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Luigi Lopez
Dr. Freymiller
CAS 137Honors- Rhetoric and Civic Life
November 20, 2014
Rhetoric Analysis for a Barnardos Advertisement
Barnardos is an organization that was founded by Thomas Barnardo in 1867 in the city
of London. At first, Barnardos was a ragged home where children of low-income families could
get a basic education, but in 1870 it evolved into a house where needy children could reside in.
Over the years the organization has evolved, but one thing that has remained the same is the
mission of helping with the abused, the vulnerable, the forgotten and the neglected (Thomas
Barnardo). Unfortunately, child prostitution is rising at a drastic rate and at the same time the
children keep getting younger and younger. This is due to the common misconception that the
younger the victim is, the less the probability of them having HIV/AIDS (Troubnikoff, 6).
This advertisement utilizes many forms of rhetoric devices in order to get its message
across; the rhetoric devices being used are ethos, logos, and pathos. In addition to this, the
advertisement targets its intended audience, which in this case is are guardians/parents, those
who work with children, those who are preoccupied with social issues of the world, and anyone
else that is dedicated to raising awareness for such a heartbreaking issue. By doing this,
Barnardos will raise awareness much more due to the fact that this issue will be more personal
to those who either work with children or have some of their own because it will induce fear into
them of this tragedy happening to a child they know.
The word ethos come from Greek origins and is related to the English word ethics, or
ethical (Edlund). The amount of ethos that is represented in this advertisement is very high. For

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starters, prostitution is such an immoral act, but the fact that it is also involving children being
exposed and harmed through this malicious act makes the advertisement give off a sense of
goodwill and moral character by trying to advocate for its end. This can be seen from the
statement at the bottom of the advertisement, which states, Help end this obscenity. The
advertisement is able to convince the targeted audience that this issue does in fact affect poor
innocent children and in the end it portrays the strong message that it is up to oneself to decide
whether or not to advocate and participate in raising awareness for the crucial issue of child
prostitution. Barnardos constructs their credibility through the phrase Giving children back
their future; this phrase also gives of the message that if one participates then they will be a
person with good moral character and be a better person than those who do not advocate and
spread awareness.
Logos is the form of persuasion through the use of reasoning and logic (Edlund).
The advertisement assumes that individuals understand that prostitution is a devious act, and the
majority of adults are aware of the dangers of child abduction and the sex industry, like
prostitution, which is becoming more prominent every year. In addition, the audience also bring
to the table that one of the most common ways in which children are put into prostitution is by
abduction. In other words, the children have no control over the situation, are vulnerable, and in
the end are not there by choice (Farr). Logos is also represented through the fact that the
advertisement is being represented by a credible and reputable organization. The reader can
assume that the advertisement is logically sound through the organizations credibility. The
advertisement is able to convince the audience that child prostitution is in fact a very crucial
issue and that innocent children are still falling victims to this horrid act. In the advertisement the
young girl can be seen wearing a light pink tank top. Pink is a color that is commonly associated

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with the female gender, but the color also has a deeper meaning. The color pink stands for hope,
innocence/immaturity, and compassion (The Color Pink). The strategic placing of this color on
the young girls shirt enhances the advertisements logos because the audience knows that these
characteristics are what define childhood, therefore the audience will blatantly see the damage
that is being done and the innocence of those victimized. Despite this, the advertisement does not
present any facts or data, which in turn damages their logos. However, this advertisement has an
abundance of emotional appeal.
The last form of rhetoric device used in the advertisement is pathos. Pathos targets the
emotions of its audience in order to persuade them (Edlund). The advertisement convinces
viewers that children are easy targets for this industry due their innocence, naivety, and
vulnerability. Although the emotions being felt will differ from person to person, the main
emotion, pity, will be felt by almost everyone in the target audience. The first way in which
pathos is presented through the advertisement is through the most obvious image of the young
girl with the face of an elderly woman being what appears to be romantically caressed by an
obvious older married man. This image has a very deep meaning behind it. The image is trying
to describe how through sexual child abuse the child loses their innocence and childhood
altogether. This is what is being represented by the elderly womans face. The young childs
body is reinforcing that idea and also displaying that despite the fact that the child may be young
on the surface, what is inside (the soul) is withered, old, full of sorrow, in basically dead. The
saying Abuse through prostitution STEALS CHILDRENS LIVES reinforces this main
concept. Around the time of the Jesuit and Romanticism era, the belief that children were born in
a state of innocence arose and has been believed ever since (Ennew 11-23). This saying, and
especially the image of the young girl, definitely affects members of the audience by inflicting

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emotions of pity, sorrow, pain, and anger. The reason for these emotions is because of the fact
that this issue is likely to be more personal due to the frequent contact that members of the
intended audience have with children. By combining all of these factors, the image is able to
create some kind of emotion in members of the audience towards the children who fall victim to
this heartbreaking crime, and therefore able to raise awareness for the cause.
The purpose of this advertisement is to raise awareness and attempt to put a stop to the
heartbreaking crime of child prostitution. This advertisement with the combination of ethos,
logos, and pathos, is highly successful in achieving its purpose. Ethos enhances the
advertisements purpose by focusing on the ethics behind stopping child prostitution and
persuading the audience that if they take action by spreading awareness then they themselves
obtain good moral standing. The use of logos is represented in this advertisement by relying on
the audiences own prerequisite knowledge on the subject of child prostitution. In addition, the
advertisement also displays logos by using strategic color placement in order to make its
argument more logically sound and effective. The pathos portion of this advertisement heavily
enhances the advertisements effect on individuals. This is achieved by the very compelling
image that is advertised. Rhetoric is without a doubt a very important tool that if used correctly
can be very powerful and beneficial to whomever is using it. Hopefully with more awareness that
will be generated from this advertisement, and others to come in the near future, the malicious
act of child prostitution will drastically decrease and ideally become nonexistent in order to help
save children everywhere from the harm that results from this crime, and give them the
opportunity to keep their innocence as life intended.

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Works Cited
Edlund, John R. "Ethos, Logos, Pathos: Three Ways To Persuade." Ethos, Logos, Pathos. N.p.,
n.d. Web. 16 Oct. 2014.
Ennew, Judith. "The Sexually Innocent Child." The Sexual Exploitation of Children. New York,
NY: St. Martin's, 1986. 11-23. Print.
Farr, Kathryn. Sex Trafficking: The Global Market in Women and Children. New York, NY:
Worth, 2005. Print.
Poynter, Phil. SOFA. 2003. Barnardos. Web. 16 Oct. 2014.
"The Color Pink." Empowered By Color. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Nov. 2014.
"Thomas Barnardo." The Life of. Barnardo's, n.d. Web. 16 Oct. 2014.
Troubnikoff, Anna M. "Causes Of Rise In Trafficking." Trafficking in Women and Children:
Current Issues and Developments. Hauppauge, NY: Nova Science, 2003. Print.