Rhetorical Analysis On Cheerios Ethos

Cheerios is a healthy cereal that uses ethos to relay a message on people that are dieting. General Mills provides this message to those who have been eating unhealthy and want to find good diets. I chose this ad because this is one of my favorite cereals and want to know more on how and if it actually lowers cholesterol. The ad is bright yellow and with the cereal box in the center, it is appealing to the eye. This is a very popular message seen in different types of media, such as commercials and the Internet. General Mills uses ethos with the Cheerios box and the language used to determine credibility.

This ad's message is that Cheerios is supposed to help people struggling with high cholesterol. I think there is ethos in the quote, "Proven

to lower cholesterol," suggests that people who see this cereal will want to buy it because of how it tries to promote better health. This can make the ad gain credibility in one way. When referring to the FDA, it can also result in a gain of credibility because the cereal got approved before being sold along with research showing it lowers cholesterol. However, that quote is a general statement that is overused and lacks an explanation to it. This results in a loss of credibility. Not only the words may target these people, but also the heart on the box may lure people to buy it because the strawberries on the box increases attractiveness. In other words, this ad may be similar to how commercials say a certain product is supposed to work very well, but people end up wasting money on that product. The box being large suggests that people will think it is important to them to buy it. In addition, the ad does not depend on the logo to bolster credibility. This might be because most people have their eyes on the top or middle part of the ad. Instead, the logo is placed in the corner.
Ethos is used in where it says it can lower cholesterol and the heart since this is supposed to make the ad more credible. The ad could also be mainly targeting older people, as it will not get as much attention from little kids. Some may speculate that this will do the opposite of what the ad suggests. Many ads will end up doing this, but the people must trust the company and be able to rely on their trustworthiness. Younger people may not have the experience to understand as the main target audience that they could be scammed to similar ads to Cheerios. In order to understand the full effects of it, exercising is essential along with dieting. The use of the word "you," connotes how it personalizes it for yourself by making it your own choice if you want to buy it or not. The ad itself does not show any studies or results saying that people's cholesterol went down after a certain amount of time, so this may also make it lose credibility. On the other hand, "The 1 and Only," suggests that the healthy benefits are only found in this particular cereal. The specific words like, "100% whole grain" and "With 4 grams of dietary fiber and only 2 grams of fat per serving," suggests that experiments may have been run and the numbers making it more believable.
To conclude, the Cheerios ad uses ethos targeting people with high cholesterol along with the ad to earn credibility by lowering bad cholesterol, which includes research. Ethos is shown on the box and ad with the language saying how credible it is as well as how the image is appealing to the eye. I thought the ad was mainly credible. Although there are some general statements, research and specific quotes outweigh the potential loss of credibility. This ad and similar ones are popular and are seen on media.