Kaitlyn Lemaire

February 24th

Period 1

Rhetorical Analysis Final Draft

In August 2013, Ashton Kutcher delivered his acceptance speech at the Teen Choice

Awards. He was given the Ultimate Choice Award for his performance of Steve Jobs in the

new movie Jobs (Newsday). His speech was estimated to be about 4 and a half minutes in length

and he touched on three main points; opportunity, being sexy, and living life. Throughout his

speech Ashton utilizes many rhetorical strategies to make his acceptance more effective and

powerful. These rhetorical strategies include the use of ethos, pathos, and logos.

Ethos, which is defined as a means of convincing someone of the character or credibility

of the persuader (YourDictionary), is one of the biggest factors is Ashtons speech because he is a

famous actor. If he wasnt an actor then he probably wouldnt have won the award in the first

place and this speech would have never existed. Ashtons words are credible due to the fact he is

looked up to in society because of his occupation in providing entertainment. Ashton is

obviously aware of his status and he uses his platform to spread a message in this speech to help

the viewers grow like he did. some really amazing things that I learned I wanted to share

those things with you guys because I think its helped me be here today. Because Ashton is

successful and idolized, why would anyone not listen to what he had to say as the truth? He is in

the perfect position (winning an award, famous, financially stable, attractive, etc.) to be

spreading a positive message and have the viewers listen. He is a very credible persuader and

this status really gives his speech a boost of effectiveness.

 Pathos, which is defined as a way of convincing an audience of an argument by creating

an emotional response (YourDictionary), is sprinkled throughout his speech as well. Ashton

starts off his acceptance by using some humor by stating - this is the old guy award because a

36 years old man winning a Teen Choice Award can be seen as a little funny. He also includes

some moments that may pull at the fans heart strings, for example Steve Jobs said Steve

Jobs had just passed away about 2 years earlier from pancreatic cancer (Biography.com).

Because he was a very admired man, quoting him in the speech added more of an emotional

factor. Ashton also made the main message of his speech emotional, So build a life. Dont live

one, build one. This quote can appeal to all ages and it really gets peoples minds going about

how their life has been up to this point, and if they have built their life or just lived one.

Logos, which is defined as a way of persuading an audience by reason (YourDictionary),

is also addressed in his speech. Ashton has 3 important logical examples in his acceptance, and

the first one is that hard work will take you a lot of places. He justifies this by saying every

job I had was a stepping stone to my next job and now he is a famous entertainer. His next

point is to be sexy by being really smart, thoughtful, and generous because who wouldnt want to

be classified as sexy. His last example is to live your own life because life was made up by

people who are no smarter than you He states all of these confidently with fact and reason.

This will lead back to ethos as well because he is so credible the audience easily believes his

logic.

Overall, Ashton gave a great speech full of important messages and positivity, ranging

from an audience of all ages, in a short amount of time. He used very effective writing strategies

to get the audience on his side before he even had to start speaking. It was a successful speech.
 Biography.com Editors. "Steve Jobs." Biography.com. A&E Networks Television, 24

Sept. 2015. Web. 23 Feb. 2017.

Brandonphoenix. "Ashton Kutcher Speech - Teen Choice Awards (HQ)." YouTube.

YouTube, 13 Aug. 2013. Web. 20 Feb. 2017.

Newsday, FRANK LOVECE. Special to. "Kutcher's Motivational Speech at Teen

Choice." Newsday. N.p., 12 Aug. 2013. Web. 23 Feb. 2017.

YourDictionary. "Examples of Ethos, Logos, and Pathos." YourDictionary. N.p., 21 June

2016. Web. 20 Feb. 2017.