Retortical Essay
Title
The Gillette Safety Razor
The Gillette Safety Razor
Would you like to eliminate the chance of bleeding on your clean shirt at the start of everyday? The early twenties were a time when a clean look could be the difference between landing that new job or a promotion. The Gillette Safety Razor gave promise to a faster, safer morning routine that was so simple even a baby could do it. Could a one-page advertisement with minimal text be an effective tool in fundamentally changing the way a man started his day? In analyzing the effectiveness of this ad on three levels of appeal ethos, pathos and logos it clearly showed how and why it was so successful during the twenties.
When looking at the ad you can clearly identify the ethos or creditability the designers were trying to establish. By displaying the company name in the largest text using a unique font and the color gold showed this was the real thing produced by a known company Gillette, a well-known manufacturer during this period. Companies understood that their name always had to be associated with a sense of trust, reliability and quality. Without a good name a company would not last long during this period.
Advertisers understood that they had to quickly grab the attention of their target audience. This was achieved by playing strongly to the pathos or emotions of the consumer. The use of a baby’s image played to a softer side of hardworking men at the time. The added expense of using color was a ploy to establish a sense of importance in the readers mind. Color was a rarity and very appealing so people would generally pause longer on these pages, this allowed more time for the message to be absorbed. This was also key in allowing the image of the baby shaving with the new safety razor to remove any thoughts of fear from the readers mind.
Advertiser had to ensure the logos or logic of the advertisement could be understood at the average education level of the working class but still
The Gillette Safety Razor
The Gillette Safety Razor
Would you like to eliminate the chance of bleeding on your clean shirt at the start of everyday? The early twenties were a time when a clean look could be the difference between landing that new job or a promotion. The Gillette Safety Razor gave promise to a faster, safer morning routine that was so simple even a baby could do it. Could a one-page advertisement with minimal text be an effective tool in fundamentally changing the way a man started his day? In analyzing the effectiveness of this ad on three levels of appeal ethos, pathos and logos it clearly showed how and why it was so successful during the twenties.
When looking at the ad you can clearly identify the ethos or creditability the designers were trying to establish. By displaying the company name in the largest text using a unique font and the color gold showed this was the real thing produced by a known company Gillette, a well-known manufacturer during this period. Companies understood that their name always had to be associated with a sense of trust, reliability and quality. Without a good name a company would not last long during this period.
Advertisers understood that they had to quickly grab the attention of their target audience. This was achieved by playing strongly to the pathos or emotions of the consumer. The use of a baby’s image played to a softer side of hardworking men at the time. The added expense of using color was a ploy to establish a sense of importance in the readers mind. Color was a rarity and very appealing so people would generally pause longer on these pages, this allowed more time for the message to be absorbed. This was also key in allowing the image of the baby shaving with the new safety razor to remove any thoughts of fear from the readers mind.
Advertiser had to ensure the logos or logic of the advertisement could be understood at the average education level of the working class but still