Ever sat through a Super Bowl commercial and felt a weird lump in your throat, only to realize you’re tearing up over a car battery? That’s not an accident. It’s a calculated strike using a 2,300-year-old playbook. Aristotle wasn’t thinking about TikTok or programmatic buying when he wrote Rhetoric, but he basically handed modern marketers the keys to the kingdom. If you look closely at ads that have ethos pathos and logos, you start to see that every successful campaign is just a remix of these three pillars. It’s honestly kind of wild how little has changed since Ancient Greece.
You’ve got brands out there spending millions just to find the perfect balance. Too much logic? You’re boring. Too much emotion? People feel manipulated. No credibility? Nobody buys. The sweet spot is where the magic happens, but hitting it is harder than it looks.
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Ethos: Why Should I Listen to You Anyway?
Ethos is all about the "who." It’s the credibility. It’s why a brand like Patagonia can sell a jacket for $300 while a generic brand struggles at $40—it's because we trust Patagonia’s history of environmental activism. When you see ads that have ethos pathos and logos, ethos is usually the foundation. Think about those "Sensodyne: Recommended by 9 out of 10 dentists" spots. Is it creative? Not really. But it works because it leverages the perceived authority of a medical professional.
But ethos isn't just about white lab coats anymore. It’s shifted. Today, ethos is often borrowed. When Nike signs LeBron James, they aren't just buying his face; they are buying his excellence. They want you to associate the "Just Do It" slogan with the grit of a four-time NBA champion. If LeBron wears it, the product must be legitimate. That’s ethos in action.
Sometimes ethos is built through transparency. Take the famous "Lemon" ad by Volkswagen from the 1960s, created by DDB. They literally called their own car a "lemon" to highlight their rigorous inspection process. By admitting a flaw (or the possibility of one), they built massive trust. People thought, "If they’re this honest about the bad ones, the good ones must be incredible." It was a genius move that proved you don't always need a celebrity to establish authority.
Pathos: The Hook in Your Heart
Pathos is the heavy hitter. It’s the emotion. It’s the reason why the ASPCA ads featuring Sarah McLachlan and those shivering dogs are almost impossible to watch without reaching for your wallet. These are prime examples of ads that have ethos pathos and logos leaning heavily into the "feeling" side of the spectrum. Pathos triggers our prehistoric brain. It bypasses the analytical parts of our mind and goes straight for the gut.
But pathos isn't always about sadness. It can be about fear, humor, or even pride. Look at Apple’s "Think Different" campaign. It didn't mention RAM, processors, or screen resolution. Instead, it showed icons like Muhammad Ali and Albert Einstein. It made you feel like buying a Mac meant you were part of a rebellious, creative elite. It sold a feeling of belonging and intellectual superiority. That’s pure pathos.
Humor is another massive pathos tool. The Old Spice "The Man Your Man Could Smell Like" campaign was essentially one giant, hilarious joke. It didn't try to prove the soap was chemically superior. It just made people laugh so hard they associated the brand with being cool and fun. When you’re scrolling through Instagram, you’re way more likely to stop for something that makes you chuckle than something that lists "five reasons to buy this sponge."
Logos: Show Me the Receipts
Logos is the "brain" part. It’s the logic, the data, the "how it works." While pathos gets you to care, logos often gives you the permission to buy. You might want a Tesla because it looks cool (pathos) and because Elon Musk/the brand has a tech-pioneer vibe (ethos), but you justify the $50,000 spend because of the range, the safety ratings, and the fuel savings (logos).
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In ads that have ethos pathos and logos, the logos part is often the most straightforward. Think of Dyson. Sir James Dyson often appears in his own ads—which covers ethos—but then the ad spends thirty seconds showing a CGI animation of airflow and centrifugal force. They show you exactly why the vacuum doesn't lose suction. They use diagrams. They use numbers. It’s cold, hard logic.
Verizon’s "Can you hear me now?" campaign was actually a huge logos play disguised as a simple catchphrase. It was all about the "Map." They showed those coverage maps with the vast red areas versus the competitor's patchy blue areas. You can’t argue with a map. It’s a visual representation of data that says, "We have more towers, therefore our service is better." Simple. Logical. Effective.
The Perfect Storm: When All Three Collide
The most iconic ads usually don't just pick one; they weave them together so tightly you can't tell where one ends and the other begins. Let's look at the classic Volvo safety ads.
- Ethos: Volvo has spent decades branding themselves as the "safe" car. Their name is basically synonymous with "not dying in a crash."
- Pathos: They often show families. A father looking at his daughter in the rearview mirror. The unspoken fear of "what if something happens?"
- Logos: They back it up with mentions of side-impact bars, crumple zones, and autonomous braking systems.
If they only used logos, it would be a boring spec sheet. If they only used pathos, it would feel like a guilt trip. Together? It’s a compelling reason to spend extra money on a car.
Consider the "Real Beauty" campaign by Dove. They established ethos by using "real" women instead of models, which felt authentic and trustworthy in a sea of photoshopped perfection. The pathos was the emotional connection women felt seeing their own body types celebrated. The logos was the underlying message that Dove’s products are formulated for skin health rather than just cosmetic cover-up. It changed the industry because it hit every single rhetorical note perfectly.
Why Small Businesses Often Mess This Up
Most small-scale ads that have ethos pathos and logos fail because they lean too hard into one corner. You’ll see a local lawyer ad that is 100% ethos ("I've won $50 million for my clients!") but has zero pathos. Nobody likes that guy. Or you see a startup that is all pathos ("We want to change the world!") but has no logos to prove their product actually works.
You need to ask yourself:
- Does the audience trust me? (Ethos)
- Do they care about what I’m saying? (Pathos)
- Does my offer actually make sense? (Logos)
If you’re missing even one, the ad usually falls flat. You see this on social media all the time. Influencer marketing is basically an "ethos for hire" business model, but if the influencer doesn't explain why the product is good (logos), the audience eventually feels played.
The Nuance of the Modern Audience
We’re more skeptical now. In 2026, people can smell a fake from a mile away. This means ethos is harder to earn. You can't just put a guy in a suit and call him an expert. Credibility now comes from user reviews, third-party certifications, and consistent brand behavior over time.
Pathos has also evolved. Heavy-handed emotional manipulation often leads to "ad fatigue" or even a backlash. Modern pathos is often more subtle—it’s about shared values. It’s not "look at this sad person," it’s "we believe what you believe."
Logos has moved into the "receipts" era. If you claim your product is sustainable, people will check your supply chain. You can't just throw out a statistic; you have to be ready to back it up with a link to a white paper or a transparent data set. The logic has to be bulletproof.
How to Build Your Own Rhetorical Strategy
If you're crafting a campaign, don't just start writing copy. Map it out. Start with the logos—what are the three undeniable facts about your product? Then, find the pathos. What is the "so what?" factor? Why does this matter to a human being who is stressed out, tired, or looking for a win? Finally, layer on the ethos. Why should they believe you specifically?
- The "Rule of Three" isn't just for jokes. Try to ensure your landing page or video script addresses all three elements within the first sixty seconds.
- Balance is platform-dependent. LinkedIn might require a bit more logos and ethos. TikTok is almost entirely a pathos-driven environment where "vibes" rule.
- Audit your past work. Look at your worst-performing ads. Chances are, they were "Logos-only" (boring) or "Pathos-only" (sketchy).
The reality is that ads that have ethos pathos and logos aren't just a classroom exercise. They are the psychological framework of how humans make decisions. We like to think we are rational creatures who make choices based on data, but we aren't. We are emotional creatures who use logic to justify the decisions we've already made based on our feelings and our trust in the source.
Aristotle was right. Use the brain, use the heart, and use your reputation. If you do that, you aren't just selling a product; you're winning an argument.
Actionable Next Steps
- Analyze your current creative: Take your top three best-performing ads and highlight sentences in different colors for ethos, pathos, and logos. Identify which one is dominant.
- Audit your "Trust Signals": If your ethos is weak, add customer testimonials, "As seen in" logos, or specific certifications to your homepage.
- Inject "Human" Logic: Don't just list features. Convert them into logos-based benefits. Instead of "10GB of space," say "10GB of space, which is enough to hold 5,000 high-res photos of your kids." (This blends logos and pathos).
- Test the "Ugly" Version: Sometimes high production value can hurt your ethos by looking too "corporate." Try a lo-fi, "behind-the-scenes" video to see if the raw authenticity boosts your trust scores.