Conor Sullivan, “Pathos in ‘Tips From Former Smokers’”
Studying rhetoric provides necessary insight for crafting and evaluating arguments. It informs us of how others attempt to persuade us and how we may attempt to persuade others. To this end, one of the most important concepts within rhetoric is Aristotle’s three appeals: ethos, logos, and pathos. Each of these appeals describe a method of persuading an audience by appealing to different aspects of their perspective.
Ethos is the appeal to character, where a rhetor appeals to how the audience views them to prove their worthiness and credibility. Logos is the appeal to logic, meaning the rhetor appeals to what arguments the audience already accepts, and uses them to form new conclusions. Finally, there is pathos, the appeal to emotion, which requires that a rhetor consider the audience’s emotional state in order to appeal to their likely emotion responses (Heinrichs 40). Though no one appeal triumphs over the overs, understanding the nuanced influence of pathos is critical to understanding persuasion in our modern world. Through the examination of a real-world example, we can learn why.
What makes pathos important is the primal level of influence emotions have on our reasoning and decision making. Many scoff at the notion of allowing one’s emotions to play a role in these things, but it is an unavoidable reality. According to writers Sharon Crowley and Debra Hawhee, “New research in neuroscience suggests that we can’t think without emotions, and that our emotional responses are intricately tied up with our beliefs” (171). From this, we can see that it is our emotional responses to stimuli that gives us context and motivation. These responses define what things and actions we consider desirable, which in turn defines how we make our decisions.
This motivational element of pathos is further described by author Jay Heinrichs in his book Thank You for Arguing, where he notes, “You can persuade someone logically, but . . . getting him out of his chair to act on it takes something more combustible” (40). This “combustibility” of pathos means you cannot ignore emotion if you hope to persuade an audience into action. You must be able to assess the emotional state of your audience, determine how it will influence their responses, and structure your argument to appeal to them.
A clear example of this type of assessment in action is the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s anti-smoking PSA campaign “Tips From Former Smokers.” Like all PSAs, this series of videos makes an argument to the public. Specifically, their audience is those with access to cable television since that is where these videos are played. The argument posited in each of these videos is a simple one; you should not smoke and, if you do, you should quit.
This argument follows a similar structure in most of the videos. They start by introducing their subject, usually a former smoker, who shares the debilitating health complications their smoking habit gave them. They share what their lives were like before this habit and what they have lost as a result of it. The subject then gives some advice to the audience, which is either about what you need to do to live comfortably with these complications or stressing that you should quit smoking to avoid them. They usually end by revealing that the subject died due to complications, along with the message “You can quit, for free help, visit CDC.gov/tips.”
An example of a video following this structure is titled “Tonya M.: Nobody Wants That.” Here, Tonya describes how smoking led to her heart failure and dependence on an external pump to keep it going. She describes how she is no longer able to take care of her kids like she used to and instead they constantly take care of her. At the end, we are informed that this heart failure led to her death at fifty-three years old.
It is easy to see how these videos appeal to the emotional responses of their audience. First, numerous technical elements are used to create a somber atmosphere. Nearly all of these videos feature cool and muted colors, which the audience will associate with dreariness and depression. While this can be seen in Tonya’s video, it is most apparent in the video titled “Nathan M.’s Tip,” where most of the colors are light blues and grays. Additionally, there is no music in any of them, which is likely to throw the audience off guard. Like other PSAs, these videos play between commercials on cable television. Since nearly every commercial has accompanying, usually cheerful, music, having none creates a sense that something serious is being said. Along with this, the camera is typically entirely focused on the subjects as they speak, which prevents the audience from diverting their attention and emotions away from the subject.
These film-making techniques are paired with the subject’s stories to further appeal to the audience’s emotions. The emphasis on what the subjects have lost makes the audience sympathize with them. As already demonstrated, Tonya’s story emphasizes how she lost her ability to take care of her kids and herself (“Tonya M.: Nobody Wants That”). Nathan talks about how he used to love dancing with his family before secondhand smoking took it from him (“Nathan M.’s Tip”). Both of these are common and highly valued experiences for many. Most can relate to the desire to care for family and the love of sharing passions. Since the creators of these videos know the audience values these experiences, they know emphasizing the loss of them will provoke further and more intense reactions.
Additionally, these videos use this sympathetic connection to provoke a response of fear by framing the subject’s experiences as something that could happen to the audience. This is most prominent in the video titled “Anthem,” where three subjects give advice on how to comfortably live with an artificial stoma in your neck. This video creates a negative mood using several techniques already outlined: a muted color pallet, no music, and close angle shots of the subjects. Where this one differs is that the focus isn’t on what the subjects have lost, it’s on their daily lifestyle. They discuss some of the discomforts and threats they need to look out for including aerosols, shower water, shaving, and having “food fall out of your stomach.” Having to worry about any of these is something that the audience will find deeply frightening and disgusting. The fear of ending up in this scenario helps convince the audience that smoking is dangerous.
Since the creators of these videos know how their audience would respond emotionally, they’re able to lead the audience to a desired conclusion. This demonstrates the power rhetors can have over our thought process through an awareness of our emotions. This power of pathetic appeals is demonstrated by Heinrichs, as he states that “By using your opponent’s logic and your audience’s emotion, you can win over your audience with greater ease. You make them happy to let you control the argument” (41). By cooperating with and working within your audience’s emotional state, you persuade without them even realizing it. The correct emotional response makes your argument seem self-evident, and audiences will gladly be persuaded as it validates their emotional state.
It is important that we analyze pathos in examples such as these as it enables us to recognize it elsewhere. This recognition is the first step towards being able to determine whether these appeals are appropriate given the claims being made. Most would agree that the “Tips From Former Smokers” campaign represents a positive use of pathetic appeals. The emotional response they appeal to is warranted, as it is based on real testimonials of a real danger to our health.
However, it is not hard to imagine that this style of appeal may be misused, how one may use an audience’s emotions to get them supporting arguments they otherwise wouldn’t have. History is full of examples of such rhetors abusing moments of heightened emotions for their benefit and to the detriment of others. The way we avoid situations like this is by learning how to investigate these appeals and analyze our emotions to determine if they reach a reasonable conclusion. The same way we would with any other style of argument.
In rhetoric, just as with life, emotions are a key aspect of the human condition that we can’t, nor should, break away from. We are constantly experiencing emotions and those experiences color our worldview and factor into our decision-making. However, that does not mean these emotions are always reasonable or have a positive impact. They can be inappropriate for the situation, either by being unjustified or out of proportion. Through learning to recognize how pathos is used and what a reasonable use of it looks like, we’re able to both navigate rhetorical situations and guide others through them. Examples like “Tips From Former Smokers” guide us towards a use of pathos that is for the betterment of everyone involved.
Works Cited
Crowley, Sharon, and Debra Hawhee. “Pathetic Proof: Passionate Appeals.” Ancient Rhetorics for Contemporary Students, Pearson, 2012, pp. 170–88.
Heinrichs, Jay. “4. Soften Them Up.” Thank You for Arguing: What Cicero, Shakespeare and the Simpsons Can Teach Us about the Art of Persuasion, Penguin Books, 2020, pp. 38–45.
“CDC: Tips From Former Smokers—Tonya M.: Nobody Wants That—Memorial—URL.” YouTube, uploaded by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 9 November 2022,www.youtube.com/watch?v=rPF8kpKMObc&list=PLvrp9iOILTQZNKggn9HlTpQRSE7deeA6_&index=10.
“CDC: Tips From Former Smokers—Nathan M.’s Tip Memorial Ad—URL.” YouTube, uploaded by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 30 July 2020, www.youtube.com/watch?v=0rTRwLV89J0.
“CDC: Tips from Former Smokers—Anthem Ad.” YouTube, uploaded by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 15 March 2012, www.youtube.com/watch?v=GEWky9PEroU.
This essay was written for Professor DeLuca in the Spring 2023 semester.