The ad appeals to parents and seeks to inform them of the need for a greater amount of the arts in children’s lives. The ad first makes appeals to logos by detaching Walt Whitman’s name from the candy company that features “Whitman’s Sampler.” It details the poetry that he created, displaying him as an intellectual person. Why shouldn’t we be intelligent too? The ad later claims “Whitman can influence your child, too” to show that increasing the arts in a child’s life will increase a child’s intelligence. The ad also makes appeals to pathos through its wise wit and catchy captions.
The language used in the ad pervades the senses visually and verbally. The first feature in the ad is the half-bitten candy with a caption reading, “Too much of Whitman’s art won’t give you a stomachache.” Everyone has experienced a stomachache from eating too much chocolate, yet this feature conveys the fact that too much of the arts can’t give you a stomachache. Rather, you’ll be coming back for more. The second feature is the picture of the brain, with large sections as “readin’, ‘riting, and ‘rithmetic” and a miniature section as “art.” The brain is supposed to depict a circle graph, showing regions with the highest percentage or rate. Here, art is the least of the three and the caption reads, “Give your kids a chance to succeed. Up their daily dose of art.” The aforementioned phases also include convincing wit such as “Up their daily dose of art,” which would usually be used for food products (or in this case, chocolate). Who doesn’t smile when they hear or read “readin’, ‘riting, and ‘rithmetic?” The use of these humorous phrases guides the reader to a conclusion that children should be more exposed to the arts.
The ad informs parents effectively about the lack of the arts in children’s lives. The ad makes strong appeals to logos by disassociating Walt Whitman (an intelligent poet) with Whitman’s Sample (a popular candy). Through its use of witty phrases, catchy captions, and effectual pictures/graphs, the ad makes great appeals to pathos. All in all, the ad warrants its claim and effectively persuades and informs a parental audience that children need to be more exposed to the arts in order to increase their intelligence and become more well-rounded adults.
