https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3yNSF7ljOoU "Dear Kitten - Regarding the Dog"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBrSvHPY1NQ "Dear Kitten - Regarding the Big Game"
For further evaluation of the rhetorical triangle in
advertisements, I continued with the theme of pet food. This time, I looked at
Friskies’ “Dear Kitten” set of advertisements. The advertisements star an older
male cat welcoming a new kitten to the house and its ways. He explains some
good parts of the house, such as the underwear drawer, shoes, and the red dot
game. The older cat also warns the kitten of potential problems, such as the
vacuum and the baby, with ways to avoid them. In additional advertisements, the
dog and the Super Bowl event are clarified, along with other “regarding”-themed
ones available.
Throughout these advertisements, ethos is demonstrated by
using a traditional-sounding older man’s deep voice to sound more authoritative.
Ethos is also demonstrated by the older cat’s amount of knowledge and details
about house life, dealing with the dog, and what happens during the Super Bowl.
He explains several good and bad points about each with supporting details that
voice his opinions. As a bonus, the older cat offers ways for the kitten to
exploit the kindness of humans. Trust is shown when the kitten is copying what
the older cat is doing. Overall, the older cat is following the traditional
duty to show the newbie around the house plus the events in it, as the older
cat once had.
Pathos is also widely used. Mainly, it is used as an appeal
to cat owners who want to better understand their cats. Although we can not
truly know what a cat’s thinking or why they do the weird things they do, this
is a good way of trying to explain common house cat events. The ads always tie
it back into the actual Friskies wet canned food. One great example is from the
original advertisement, when the older cat clarifies the difference between the
dry “dehydrated brown niblet” food and special wet food. Another that ties the
food back in is in the Dog one, where the older cat shows why it’s best when
the dog eats the dry food. With no dry food available, the cats are then given
the better wet food. Logos comes in when the cats are only shown eating
Friskies, not dry food. The older cat also purrs after eating, and purring is
often associated with happiness. The advertisement’s main message, then, is
that cats are happier when eating Friskies wet canned food.
First of all, I like your blog...kitties are always uplifting. I am starting to notice that if you dissect an advertisement enough, you can always find more examples of the rhetorical triangle. So with that said, I would also add that the "Dear Kitten" commercial has a couple lines in it that seem to have all three, ethos, pathos, and logos. Specifically where the narrator said, the dry food seemed to be for astronaut training, which could be an example of logos by relating a competitor's food to astronaut food. Most of us would agree that astronaut food, from the way they describe it, does not sound very appealing at all. The narrator speaks in the next line about how special the Friskies food is because it is sealed in a metal container. This can be an example of ethos, since we associate things we hold dear, or deem special, being held in something safe such as a sealed metal container. In addition, both of those comments about the food can also be examples of pathos, by way of our emotional connection to how gross food and yummy food can make us feel. I'm sure we can all recall a time or two when we were unhappy due to poor tasting food or when we were completely satisfied by a delightfully delicious dish.
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