One of the world’s most controversial topics is the testing of products on animals. The testing performed on animals can include medications, cosmetics, and other commodities. The most common animals brought into the laboratory for testing include guinea pigs, rabbits, and hamsters; other animals such as dogs, cats, cows, and others are tested as well. The artifact I have chosen uses rhetorical strategies such as ethos, logos, and pathos, to persuade the audience as to why animal testing should not be performed.
To begin the rhetorical analysis on the picture chosen, it simply shows logos at first glance. The use of logos is merely the logic or reasoning behind something. In the picture chosen, there is much logic behind it, considering experiments, observations, and evaluations have been performed on this certain study for thousands of years. In the picture, there is a statement on the bottom which states, “For long eyelashes – this is how 300,000 lab animals suffer each year.” This statement expresses logic, as these are factual evidence of animal testing performed. The logos being performed in the artifact chosen have persuaded people to look into putting their personal input in animal testing, limiting their usage to products that were used on animals, in hopes of lowering the business success of the companies performing this issue.
Continuing onto the artifact chosen, it also depicts the rhetorical strategy known as pathos. Pathos is simply the term used to describe the appeal to emotion. The picture used as my artifact shows an infected, bloody, and swollen eye on a human. The ad/picture that I chose goes to show that animals have emotions, just like humans. Companies cannot release things without the products being tested, however, animal testing should not be what is tested on. Cruelty-free companies test their products on things such as cell cultures, human tissue, computer models, and more. The pathos being presented in this picture shows that many animals go through a variety of pain and torture, which they don’t deserve, by showing the pain and infection in the woman’s eye. Pathos is the largest working rhetorical device demonstrated in the picture, considering the text on the picture is a very sorrowful message, and the woman looks hurt and sad in the picture. The way the artifact I chosen represents a human experiencing the pain, torture, and abuse the animals go through, leading humans to realize they feel the pain just as any human would. This method puts the audience in a place of remorse, empathy, and shame. Because of these emotions that this picture may bring to the audience and viewers, it will persuade the audience to remember to look for and to support businesses that exemplify the cruelty-free policy of their product. This will ultimately bring up the sales and business of all cruelty-free companies, and lower the business and sales of all companies who test animals with their products.
Another notable rhetorical device arrayed in the picture is kairos. Kairos is the rhetorical term meaning persuasion at the right time and the right place. The photo depicts kairos considering animal testing as an extremely popular topic in today’s world. In the past several years, there have been protests, arguments, and objections held over the topic of testing on animals. Kairos is an important rhetorical device to use when persuading an audience, considering if a topic that isn’t necessarily popular or a controversy in the world at the time is used, it won’t be as looked upon or even taken seriously. As mentioned before, animal testing is a popular controversy, therefore, this image is reaching many people, both people against animal testing, and people for animal testing. For the fact of this topic is popular in the world today, the image will spread throughout social media, ranging from Facebook to Instagram, and even other websites such as Google and more. The expansion and range the picture will reach will encourage people to, once again, support companies who support and demonstrate the cruelty-free factor on their products.
In conclusion, the picture is a huge influence on the impact and sales of animal testing companies. By using rhetorical analysis, it is known that strategies such as logos, pathos, and kairos are used in my artifact to persuade the audience into objection to animal testing. The point of the photograph chosen is to make the audience make a change in the world by speaking their voice of the disapproval of animal testing, and the stop of business sales if products are not listed as cruelty-free. Demonstrating all of the different methods of these rhetorical devices shows evidence to the audience that the author of the picture is well educated and knowledgeable about the situation and circumstances of what they are attempting to persuade. With all of these strategies portrayed, the audience is likely to view companies differently, as to if they are a cruelty-free company, or not. With these accusations, the sales of businesses that use their products to test on animals will decrease exceedingly, just coming from a simple photo with a short text.
Work Cited
Artifact – https://images.app.goo.gl/4u88H2B52F2Cxb9C9
Animal Testing Facts and Statistics. PETA. (2021, November 18). November 21, 2021, https://www.peta.org/issues/animals-used-for-experimentation/animals-used-experimentation-factsheets/animal-experiments-overview/.
Medium, Media, and Technology I 