What all was in this video?
The video begins with a crying baby tiger cub and a woman in the background saying, “I will cut your head right off.” It then fades and the words ‘The Humane Society of the United States Investigation Natural Bridge Zoo’ appear. From May to October an undercover investigator for the HSUS discovered many things were wrong with this facility right away. The video continues, showing faculty members hitting tigers in the face and yelling at them. The video then shows a faculty member forcefully throwing a guinea pig to the ground in order to kill it off because the population was growing too rapidly. A hidden camera overheard the zoo owner say that she “poisoned out back there,” and that that was the only thing she could think of to get rid of some of the monkeys they had. That was followed by a clip of a man pulling a dead stiff monkey out of a truck bed. The investigator ended the video by saying, “[...] the only thing worse than dying, is living at this roadside zoo.” The video finally fades out and the HSUS logo pops up with a ‘Click Here to Help’ and a title that says “Help Us End Suffering at Virginia’s Roadside Zoos.”
What genius do they use exacly?
One of the most obvious rhetorical tools the HSUS uses in this video is pathos. In Jay Heinrichs’ Thank You for Arguing, “rhetorical sympathy shows its concern.” (44). Heinrichs tells us that pathos allows us to connects with our emotions in order to help persuade an audience. For example, in this video, it opens with a crying tiger cub. That’s not an accident; this brings forth emotions. To many, a sadness will arise for the animal, and once the video clip of the dead monkey comes along, the sadness will likely turn to shock and anger. This anger will then cause people to want to fight back or seek revenge which is exactly what the HSUS wanted to happen. People are so blinded by their emotions, it doesn’t matter what they have to get through to help save them. It’s like when a mother get’s super human strength to save her child who is stuck under a car. Her adrenaline and love for that child is enough alone for her to be able to lift the car and do the impossible. Our emotions act as our adrenaline, and we’re able to save our “children” from harm as well. The use of pathos is very smart for the HSUS because many members of the audience are caring animal lovers, and they’ll have big hearts and will be very affected by these strong emotions. These feelings will make the audience want to join the fight.
A second rhetorical tool this video uses to get the audience on their side is that is uses the audience’s values. Thank You for Arguing states that when you support their values, you’ll “earn the temporary trustworthiness that rhetoric calls virtue.”(67). The video addresses people’s values by showing the zoo faculty hitting the animals, poisoning them, and also showing the living conditions the animals have there. Any form of abuse is wrong and goes against most people’s values. The majority of people don’t believe that hitting animals is right and poisoning them is even worse. When the video of the guinea pig being slammed to the ground came along, most people would cringe, because it’s not right! This will go against people’s values and make them want to fight against it. This strategy reminds me of a police officer in a big city. Even if they knew the person being arrested they would still have to go through with it because it’s what’s right. Just like we want to help these animals because it’s what’s right. It might be tough and scary, but we know it’s what has to be done and if we don’t do it then no one will. This is a great tool for them to use because people’s knowledge of right and wrong are engraved into their minds at a very young age and they don’t among people that often. It’s very effective and will get the job done.
After the Humane Society gets their audience all emotional and righteous, it makes them feel like they can make a difference. In this video they do that by making them feel powerful. Jay Heinrichs says that if you can “give the audience a sense of self-control and they feel like they can make a difference,” (98). then they’ll be more likely to be on your side. In this video, they waited until the end to let you know how to help. You are usually given a couple of choices: you can either donate, sign a petition, or become a member of the Humane Society of the United States. Any choice you make would make a huge difference. This reminds me of the confidence you get when you feel like you’re the best at something. Even though you don’t want to come off as cocky or big-headed, you still feel good and confident and feel like you can accomplish anything you want to do. The Humane Society uses this in their video last because it makes their audience feel like they can do what all of their emotions and thoughts are telling them to do. It’s telling them they can do whatever they set their mind to.
What's my opinion on this? I'm glad you asked! :)
I think this video uses these rhetorical skills very well and affectively. The sad, crying animals alone would be enough to get me to help. I think anyone could take one look at one of those slow-mo videos with the sad music in the background and want to join the fight against animal cruelty.
The only thing I would add to the video is I would make sure I would let the audience know where their donations were going. Over the years some controversy has come up saying that the money has gone into the pockets of those in charge instead of to the animals in need. Personally, I don’t believe this, but it would be a good idea, and very beneficial for the organization to incorporate some information tracking donations into their videos.
Other than that, I believe the Humane Society of the United States did a very successful job with this video. The fight against animal abuse will be a long and hard one, but it can be done with help and support.