Rhetorical Analysis -- Advertisement

This argument is quite complex, drawing on pathos, ethos, and logos. The audience is patriotic Americans with an average understanding of the War on Terror, and with an equally average understanding of the conflicts surrounding Israel. The goal of the argument is to get these individuals to give extra support to the nation of Israel and its international policy. There is no specific action the advertisement calls for, but by fostering a positive attitude toward Israel, the ad hopes to increase general support of future actions by the US government to help Israel.

The argument employs pathos ("emotion") first, with a picture of a boy covered with implements of war. The large print reads "He already knows what he wants to be when he grows up." There is a visceral reaction as we see the image, and the next couple sentences identify the perpetrators of this militant point of view: "A[ny] society that targets Israel."

"They target Israel because Israel shares America's values...". This sentence calls upon ethos ("credibility" or "relationship to the audience") for support -- Israel is like America in its values. For the patriotic American, any country with values like those set forth by the founding fathers (most importantly in this ad, freedom) must be a good nation.

Logos, or "logic" is next brought forward; if you support freedom in Israel, you will support freedom around the world. Why? Look to the tag line: "ISRAEL The front line of the free world." In the War on Terror, Israel is geographically the front line, pressed up directly against their opponents.

For the audience, this advertisement is probably reasonably effective. It lacks an immediacy in that the average American who sees this sign has very little control over foreign affairs, and so the support garnered by the ad will probably not press the reader to action. Given the situation, however, the goal is probably more to affect politicians (who have more control) via popular opinion. The ad is not meant to affect foreign policy directly, but will do so on a secondary or tertiary level.
Author's word count: 342

Writer's note
While the argument is probably effective, careful readers may notice questionable logic in the ad's alienation of "A society that targets Israel." The ad suggests that these anti-Israeli societies are somehow against things that are "free", "right", "burgeoning", and "open", that they have "dreams of suicide/homicide and hatred" and that they could not possibly have other reasons for disliking the nation of Israel. It is interesting to look from the other side, and notice that this ad is asking for support of terrorists' censorship and bombing, and thrives on fear and hatred of those who are anti- Israel or America. A political cartoon may illustrate:

The enthymeme "Israel supports the free world, because Israel is in direct opposition with terrorists" is flawed, because there is a flaw in the implicit assumption that "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" (Heider 1946).