Sara Campbell B5 Rhetorical Analysis Football is a big part of U.S. culture, and a big part of football is cheerleading.

However, recently gaining public attention is the fact that NFL cheerleaders arent even paid enough to earn a living. Christopher Zara, from International Business Times, gives more information in his article, NFL Cheerleader Pay: Fearing Retribution, Squads Terrified To Speak Out About Scant Salaries, Sources Say. While the main objective of his article is to provide information about NFLs failure to pay their cheerleaders at least minimum-wage, it is a good example of rhetoric, as he effectively uses logos, ethos, and pathos to present that information. The very first sentence of the article reads, Imagine the grueling and obstacle-ridden process of becoming an NFL cheerleader. From the very start, Zara asks the reader to connect on a personal level as he briefly walks them through an experience to help them feel the honor that these cheerleaders feel upon making an NFL squad. By kicking off the entire article by emotionally investing the reader, he effectively used pathos to convince them to continue reading the rest of the article. However, he also uses pathos to support other uses of rhetoric. For example, Zara makes a point that while cheerleaders often have to pay audition fees, such a fee, its worth pointing out, would be highly frowned upon in the entertainment industry, as auditions are thought of as similar to job interviews. He supports this appeal to logos with pathos by adding (Imagine paying a fee to apply to McDonalds.). While a huge industry, McDonalds isnt held in very high regard; even among those that enjoy eating there, most people still consider themselves

above being one of the employees. Because of this, the reader likely scoffed at the idea of paying such a fee, and was therefore able to instantly understand the unfairness of the situation. While the cheerleaders do feel privileged, people arent filing lawsuits for no reason. Short-lived or no, federal and state minimum-wage requirements still apply to any agreement that can be deemed in the eyes of the law as an employment situation, a fact currently being proven by the flood of recent lawsuits by unpaid interns. Here, Zara uses logos to support the claim that the cheerleaders should be paid more, with the argument that because cheerleading for the NFL is an actual job, the law requires them to make at least minimum-wage. In addition, as to leave no doubt whether or not thats true, he goes on to say that his point has been proven by the flood of recent lawsuits. In some places, Zara overlaps rhetorical devices. For example, the following sentence, But a rising tide of critics say the $9.5 billion pro-football industry has both an ethical and a legal responsibility to alleviate the litany of financial hardships currently being placed on the women who are such an integral part of the game. Pointing out that pro-football is a $9.5 billion dollar industry, and can therefore afford to alleviate the litany of financial hardships currently being placed on the women is definitely an appeal to logos; however, Zaras diction appeals heavily to pathos, causing the hearts of readers, who dont enjoy financial problems either, to go out to the women. Rather than making assumptions as to what its like to be an underpaid cheerleader, he employed ethos and asked an actual cheerleader, Mireya Mayor, former cheerleader for the Miami Dolphins, what it was like. Not only that, but he tried to add to Mayors credibility as a source, with details about how well-respected she is, such as she has gone on to earn her Ph.D. in anthropology, and is even known as the female Indiana Jones by media outlets for her

work with National Geographic. In addition, the fact that he didnt ignore Mayors point-ofview, despite the fact that it could be seen as opposing, shows a level of open-mindedness. She makes excuses for the small wages provided with comments such as, everyone knows its a short-lived tenure. Rather than dismiss such a comment, Zara used it to support his own points without twisting her words out of context or contradicting himself, and thereby giving him more credit as a journalist. Zaras use of ethos, logos, and pathos allowed him to effectively inform readers about the financial issues surrounding NFL cheerleaders payment.