What do you eat in a day? Are you a healthy eater? A junk food consumer? Our food selections say something about us, and advertisement agencies strive to speak alongside whatever our food says about us. For example, organic foods. The labels seek to persuade their audience that a particular food selection is organic, therefore, healthier and safer. Each food item makes a specific claim, orchestrated to target the audience most likely to notice them. For example, candy often uses bright colors and fun shapes. Why? Because their target is children and adults who are young at heart (like myself).
Take, for example, this Hormel Natural ham that I bought from HEB here in College Station. Just on the package of this ham, several claims are made such as the ham being fully cooked. The most prevalent and significant claim is that the meat is 100% natural with no added hormones or nitrates. This is the most significant claim as it is the one that will set this ham apart from other hams and is directed towards people who want to eat more healthily. After inspecting the ingredients list, it does indeed appear to be that Hormel is speaking truthfully about their natural meats because only a few ingredients are listed, and they are all pronounceable, to say the least, and not chemicals. This truthfulness adds to their ethos or credibility about their brand. Similarly, by saying that "Wouldn't it be great if all lunchmeat didn't contain preservatives? We think so..." They are appealing to a sense of camaraderie and the common good, a desire for everyone's health being improved together. This use of pathos is also an example of logos in an argument because it appeals to the logic behind eating more healthfully. Therein lies their warrant-the unstated assumption made on the package is that natural meat is better than artificial. The warrant is, seemingly, true and is supported by the fact that federal regulations prohibit the use of hormones in meat. However, after some research, it seems that their wording is colorful and, ultimately, somewhat deceptive because they use hormones on their animals and wait for the hormones to be out of their system before processing them and nitrates still exist in the meat, they just occur in other ingredients used in the meat. With that being said, their natural meats are much healthier than other deli meats.
Hormel Natural Meat is a prime example of the power of advertising and the dangers that lurk in clever phraseology which demonstrates the importance of being an educated consumer. Advertising agencies are sneaky and extremely persuasive in the audiences that they target and the language that they use, highlighting the power of argumentation in advertising and the importance of being informed.
This is good! How else can we be critical? What about making it look healthy, but having so much sodium in it? I wonder how this compares to other meats. Interesting! Are they using pathos, ethos, and logos to persuade?
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DeleteI think we can be critical by considering how to use this ham in an unhealthy or healthy way. For example, sandwiches are actually not very healthy because of the combination of meat and bread which can be hard on your digestion. As I mentioned in my post, their biggest use of logos and pathos is their appeal to being more healthy; however, their ethos is questionable because, as a meat provider, they obviously want to sell their meat which gives them an agenda.
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