Barnes & Noble makes an appeal ethically and logically to its customers by presenting itself as one of the best bookstores in the United States. The textbook book says, “we observe people, groups, or institutions making and defending claims all the time and ask ourselves: Should we pay attention to them? Can we trust them?” If you simply google Barnes & Noble, their website claims that “Barnes & Noble is the nation's top bookseller brand for the seventh year in a row, and is rated number two in trust among all retailers for the second year in a row according to the EquiTrend® Brand Study by Harris Interactive®.” This is a statistic, so it is not necessarily a fact, but it is evidence. This seems pretty credible to anybody who reads this. Additionally, if you walk in Barnes & Noble, you are bombarded by many different categories and subcategories, books, journals, magazines, periodicals, accessories, music and DVDs. A lot of bookstores only have a couple of what is just listed above, but Barnes & Noble seems to have literally everything in the eyes of the customer.
The emotional appeal that Barnes & Noble is evident because of what the store itself is selling. Barnes & Noble’s products are geared towards the heart. They sell games to make you laugh, journals to write your deepest thoughts in, books that evoke a plethora of emotions, same with DVDs, along with a quiet atmosphere that is conducive to studying and relaxing. People go to Barnes & Noble typically to find something that is going to make them feel a certain way. For example, I went to Barnes & Noble a couple weeks ago to by the new Ray LaMontagne CD because of the way the music makes me feel. Additionally, Barnes & Noble claims (on their website) that their stores “hosts close to 200,000 community events every year.” This makes B&N seem interested in philanthropy and the needs of others too, which feeds on the emotion of its customers.
Overall, pathos, logos, and ethos seem to all mesh together a lot of the time. I believe that most public spaces that sell something use all 3 of these appeals to grab the attention of the customer so they will buy something. Is this manipulative? Possibly. But it works.
I didn't see your logos appeal, but I think a good one could be used by interviews, or surveys. Almost anyone you ask about Barnes and Noble is going to tell you it's a reliable bookstore. And if you surveyed a group of people, and asked them what comes to mind when you say bookstore, I bet you Barnes and Noble would be the first words out of most of their mouths. This also appeals to ethos, because it's a credible place to shop.
ReplyDeleteI didn't see your post last week, but this is a really neat place to be analyzing for your paper. I think all of your claims are very strong, especially for pathos. Having gone to Barnes and Noble often in the past, and even very recently, I always find something new or something that appeals to me personally, that evokes some sort of emotion which leads to an impulse to buy whatever set off the emotion.
ReplyDeleteI really agree with you ethos, logos and pathos usually do blend in together a lot which is what causes all the appeals to works. If a space draws you in emotionally, for a great price and is a trust worthy company all these appeals make the space great.
ReplyDeleteI think you make up an excellent point when discussing the focus on trust the company impliments. If you were to walk into a place wary of if you could trust it I would speculate the business wouldn't be doing quite well, especially when your main purpose is to provide the community entertainment. I think if you look at the success of many of the United State's main retailers like Wal-Mart, Starbucks, B&N you'll see a similar theme.
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