Overton Park Ethos Pathos Logos

I seem to absorb advertisements quicker than I can process them; they breeze past any cognitive thought or qualifications and set up shop as doctrines for my life. Moreover, some advertisements are denied with twisted logic, like using brand loyalty to make decisions. In an effort to gain better understanding of advertising’s art of persuasion, I have been studying the rhetorical appeals and attempting to identify them in my daily ad intake. They are: pathos, an appeal to emotions; logos, an appeal to logic and reasoning; ethos, an appeal to credibility; and Kairos, the timeliness of the appeal. Recently, while walking through Overton Park, I came across a sign that advertises three park features: a zoo, art college, and art museum; rather

An image of a panda chewing bamboo in a natural environment is paired with a white Memphis Zoo logo on a bright green background. The image of the panda is an example of logos, logically appealing to viewers because, in Memphis and the greater United States, a zoo is the most likely place to see a panda. Furthermore, because the panda is a rare animal, its image is also an example of pathos, emotionally communicating the rarity of the experience offered to audience members. In USA Today’s Travel section, Susan B. Barnes writes, “Though they may never get out to see hometown sights such as Beale Street or Sun Studios, the two giant pandas that make their home at the Memphis Zoo shine in a spotlight all their own”. Audience members that view this image may feel they have gained insight into what a panda looks like in a natural environment which works on two levels. First, as an example of ethos, it sells the authenticity of the zoo: that a visit can be compared to the experience of seeing the animal in the wild. Second, as an example of pathos, it sparks the viewer’s curiosity of what other animals might be featured. By using a panda, the zoo sets a high precedent of animal rarity; it may be hard for viewers to think of a rarer animal and thus conclude that the zoo ‘has it all’. Finally, the green behind the logo, complements the natural environment conveyed in the images and inspires

The shapes and colors within the composition cause viewers’ eyes to move in circular, repetitive motions, absorbing and reabsorbing the information. Naturally, audience members will view the “Overton Park” header first and move from left to right across the panels. This eye movement is facilitated by organizational structure, color, and shape. Organizationally, the information follows the normal pattern of textual information in English, top to bottom, left to right. The green gradiates in darkness and intensity from left to right; and the shapes within each of the images stack like backwards “C’s” or cups. The final shape, of the art student, is shaped more like an “I” and draws attention vertically, to its logo below, and back to the heading above, starting the circulation of information all over