Rhetorical Analysis Of Palmolive Soap

This 1938 Palmolive soap bar advertisement utilizes its art style along with rhetorical devices such as logos, pathos and ethos. Logos is being utilized through the doctor 's recommendation as well as mentioning on how it helps reduce dry skin. The advertisement also cites the rhetoric device of pathos by using scare tactics to convince its readers to use Palmolive soap. Ethos is presented to encourage the use of Palmolive soap through the notion that women are wanting to look beautiful for their husbands. Logos is used within the advertisement to appeal towards critical thinking. Ethos is utilized by establishing credibility towards the company. Pathos is utilized the most within the advertisement to appeal towards the emotion side of its intended

In the advertisement, there are two women having a conversation with one another; one is a mother while the other is a daughter. Both are discussing the daughter 's marriage. The daughter says, "And, mother, he never takes me out anymore! Sometimes I think he 's ashamed of me." The mother retorts with, "Do you think it could be your complexion, Nell? You used to have such a lovely skin, and now…" Nell replies with, "You mean it 's grown so dry and lifeless! I know it, mother, but what can I do?" Her mother says, "Maybe you 're using the wrong soap! Why don 't you change to Palmolive?" Afterwards, the mother says, "You see, Palmolive is made with olive and palm oils, nature 's finest beauty aids! That 's why it 's so good for dry, lifeless skin. Its gentle, different lather cleanses so throughout, softens and refines skin texture…leaves complexions radiant!" Nell responds with, "I 'll certainly try Palmolive." Lastly on the bottom right hand corner of the ad, Nell says after trying Palmolive soap, "Bob 's so proud of me again, since I use only Palmolive, the soap made with olive oil to keep skin soft, smooth, young!" There is also a bar of Palmolive soap in the corner and underneath the entire ad with bold letters that read, Dr. Dafoe says, "only gentle Palmolive for quins."
Advertisements of this nature were not uncommon in the 1930s and 40s. Women in advertisements were shown as loving mothers, diligent homemaker, and an obedient wife to their husband. There is great use

Additionally, the visual aids are effective. The visual and print part of the ad work together since it is built like a comic book strip. So, there are pictures with speech bubbles right next to the characters. The ad has a very good visual impression since it is stylistic with its 'comic book '-like structure so it seems more appealing to a broader audience. Taking in mind that in 1938, comics were on the rise in American pop culture with Action Comics introducing Superman in June, 1938. It makes sense from a stylistic standpoint that in order to engage a bigger audience it must gravitate as many people as possible. Even though, the audience, is clearly targeting a demographic of married, middle age women, particularly housewives. The visuals were important because they were appealing to a large target audience, not just housewives, and encouraged many