Logos is persuasion through facts and reason, or in other words, a logical persuasion. Logos is the basis of effective ads, so the powerful message displayed is important, and it always should be accurate. The ad, shown above, has a logos appeal, and it was created by the British Heart Foundation. It displays the fact, “Every cigarette we smoke makes fatty deposits in our arteries.” At the bottom, it says “We’ll help you give up before you clog up completely.”
Some may view smoking as just a serious health issue, which it is very much so. However, it is also a major societal issue. Smoking has an effect on the entire population. Tobacco products damage our environment by containing toxic chemicals that harm our land and wildlife. Although the ad does not include a persuasive fact about why smoking is bad for our environment, it does provide an unsettling fact that would most likely persuade someone to quit for health reasons – which also helps the society at large.
This ad’s appeal of logos is effective because it is not a large paragraph explaining why someone should quit smoking. It is mostly effective because it is just one, short sentence that grabs the viewer’s attention with an accurate, disturbing, and haunting fact that will remain in the readers’ minds. This “haunting fact” is a good enough reason of why someone should quit smoking, or never start smoking. The most effective part of this ad is that it is undeniably true, and truth is the best way of persuading someone. Not one person can argue cold, hard, facts and win.
Back in the mid-50’s, the societal norm, or commonplace, was smoking. Smoking was viewed to be “cool” and even healthy. Almost everyone smoked during that time, and it was even endorsed by doctors. Once people started to realize the horrible effects of smoking, ideologies against smoking started to form. This ad supports the ideology of how bad smoking is for a person, and that the act should never be done. Since times have changed, the new commonplace is to not smoke, because of scientific facts and the appeal of logos. In fact, there are now ideologies that claim smoking is “uncool, dirty, and disgusting”.
I guess that means we are on the path to a healthier future.
“It is mostly effective because it is just one, short sentence that grabs the viewer’s attention with an accurate, disturbing, and haunting fact that will remain in the readers’ minds.”
The amount of truth held within this sentence is amazing and I undoubtedly agree. People often underestimate the power held within just a few words. Just like how music is a composition of rhythms and sounds, but at the same time a lack of any sound at all, so is the art of writing and communicating. You can write an entire paragraph, but not everyone will spend the time to read it. Sometimes you have to be brief, and it ends up having the greatest impact.