A Sweet Introduction to Persuasion

When I introduce persuasive rhetoric to my students, I start with something that takes little convincing – candy!

Before we dive into ethos, pathos, and logos, I want students to recognize that persuasion is already happening all around them. Advertisements are constantly trying to convince us to buy something, believe something, or make a particular choice. So, we start by looking at how candy companies do it.

First, we take a look at several Snickers advertisements. As we study each one, I ask students a simple question: How is this ad trying to convince us? I intentionally choose advertisements that rely on different persuasive methods. One shares nutritional facts and information about the product. Another features a mom explaining that she feeds her kids Snickers. A third shows athletes who aren’t quite acting like themselves because they’re hungry. Each advertisement takes a different approach, giving students an opportunity to notice how credibility, evidence, and emotion can influence an audience.

Then it’s their turn to do the convincing!

I tell students that I need to restock our classroom candy bucket, and I want them to convince me which candy I should buy. I encourage them to think back to the advertisements we just studied. How can they establish credibility? What evidence or facts can they include? How can they make me feel something about their candy choice?

I choose the most convincing arguments and actually purchase the winning candies. This year, our winners were Skwinkles, Cocosette, Sour Patch Kids, and Kit Kats.

Later in the week, after a short mini-lesson and some note-taking on ethos, pathos, and logos, students analyze the arguments they wrote that convinced me. What made these pitches successful? Where did the students establish credibility? What evidence did they use? How did they appeal to emotions? Essentially, they’re identifying the rhetorical appeals in writing they already understand and have a personal connection to.

Finally, students work with a partner to select one of the winning candies and create their own persuasive advertisement. Their challenge is to sell their candy using all three rhetorical appeals: ethos, pathos, and logos.

I love that this lesson gives students an accessible way to approach persuasive rhetoric. Rather than beginning with definitions and asking students to memorize three unfamiliar terms, they get to notice it, write it, analyze it, and then create it. By the time we formally introduce the terminology and begin to analyze it in literature, they’ve already experienced the concepts in action.

The student-created posters will stay on display in our classroom throughout the persuasive writing unit. They’ll serve as a visual reference point as we continue exploring how writers and speakers make intentional choices to influence their audience.

Kelly Virgin is a WCWP teacher leader who teaches high school English for the Kennett Consolidated School District.