Text of Choice

            In this ad for a Compassion Child Sponsor, the purpose is to get its audience to sponsor a child that is in poverty.  Its audience is middle to upper class Christians (probably all in first world countries) that would be able to write letters and donate money to a child each month.  It is relevant because children are dying of starvation and poverty each day in third world countries and Compassion is giving a way for the audience to help them.  By saying “Releasing Children From Poverty” the organization makes it timely and convinces the audience that they much sponsor now in order to save a child.  The ad is able to achieve this through the use of ethos and pathos as well as logos.  The image that serves as the background to the ad is a very crucial element to evoking pathos among the audience.  The child, so innocent, is dirty and looks sad and it is as though he is trapped behind the wood.  It is a strong picture that makes the audience sad and feel pity and compassion for the child and therefore would persuade them to donate.  In addition, the claim that “The Difference is Jesus” is an appeal to both ethos and logos.  It is ethos because it establishes the foundation as Christian and the Christian members that make up the audience are a lot more likely to donate because it is a Christian organization (this is why the audience is mostly Christians to begin with).  Also, Jesus could be used here as a form of logic for the audience because they believe that he is a concrete reason to help others in need.  The add uses all three approaches to reach the audience, but the strongest is the pathos that is set by the image. 

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