Date of Award

2017

Type

Thesis

Major

English Language and Literature - Professional Writing Concentration

Department

English

Abstract

This project combines contemporary and classical rhetorical persuasion and applies them to self-promotion. Aristotle’s triad of modes of persuasion, ethos, pathos, and logos, represents classical persuasion. Appeals from advertising, such as humor, fear, music, and argumentum ad populum, represent the contemporary, but also are modern extensions of Aristotle’s triad. These concepts are then applied in such a way that the reader can see how they could use them to their benefit in influencing others. Each concept is defined and shown how it can be used in a spoken communicative way rather than a visual representation. Advertising appeals are typically put into place in commercials to visually show off the positive attributes of a product. For this project’s purpose, the reader is the product being shown off and both the Aristotelian modes and advertising appeals showcase how the reader can advertise himself or herself. To create a better understanding of the concepts outlined, they are then applied to three winners of the elimination-style competition reality show Survivor. On this show, contestants must vote out their fellow cast members, but subsequently stay in their good graces because the eliminated contestants get to decide the winner. Richard Hatch, Sandra Diaz-Twine, and Sarah Lacina all used the outlined concepts and create a verifiable example of how the concepts can be successfully used for the reader’s benefit.

Download
DAISY

Share

COinS