This ad, created for the World Wildlife Fund, is a powerful image for the purpose of promoting recycling in order to save wildlife, playing off of the power and emotion of a strong adult stag, as well as a general disdain for trash and rubbish, also involving multiple rhetorical factors, such as ethos, pathos, and logos.

As Permanent as your Fingerprint

Here, you see an ad for Sharpies Permanent Markers.  I am about to try and analyze it in 300 words or more.  Thrilled yet?............ Me neither.  Anyways, let's get started.

     First of all, bring your attention to the color scheme.  All around, a very gray atmosphere.  Nothing too bright..... But what's this?!?  A single paper gleams white against the pale gray surroundings.  And on it are two dark blobs, contrasting against the bright paper that, in turn, contrasts against the desk.  These two blobs are fresh fingerprints on a prison entrance form.  However, these prints weren't made with the traditional stamp ink.  Instead, they were made by a fine point Sharpie Permanent Marker, and a third is in the middle of being documented.

     This simple act of criminal documentation provides a powerful assumption of how precise this Sharpie actually is.  An ethos of this image is in the actual printed paper.  I don't know much about other places, but I know that the United States treatment of criminals is extremely strict in what information they keep.  The fact that a Sharpie would be used in the criminal justice system really speaks to its implied precision.  This gives it a certain authority; the fact that the American Government would choose this method of documentation over any other is certainly a feat that not many others can boast of.  Or, at least that's what they want you to think.

     Another rhetorical device, logos, is placed into the image with the method of imprinting as well.  While it is still impressive that one can write finely enough to document a fingerprint, there is still the fact that it is being sketched BY EYE.  With no technological aid, one man has already sketched two fingerprints, and is currently fine copying a third!  This level of expertise is assumed to have a direct correlation to the pen that the sketch artist is using.  Can anyone draw this precisely just by using a Sharpie Permanent Marker?  Can YOU!?!......Well, that's what they want you to think.

     The final -os of today's analysis is the pathos of the image.  While it's all fine and dandy that the pen and paper are the main focus of the image, a nifty little side-show is present just off to the left.  See that hand?  No, not the sketcher's hand, the other one.  That hand is the hand of a convicted felon.  This man has done something to earn him hard time in the slammer.  Maybe he's killed men.  Maybe he's slaughtered pedestrians.  Maybe he's done both.  But, all the same, there is a single writing utensil that is effectively putting this man behind bars, and that, my friends, is the Sharpie Permanent Marker.  By supporting this marker, you are aiding in the fight against crime everywhere....... At least that's what they want you to think.

The Power of Pictures

     If you were to ask me what the most persuasive medium is, I'd probably tell you music.  However, just because it is the most persuasive doesn't mean it is the most pervasive.  While music will always have the most impact to me as a persuasive medium, simple images and pictures will be a part of our lives 24/7.  While walking down a street, we are subjected to many stimuli in the form of images.  Pictures, billboards, and store signs all jump out at us, and even at home, we fill our space with pictures and images that appeal to us individually.  A simple color pallet can affect an entire room with complacency and a calming mood, while more complex portraits and murals can evoke powerful emotions such as happiness, joy, and sadness with such accuracy that it seems as though the artist knew how he wanted you to feel.  It is the artist's purpose to instill these emotions within you.
     When I watched the above video for the first time, the images were so powerful to me that I actually began to cry.  The artist's purpose was startlingly clear, and the accuracy of the images was phenomenal.  Shrouded in gray, the obscurity of the images was very realistic, as I do believe that this is what soldiers see on the front lines; a haze, and an inability to focus on the minute details of an event.  This accuracy and purpose is what makes images so pervasive throughout our lives.