Friday, July 22, 2011
Appeal to Emotion
For me, and I think I speak on many peoples behalf, the appeal to pity has to be one of the stronger aspects of humans emotions. Though fear is probably the contender for the number one spot, I think pity can be just as powerful. by being able to make someone feel sad for a group or organization, and ask that if they have a way to help and are willing, they should. Many times this is used in getting support for a certain group. For example, one commercial that always makes me sad is the commercial for the SPCA, which is an animal adoption shelter for homeless animals. I literally have to change the channel because it makes me sad seeing all of those animals shaking or looking sad and depressed. The commercial is aimed at getting people to take an animal home with them. I think they do a very good job and appealing to peoples pity with that commercial.
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John, I agree! The appeal to pity is a popular way to appeal to emotion. Appealing to pity gets everyone, every time. The commercials you elaborated on make me feel so terrible every time. Those poor animals are so helpless. The commercial certainly did its job on appealing to pity with me! I also have to change the channel because I feel so terrible for those poor animals that are abused. But it is sure safe to say that appealing to pity is a powerful way of appealing to emotion! Great example and great explanation of appealing to pity John!
ReplyDeleteSpot on about those commercials. You just see the close-up on the animals and the Gospel music starts playing. Seriously though, pity can genuinely move people just as much as fear, it's just in a different way. Or when a homeless man approaches me asking for change, and I happen to actually have a spare dollar or two in my wallet, it's hard for me to say no. At least in the U.S., I think people would respond better to pity than fear, since we have it very well off here when compared to other countries. Most of the places where I see appeals to fear are in politics, and old Cold or WW2 re-enactments.
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