but is relaxing on the couch, enjoying her romance novel. Her hands are smooth and she holds the iPad up easily. By making the ad so we can't see the woman's face, the reader automatically becomes the viewer and steps into the woman's shoes, making the reader feel like they, too, can enjoy this sense of peace and relaxation by holding the iPad in their hands and relaxing in their own home. The ad also uses pathos to appeal to readers of romance novels by putting Nicholas Sparks' novel on the computer screen; the romance-obsessed reader (or the reader of pulp fiction or the viewer of popular movies) is thus automatically hooked and feels connected to the iPad right off the bat. The novel also uses pathos by establishing that the iPad isn't just for computer geeks or for people who need to work on some computery project. Instead, it's also for people who just want to relax and read a book.

The ad also uses logos by logically connecting the reader to the woman in the ad. The woman is relaxed and is obviously enjoying herself; by placing the iPad in the foreground and making the words on the page large enough for the viewer of the ad to read, the ad places the viewer of the ad in the place of the relaxed, comfortable woman with classy shoes who is relaxing in her home. We can't see any part of the woman but her hands, legs, and skirt, which makes us, the reader, her face; the iPad looks comfortable for the woman and thus logically looks comfortable to us. Therefore, the ad's use of logos connects the reader to the woman, making them feel (using pathos) that, logically, whoever holds the iPad will also experience the same sense of comfort and relaxation as the woman in the ad.

Evaluating the evidence:
Sufficient: I don't think the evidence the ad gives is sufficient. There isn't anything in the ad about the iPad itself; the ad relies wholly on pictures to sell its product. It portrays the product as being easy to hold and comfortable, and it demonstrates that the iPad can be used for more things than just business, and so it might seem credible to people who need to be persuaded that the iPad can be used to do fun recreational things, not just business-y things. However, the ad doesn't list any statistics or facts about how much the iPad costs, how to download ebooks, how much those cost, and what kinds of books are available to be read on the iPad. Thus, the evidence as for why you should buy the iPad doesn't seem sufficient for me.

Typical: I don't know that a reasonable person would accept this ad, because a reasonable person probably a) does not read Nicholas Sparks, and b) needs more evidence than just a woman with fashionable shoes reading a Nicholas Sparks novel to be persuaded into buying something as expensive as the iPad.

Accurate: There isn't really a counterargument presented here, except for the idea that only wealthy businessmen buy the iPad. In that case, I think it addresses the counterargument fairly by presenting a middle-class woman who is obviously enjoying herself. I don't know if "accurate" applies to this argument in other ways, though, since fashionable shoes doesn't automatically mean you want to read The Last Song on your iPad.

Relevant: I think everything in here is directly connected to the argument that middle-class women who like romance novels should also consider buying the iPad.

#5: Is it effective?
I think the argument would probably be affective for its target audience. However, I think it's trying to sell itself to too narrow an audience (i.e., women who like Nicholas Sparks) to be effective in any broader way.