Zach Gruberman
English 102
Katy Hansen
2/25/14
Reliable German Cars: Fact or Fake
The Volkswagen car company uses the slogan, “that’s German engineering” at the end of many of their car commercials. In a commercial for the 2014 Super Bowl, Volkswagen told viewers that Volkswagen is the brand with the most cars over one hundred thousand miles on them. Along with their catch phrase promoting German engineering this gave the viewer the image the Volkswagen has very reliable cars. On the other hand, an article published on Autoguide.com in 2013 stated something different. The writer stated that German made cars are not necessarily reliable, but they perform well. Meaning that there is a clear difference between reliability and performance. As you can see there are some differing viewpoints that these two media sources are trying to convey to you.Through the course of this paper I will present information on the ad and article with respect to the arguments made using ethos, logos, and pathos.
The ad and the article have similar methods in that they each use ethos and logos to argue the point they are trying to make, but because it was a commercial the ad had to also use some pathos to help the viewing audience. Ethos is a rhetorical device used as support that appeals to ethics or credibility of the writer or creator. Logos is another device but instead of ethics it appeals to logic and data. The commercial uses ethos by talking about the engineers, while the article uses companies that have information to support his claim. Logos is used similarly in the ad and article because they give you information that makes you make a logical decision to, or not to, buy their cars. Like mentioned earlier the commercial was the only one to use pathos, by making it comical and by evoking a feeling of trust in both the car and the characters in the ad.
Ethos is supportive evidence toward a claim that uses credibility and ethics to sway you one way from another. This technique is used two different times in the course of the commercial. The first time is the use of a male, father figure. Many people associate cars as more of a male dominated subject so the commercial makes the main character a man, along with that, he is the father talking to his daughter. A strong father figure is a credible piece of evidence because they seem to know lots of things about, what seems like, everything. The fact that he likes a car enough to drive it for one hundred thousand miles is something that you could see as the right thing to do. The second way it is used is by highlighting the engineers throughout the commercial. An engineer, the backbone of car creation, is someone who has worked for many many years in their field and are very knowledgeable of what it takes to make a good car. They are credible sources just by the fact of all the experience they have, but on top of that they make cars that can hit that one hundred thousand mile mark, on more that just one or two occasions. A reliable car is a German made car, that is what this ad was trying to tell you.
The article uses ethos in a bit of a different manner, the writer uses ethos by calling upon the two credible sources that are related to vehicles. The first company the article uses is ConsumerReports.org. This website is all about how people feel about a multitude of items, including cars. The article talks about the rating that have been given to German made cars the writer uses a quote from one of Consumer Reports’ own engineers! There were two different test specifically talked about that Consumer Reports used: the Long-Term Reliability Test and the Initial Quality Index. These two test use information that is definitely credible to saying how a car’s reliability stacks up. The second way the article uses ethos is by using the “report card” that J.D. Power & Associates gives cars when they are being tested. When you see a car commercial you are likely to hear about what J.D. Power says about the car in the ad. The writer not only says that German cars got low scores he even tells you that Volkswagen cars received a two out of five on the J.D. Power tests.
Logos can be described as using logic and facts and to support an argument. The advertisement used logos well a couple different ways. One way is showing engineers earning something for an accomplishment and because of that accomplishment the viewer can logically infer that a Volkswagen is a reliable car that is worth a buy. Upon looking and listening to the ad in more depth you realize that logos was used just by the fact that it made sure to say German engineers earn their wings. In 1972, when Consumer Reports began doing their Long-Term Reliability Tests and Initial Quality Index, German made cars such as Volkswagen and Mercedes-Benz were coming out on top. There was a certain reputation earned because it wasn't the 1980s and 90s when Japanese made cars were on top. German cars had a reputation for having good cars and specifying the certain culture of the engineer you can make another logical lean toward Volkswagen or other German made cars.
The article used logos by talking about the quality, or in this case lack of quality, of the vehicles that have been made under German companies. This can be tied back in with ethos because of its use of the before mentioned J.D. Power & Associates but instead of using their reputation to back up the claim they use specific numbers that they have acquired with their own testing. There is a saying that I’ve heard before and it is, “numbers can't lie” and numbers definitely did not lie in this article. J.D. Power and Consumer Reports both came up with poor scores and low numbers for the German made cars, logically you would not think of that as being reliable or worth a purchase. Another swing at logic was the paragraph in the article that talked about the poor grades that German cars received were not only because of the car’s mechanics but also with that fact that there were some inconveniences within the vehicles. The one that was said in the article was the car’s lack of cup holders. It said took them up until recently they added cup holders, so by deductive reasoning you can say logically that if it took them awhile for cup holders it will take them awhile to get a truly reliable car. These two arguments help "sell" the idea the writer is making by using J.D. Power and Consumer Reports. These two organizations test vehicles with actual people. They have someone come in and look at the engine, the interior, and everything else on the car. If someone can find these weaknesses in a vehicle consumers aren't going to want to buy them for those reasons.
Like I stated earlier, pathos was used only in the commercial; but what is pathos? Pathos is evidentiary support used in arguments that appeals to the emotions of the audience. Pathos was used by using a father, with laughter, and by using a feeling of reliability. Using a father can be considered because you usually look up to your father as a logical guy and you feel a trust for what he says. When he talks good about something you will usually think something similar to him, if you don't already have an opinion on it that is. By using him in the ad you can put yourself in the situation of being told something by your father that he feels passionate about. You might not think of a the comedy in a commercial as a persuasive technique, but laughter makes you feel good and if you feel good during a certain commercial you will have good feelings toward the product. The last use is by talking about the reliability of a car. People would like a reliable car, and if a commercial can make you feel good and safe with their vehicle you could be more inclined to buy it.
In the article, pathos wasn't used as support. It wasn't used because in writing it is so much easier to convey an argument with logic or ethics than it is with emotions. You can read facts and look at numbers and you can get an understanding of what is trying to be said to you. If the writer can't paint a good enough picture for you to feel something then there would be no point in having it in the article to begin with. Another problem with trying to use pathos is writing is there is no way to hear you voice and tone. A writer can't any inflection on a word or sentence he says so you can't really get a sense of what he feels. For example, if the punchline of a joke needed you to say it in another type or tone of voice you wouldn't get the same effect reading it as you would reading it. It was a good idea for the writer to omit any use of pathos and spend his time using the cold hard truths to support his piece.
To sum all of this up, the article and commercial on reliability of German engineering used similar techniques even though there were different media being used. They both used ethics and credibility that goes along with ethos. They both use logic and facts that comes with logos. Only one uses the emotional side with pathos; but the one that didn't had good reason not to. When seeing or hearing advertisements you can easily get sucked in by the comedy or tragedy going on. What you don't realize is that’s what is supposed to happen. When an advertisement is on you need to step back and really listen to what is being said. Find out if that even sounds like something that could be true, see if any one truly credible is being used, and if you don't know enough, dive into the subject and learn more about it before you believe what you’re hearing.
English 102
Katy Hansen
2/25/14
Reliable German Cars: Fact or Fake
The Volkswagen car company uses the slogan, “that’s German engineering” at the end of many of their car commercials. In a commercial for the 2014 Super Bowl, Volkswagen told viewers that Volkswagen is the brand with the most cars over one hundred thousand miles on them. Along with their catch phrase promoting German engineering this gave the viewer the image the Volkswagen has very reliable cars. On the other hand, an article published on Autoguide.com in 2013 stated something different. The writer stated that German made cars are not necessarily reliable, but they perform well. Meaning that there is a clear difference between reliability and performance. As you can see there are some differing viewpoints that these two media sources are trying to convey to you.Through the course of this paper I will present information on the ad and article with respect to the arguments made using ethos, logos, and pathos.
The ad and the article have similar methods in that they each use ethos and logos to argue the point they are trying to make, but because it was a commercial the ad had to also use some pathos to help the viewing audience. Ethos is a rhetorical device used as support that appeals to ethics or credibility of the writer or creator. Logos is another device but instead of ethics it appeals to logic and data. The commercial uses ethos by talking about the engineers, while the article uses companies that have information to support his claim. Logos is used similarly in the ad and article because they give you information that makes you make a logical decision to, or not to, buy their cars. Like mentioned earlier the commercial was the only one to use pathos, by making it comical and by evoking a feeling of trust in both the car and the characters in the ad.
Ethos is supportive evidence toward a claim that uses credibility and ethics to sway you one way from another. This technique is used two different times in the course of the commercial. The first time is the use of a male, father figure. Many people associate cars as more of a male dominated subject so the commercial makes the main character a man, along with that, he is the father talking to his daughter. A strong father figure is a credible piece of evidence because they seem to know lots of things about, what seems like, everything. The fact that he likes a car enough to drive it for one hundred thousand miles is something that you could see as the right thing to do. The second way it is used is by highlighting the engineers throughout the commercial. An engineer, the backbone of car creation, is someone who has worked for many many years in their field and are very knowledgeable of what it takes to make a good car. They are credible sources just by the fact of all the experience they have, but on top of that they make cars that can hit that one hundred thousand mile mark, on more that just one or two occasions. A reliable car is a German made car, that is what this ad was trying to tell you.
The article uses ethos in a bit of a different manner, the writer uses ethos by calling upon the two credible sources that are related to vehicles. The first company the article uses is ConsumerReports.org. This website is all about how people feel about a multitude of items, including cars. The article talks about the rating that have been given to German made cars the writer uses a quote from one of Consumer Reports’ own engineers! There were two different test specifically talked about that Consumer Reports used: the Long-Term Reliability Test and the Initial Quality Index. These two test use information that is definitely credible to saying how a car’s reliability stacks up. The second way the article uses ethos is by using the “report card” that J.D. Power & Associates gives cars when they are being tested. When you see a car commercial you are likely to hear about what J.D. Power says about the car in the ad. The writer not only says that German cars got low scores he even tells you that Volkswagen cars received a two out of five on the J.D. Power tests.
Logos can be described as using logic and facts and to support an argument. The advertisement used logos well a couple different ways. One way is showing engineers earning something for an accomplishment and because of that accomplishment the viewer can logically infer that a Volkswagen is a reliable car that is worth a buy. Upon looking and listening to the ad in more depth you realize that logos was used just by the fact that it made sure to say German engineers earn their wings. In 1972, when Consumer Reports began doing their Long-Term Reliability Tests and Initial Quality Index, German made cars such as Volkswagen and Mercedes-Benz were coming out on top. There was a certain reputation earned because it wasn't the 1980s and 90s when Japanese made cars were on top. German cars had a reputation for having good cars and specifying the certain culture of the engineer you can make another logical lean toward Volkswagen or other German made cars.
The article used logos by talking about the quality, or in this case lack of quality, of the vehicles that have been made under German companies. This can be tied back in with ethos because of its use of the before mentioned J.D. Power & Associates but instead of using their reputation to back up the claim they use specific numbers that they have acquired with their own testing. There is a saying that I’ve heard before and it is, “numbers can't lie” and numbers definitely did not lie in this article. J.D. Power and Consumer Reports both came up with poor scores and low numbers for the German made cars, logically you would not think of that as being reliable or worth a purchase. Another swing at logic was the paragraph in the article that talked about the poor grades that German cars received were not only because of the car’s mechanics but also with that fact that there were some inconveniences within the vehicles. The one that was said in the article was the car’s lack of cup holders. It said took them up until recently they added cup holders, so by deductive reasoning you can say logically that if it took them awhile for cup holders it will take them awhile to get a truly reliable car. These two arguments help "sell" the idea the writer is making by using J.D. Power and Consumer Reports. These two organizations test vehicles with actual people. They have someone come in and look at the engine, the interior, and everything else on the car. If someone can find these weaknesses in a vehicle consumers aren't going to want to buy them for those reasons.
Like I stated earlier, pathos was used only in the commercial; but what is pathos? Pathos is evidentiary support used in arguments that appeals to the emotions of the audience. Pathos was used by using a father, with laughter, and by using a feeling of reliability. Using a father can be considered because you usually look up to your father as a logical guy and you feel a trust for what he says. When he talks good about something you will usually think something similar to him, if you don't already have an opinion on it that is. By using him in the ad you can put yourself in the situation of being told something by your father that he feels passionate about. You might not think of a the comedy in a commercial as a persuasive technique, but laughter makes you feel good and if you feel good during a certain commercial you will have good feelings toward the product. The last use is by talking about the reliability of a car. People would like a reliable car, and if a commercial can make you feel good and safe with their vehicle you could be more inclined to buy it.
In the article, pathos wasn't used as support. It wasn't used because in writing it is so much easier to convey an argument with logic or ethics than it is with emotions. You can read facts and look at numbers and you can get an understanding of what is trying to be said to you. If the writer can't paint a good enough picture for you to feel something then there would be no point in having it in the article to begin with. Another problem with trying to use pathos is writing is there is no way to hear you voice and tone. A writer can't any inflection on a word or sentence he says so you can't really get a sense of what he feels. For example, if the punchline of a joke needed you to say it in another type or tone of voice you wouldn't get the same effect reading it as you would reading it. It was a good idea for the writer to omit any use of pathos and spend his time using the cold hard truths to support his piece.
To sum all of this up, the article and commercial on reliability of German engineering used similar techniques even though there were different media being used. They both used ethics and credibility that goes along with ethos. They both use logic and facts that comes with logos. Only one uses the emotional side with pathos; but the one that didn't had good reason not to. When seeing or hearing advertisements you can easily get sucked in by the comedy or tragedy going on. What you don't realize is that’s what is supposed to happen. When an advertisement is on you need to step back and really listen to what is being said. Find out if that even sounds like something that could be true, see if any one truly credible is being used, and if you don't know enough, dive into the subject and learn more about it before you believe what you’re hearing.