Rhetorical Techniques Used In Advertising

The image above was created by the Bangalore traffic police in India. The main purpose for the creation of this advertisement is to advocate against talking on the phone and driving, it uses many rhetorical devices including Aristotle's three appeals - ethos, pathos, and logos - that he believed made a convincing argument. The picture is directed to any person who drives and talks on the phone and shows how dangerous the act really is. The photographer Mallikarjun Katakol and the graphic designer Vinci Raj demonstrate the danger by manipulating their audience’s emotion by having blood splatter out of the phone and placing the blame on the spouse who called the person who was driving. You can see how the illustrator is placing the blame on the spouse from the only words on the picture reading “Don’t talk while he drives”. Where most talking and driving commercials place the blame on the driver,
She does this by conveying how when you are talking to someone on the phone while they drive what you are doing is potentially putting there life in danger whether that be your husband or anyone you talk to. The photographer shows this through the blood coming out of the phone and it being sprayed all over the woman showing her to be responsible and as if his blood is now on her hands because she made that phone call. The horror on her face also shows how she too knows that his blood is on her hands both metaphorically and in the picture literally.
Although the author mostly focuses on the audience's emotional and ethical appeal in her advertisement there is some logos in which she uses to strengthen her argument. The logical appeal she uses is the incident itself and how the whole thing can be avoided by not calling someone when you know they are driving and also just not talking on the phone and driving in