Forms of appeal

Logos and ethos

In “Robbie Williams: ‘My main talent is turning trauma into something showbizzy’ ”, Petridis and Williams use logos in their statements whenever they make a logical connection between ideas and reference real life events or facts. Ethos is used whenever they appeal to their authority on the matters discussed in the interview.

Petridis uses logos to provide a possible logical explanation as to why Robbie Williams does not comply with the smoking rule in the hotel (ll. 8-9) – he is wealthy and, therefore, can afford the potential fine for smoking.

Also, the Petridis subtly criticises the current indie music scene and the attention that bands such as Oasis got twenty years before (ll. 264-275). Here, Petridis appeals to ethos by using his authority as a music critic.

Furthermore, Williams states that he has an addictive personality and illustrates this by providing a lengthy explanation of what led him to start smoking again. In his explanation, we find a mix of logos and ethos. Logos is used to explain how his addictive personality affected Williams, leading him to other addictions after he stopped smoking....