Forms of appeal

Forms of appeal are rhetorical strategies through which senders appeal to people’s reason (logos), emotions (pathos), and to credibility and authority (ethos) to make their arguments more persuasiv…

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Ethos

The writer appeals to credibility and authority by citing reliable scientists and media which are in line with her views about obesity in the UK: “Moderate obesity cuts life expectancy by two to four years, and severe obesity could wipe an entire decade off your life, said the Lancet in 2009.” (ll. 54-58); “Kelly Brownell at the Yale Rudd Center in the US invented the term yo-yo dieting, also known as weight cycling.” (ll. 249-251).

Psychologists are also cited to draw authority from their experience which focuses on psychological causes of unhealthy dietary habits:

“Angela Meadows, from Birmingham Uni…

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Pathos

Sarah Boseley also appeals to the receiver’s emotions to obtain a favourable response to her arguments about obesity and its causes.

In the subheading, she mentions “…the diet industry gets rich on the misery it creates” (p. 8), appealing to readers’ negative emotions towards the diet industry which uses their misery.

To inspire sympathy for Georgia Davis’s story, the writer mentions fear, humiliation, and desperation: “Nobody could dream up a more…