We illustrated each of these elements by telling a story about Bob.
This is Bob. He has four arms and four legs, which makes it difficult to get a girl to go out with him. But finally he finds one on MySpace named Maude, and he doesn't want to ruin his chance.So, he showers thoroughly, making sure to wash all four armpits well. Then he puts on a good suit that downplays his extra limbs (but still has enough pockets for each hand, plus one). He is stylin'.
On his way to Maud's house he stops by the florist and picks up a single perfect rose.
When he gets to Maud's house he holds the rose out to her with a flourish. She sighs and says, "Oh, Bob, it's so beautiful," to which Bob replies,
Bob has successfully used all three elements of persuasion.Ethos is how a person presents him or herself. For example, the ethos of KISS (makeup, leather, spiked boots) is much different from the ethos of Brittany Spears (makeup, leather, spiked books ... wait). Bob took his ethos very seriously. He wanted to make himself as attractive as possible to Maud. Perhaps he even found out what colors she liked and chose his outfit accordingly.
Pathos is how a person works with emotions. Bob chose a single perfect rose because he knows girls love flowers, especially perfect ones. Flowers never fail to make a girl happy. And he wanted her to be happy when she saw him.
Logos is one's ability to reason and appeal to logic. Bob knew that his answer to Maud's declaration of the beauty of the flowers left the perfect logical opening for him to say the perfect thing.
Bob will no doubt have his hands (all four of them) full trying to use his logos to convince Maud that having a man with four arms and four legs is a good thing, but we have no doubt he will do well, because he clearly understands how to use the three elements of persuasion:
Ethos: presentation of oneself
Pathos: prowess with emotions
Logos: logic and convincing power
If Bob didn't have one of these bases covered, his plan would have fallen apart. Without ethos, he might have shown up looking like he just finished fixing his car, or smelling bad. Without pathos, he would not have been able to appeal to Maud's emotions. Without logos he'll never be able to convince her that a man with only two arms is no man at all.So remember: the suit, the rose and the speech bubble.
