Kleenex Rhetorical Evidence

There are many factors that contribute to the effectiveness of a company’s advertisement. In 2017, Kleenex released an ad that attempts to convince the general public to switch from using regular towels to disposable hand towelettes. This relies greatly on how Kleenex uses rhetorical appeals and rhetorical fallacies to persuade the targeted viewers to purchase their product.
In Kleenex’s ad, the creators showed a split in half image of a dirty hand towel next to their product; a box of disposable towels. By comparing a dirty towel with a clean one, Kleenex is using the rhetorical appeal, pathos, to appeal to how the targeted audience would feel when they imagine using a dirty towel compared to being able to use a clean one. Using a dirty towel every time is considered unsanitary. Kleenex knew this when creating

their ad, purposely wanting to make the viewers feel in a state of disgust.

Their targeted audience is focused around “germ conscious” people (Schenker, 2014). This would influence the audience’s choice to buy the product. The ad gives no proof of ethos. It is not shown in the ad how the consumer is supposed to believe that every hand towel is automatically dirty after one use. Due to this fault, Kleenex gives the viewer no credibility in their product. Why should the viewer assume their towel is too dirty to use? Although the product seems like a good idea at a glance, just how good for the environment can it really be? By replacing regular hand towels with disposable ones, the consumer will be throwing away a towelette every time they wash their hands. Product waste will build up over time. There is no way to measure how much of a negative impact on the environment these hand towels

will have. Logos is used in the ad because it is only logical for someone to want to use a clean towel instead of a dirty one. The text in the ad states, “Your hands are only as clean as the towel used to dry them,”(Kimberly-Clark Worldwide, 2011, p.1). This is evidence of logos because to the reader, the text seems as a simple, straightforward statement that makes reasonable sense.
In addition, logical fallacy is used in the advertisement as well. For example, by saying the viewer can have either dirty hands from using an average hand towel or they can have clean hands from using “a clean, fresh towel every time!” (Kimberly-Clark Worldwide, 2011, p.1) is an example of the form of logical fallacy known as either/or. Kleenex is saying the viewer can either have gross hands OR use their product and have clean hands. The viewer does not get a third option. Kleenex makes it appear that if the audience chooses not to buy the hand towelettes, they are going to have dirty hands no matter how clean they believe their towel to be. Either/or is an effective way to persuade an audience to buy a product because it makes the seller’s product look more desirable.
In order for an advertisement to be successful, it not only has to inform the viewer of the product, but it has to persuade them that buying this product will be worth their time and money. That this product will in some way make their life better. Kleenex is successful in using rhetoric when they appeal to how the audience would feel about using a dirty towel compared to a clean one. Kleenex uses the rhetorical fallacy, either/or, to justify why the audience should use their product. Using rhetoric is important in advertising because it helps the company to better convey the meaning of their ad and it persuades the audience to purchase their product, which is the ultimate goal when creating an advertisement.