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ASPCAs Webpage and How it Includes Ethos, Logos, and Pathos

Sam, Cesar, Yasmin & Bianca

University of Texas at El Paso

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ASPCAs Webpage and How it Includes Ethos, Pathos and Logos

ASPCA stands for The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to

Animals. It is a Website created to promote animal care and wellbeing

through the audiences donations. The audience primarily focused on are

animal lovers and sympathizers. Their home webpage is where most of the

information will be compiled from, and the advert strategies utilized will be

the main points of discussion. Specifically, the contents covered will be that

of the page to locate, Identify and summarize and discuss the characteristics

of ethos, pathos, and or logos.

The first characteristic and advert strategy that will be examined is

ethos. This is the characteristic of believability and credibility. A couple of

examples are the links provided on the page, these links may vary and differ

in the subject and matter they present but they all have the same

foundation. All in all the pages all seemed to be focused on the treatment

and salvation of domestic animals and how this would consistently be their

main focal point building a sense of trust for the companies themselves. This

is considered ethos because they are all seen as evidence that this page is

focused solely on the positive health and wellbeing of animals while also

emphasizing the companies undeterrable cause for said animals. Having a

variety of different links indicate, through repetition, that these topics are the

goal and focus of ASPCA, Thus increasing the believability. This is also a

misuse of ASPCA due to the fact they are using outside events from The
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Unites States of Agriculture or events from Happy Valley Meat Company

becoming the first fully animal welfare-certified meat distributor in the nation

instead of utilizing ASPCA accomplishments.

Another example of ethos provided on the home page of ASPCA can be

shown towards the bottom of the page. The example implied are the links

(About Us, Careers, Contact, Corporate Partners, Press, and Pet Care) that, if

clicked, can show more specific information on the company and its care

towards animals, corporate partners/sponsors etc. This is an example of

ethos because having these links/options to provide a better understanding

of the company, seeing and reading about the animal care they provide and

knowing their sponsors like Subaru will increase your believability and

credibility and the organization, its policies, and legitimacy.

The next characteristic and advert strategy that will be looked upon is

logos. Logos is communication incorporating the form of logic either through

graphs, charts, numbers, legalities etc. For example on the ASPCA home

page we can see this being used at the very top of the web page where it

states that .63c a day saves lives. To explain why it is considered logos is

that obviously a number is being used. But to dive a little bit more in-depth

look at the number being used. It is .63c a day. Why not use 18.9 dollars a

month or 226.8 dollars a year? It is because the use of a smaller number is

easier on the mind to budgeting than taking in a larger sum of money all at

once. Thus turning logic against them and making the donation seem like it
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will not affect the donor as much. This is the also a misuse of logos due to

post hoc faller. Another example of logos is at the bottom of the page. The

lined being referred to is The ASPCA is a 501(3) non-for-profit

organization. Privacy Policy Legal Info. This is logos due to the fact it is true

information about the company itself. To further provide facts on the

companys policy and legal information all you have to do is click on the link

either Privacy Policy or Legal Info and you will be given a whole reference

that refers to numbers and facts about the company and how they operate.

Feeding the mind more numbers, statistics and facts indicating and proving

that logos is used.

The last characteristic or advert strategy being used is pathos. Pathos

is the main selling point for this webpage. We can see that in multiple

examples throughout the page beginning with the pictures. The majority of

the pictures are of animals we would consider helpless such as puppies,

kitties, older dirty dogs etc. These pictures are not taken when they are

happy and playing with a ball or piece of string instead they are taken when

they are afraid or scared. They are taken when they are not clean but dirty.

They are taken with the animal as the biggest thing in the picture. This

indicates pathos because seeing all of these different angles, living

conditions, and helpless animals create a mental image and mental emotion

of sad, sorry and sympathy. The company is trying to induce this emotion to

hopefully lure you into donating towards the company to help the same

animals you are being shown. It is actually a strong misuse of pathos due to
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creating a false need in their audience. Humorously enough, the goal in

mind when attempting this strategy is the opposite effect that people feel,

and almost comes off as a an exaggeration of the truth leading into mistrust

of the company however true it might be. Another example of pathos is in

their writings that co-inside with the pictures. Specifically the statement, Is

There Room in Your Heart for Me?. So much of that statement alone shows

emotion. Firstly the way it is written shows a very strong example of

emotion. It is in the way of a question and since it is in writing, when you

read it to yourself, it is almost as if you are asking yourself that question

which can make you react regretful or shameful. Next it is the biggest

writing on the page. It stands out and shows that whatever is written is really

important and needs to be taken to heart. Lastly it says in the statement

itself room in your heart. We connect emotions to our heart so anything that

inquires how much capacity our hearts have for an animal will get us to feel

sorry for them and almost want to prove that there is room for them in our

hearts. That is such a hard hitting example of pathos and again, another

misuse of pathos.

Those are the ethos, pathos and logos on the ASPCA page identified

and summarized. In conclusion, the website mainly uses pathos in attempts

in convincing people to support their cause. While there are uses of logos

and ethos in the webpage, these are few and far inbetween, the ASPCA

almost using the urgency of their cause to save and mentioning the limited

time to respond in commercials to build a sense of trust in the company that

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they will do the right thing almost like priests devoted to the purpose of their

god. While using logic can be an excellent strategy to winning the minds of

the consumer, for this website they should be commended for the little use

of it, due to the fact that despite showing reason behind the cause it is

difficult to win their hearts also, because in the end most people are very

emotional and rarely listen to logic, sadly because most people pay attention

to how things they do would make them feel rather than just focusing on

what would be logically better for the whole. After all why do something for

the sake of doing it for the betterment of others without being praised for it

or do something that one would be constantly be reminded of to see that

they are contributing that fulfills a sense of self-fulfillment or purpose.