THON is this weekend! Is everyone excited? I hope that you all plan on going and experience some part of it if you are not already involved. For those of you who do not know. THON is the biggest student run philanthropy in the world! Penn State receives donations from everywhere to donate to Hershey Medical Center to help children fighting Cancer. Last year THON raised over 9 million dollars and in all THON has raised over 78 million dollars. Its crazy to think that students can raise this insane amount of money.
When I was just pondering on the different ways we have come to raise so much money, Ethos, Pathos and Logos came to mind. I then realized how they play a huge role in how we persuade people to donate for THON and the cause. Initially when anyone in the area hears about THON they instantly want to participate and know exactly what it is. Throughout the years THON has build a great amount of credibility and made a good name for itself. This appeals to ethos because the common name persuades people to want to get involved. The way THON is also in capital letters plays a large part in this also. It makes the audience see THON as something big and important because of the large font. There are also those people who are not familiar with THON. Whenever anyone asks about THON they first thing people talk about are the accomplishments and the amounts of money that has been made. These impressive numbers appeal to logos because logic is used to support the claim. Pathos is also shown by the way that fundraising for THON touches donators hearts just by the fact that we are donating to children. Whenever someone see’s people asking for donations for people in need its always very difficult to say no because of the way it triggers the audiences emotions.
Just think, with Ethos, Pathos, and Logos, Penn State has raised over 78 million dollars for such a great cause. I hope that everyone comes out to THON this weekend and shows their support. Its going to be an amazing event and something you do not want to miss.
It's true that rhetoric plays a huge role in fundraising, I think this holds for fundraisers beyond THON. But particularly for THON, the motto "for the kids" is what really drives home pathos, for me. We spend all year fundraising, we stand in the cold canning, and we dance for 46 hours FOR THE KIDS. This motto has strength because it tugs on our hearts, knowing that people who have hardly just begun their lives have to go through something as serious as cancer. It makes us want to help them in any way we can.
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