Forms of appeal

Logos

Logos is the speaker’s appeal to the audience’s reason to support her case. To achieve this, Diane Ridgway-Cross often uses statistical evidence and logical arguments in “Conscious Consumerism”.

For example, she cites two statistics that support the argument that women’s consumer power can put pressure on the retail industry: “Three-quarters of all purchases on the planet are made by women…” (l. 39); “We as women are three times more likely than our male counterparts to actually consider a company’s ethics before buying from them.” (ll. 53-54).

Logical arguments can be noticed whenever the speaker describes a causal relationship in which she usually supports conscious consumerism and women’s role in promoting it:

…being very, very mindful about the kinds of products we buy, the kinds of brands we choose to buy, and the companies that we buy from. And here’s why it’s important: Because we as women absolutely and unequivocally control the power of the purse.  (ll. 36-38)

…use our power of our purse to show them that we’re supporting. Because we have the ability as women to be disruptors in society and disruptors in economy, simply by spending more mindfully. (ll. 70-72)

By revealing the results of a survey conducted by her own company, Ridgway-Cross combines ethos with logos to show that women are aware of which brands have a positive influence and which don’t: “So first we found that four out of five women said that they would be willing to pay more for goods or services from companies that had really strong corporate social responsibility.” (ll. 50-51).

Ethos

Et...