Easy, Breezy, Ethos: Covergirl Rhetoric

I was watching “Say Yes to the Dress” the other day when, during one of the commercial breaks, a Covergirl advertisement aired featuring Sofía Vergara, also known as Gloria from the comedy series “Modern Family.” At first I watched the commercial at face value, and then I realized that it used a great deal of rhetoric.

Our “Rhetoric and Civil Life” textbook defines ethos as a concept developed by Aristotle a rhetor’s character. That being said, the ethos employed in this commercial is evident.

Here in this commercial is a comical, famous and, perhaps more importantly, beautiful woman speaking on behalf of a company that sells beauty products. She looks radiant with her glamorous hair and tailored white suit. No one can question her beauty, whether natural or airbrushed. Consequently, it seems that she should be qualified to tell others what would make them beautiful as well.

Sofía starts off by speaking to the audience in a conversational tone, as if she’s just another friend ready to give away one of her most powerful beauty secrets, which, as it turns out, is that she would “never go out without [her] Covergirl (product).” She follows by claiming to the audience, “All you need is three little things to make beauty powerful for you!” No surprise, these “three little things” are Covergirl products.

And while I personally may not care for the foundation to make me look young, as a young adult I do take heed to the claim that I can use the Covergirl products to make beauty powerful for me. If I use these products, perhaps I, too, will become naturally more beautiful like Sofía. I’ll take her advice. She is, of course, both successful and beautiful.

Proctor and Gamble effectively chose their audience as I saw their advertisement while watching “Say Yes to the Dress” on TLC. The audiences watching the show are most likely feminine in nature—I have yet to hear a male voluntarily say that he enjoys dress shopping, let alone watching someone else dress shop.

So not only does the company make sure that they have a believable speaker, but they also aim well at their target audience. Ergo, I conclude that Proctor and Gamble uses rhetoric effectively in this Covergirl commercial. Perhaps others will buy their message as well or, at the very least, their product.