Pathos is all about appealing to people’s emotions. A commercial featuring sad puppies (ASPCA), or cute babies (some cleaning products, all baby products), or young adults having fun (Coca Cola) is trying to get you to buy the product (or donate money) by associating that act with the emotion that the commercial gives you. You want the puppies to have homes and be loved, don’t you???

People who are asking for money/food/other resources on the street or on the train usually use pathos as their main rhetorical strategy. They often appeal to our sense of moral decency and empathy for other human beings. Or perhaps our sense of guilt for not helping others when perhaps we could.

Mattress and bedding ads appeal to pathos! Because nice new fancy sheets that probably smell nice make you think of being in your cozy bed…how nice would that be? Wouldn’t you like to be in bed right now? Pathos.

Calls for political action often appeal to pathos, because they call out something horrible in society to make you angry and then ask you to (donate, vote, volunteer, etc) as a way of dealing with that anger.

Sex appeal is also pathos. You want to be sexy, or be with someone who is sexy, or do sexual things, and this product will help to be sexy/attract sexy people/help you have sex! All of that is based on feelings.

Nostalgia is also pathos. We will see a lot more ads appealing to nostalgia as we get closer to thanksgiving and Christmas.

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