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Analysing Rhetoric in an Advertisement

The intended audience of this ad are potential customers for trucks, as the ad emphasizes Volvo's "Volvo Dynamic Steering". By having famed action-star Jean-Claude van Damme preform a split in between two Volvo trucks fitted with dynamic steering, the advert uses both ethos and logos. By having Van Damme, a celebrity famed for similar stunts, they are giving a bit of sincerity and credibility to their advert, as people trust in Van Damme and will more willing to trust the ad as a result, fulfilling the ethos requirement. Van Damme also has a monologue where he details his life, adding to the ethos factor of the ad. To appeal to logos, the ad states that the stunt was set up to test the "stability and precision of Volvo Dynamic Steering", and as the test went on successfully, the viewer therefore concludes that the dynamic steering must be quite good, in order to have been able to achieve that stunt. To appeal to pathos, the ad has Van Damme doing a precarious stunt (the split), that would usually have viewers on 'the edge of their seats' so to say, but to counter this, they have calming music in the background, putting the viewer at ease, and also implying that the dynamic steering is so good, Van Damme was never in any real danger. All of these factors seek to get the viewer to see Volvo Dynamic Steering as a superior product to their competitors, and hopefully for them, as a result, buy more Volvo trucks.

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