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Elaine Raymond

Professor Hatfield

English 1302

2/11/19

Rhetorical Analysis Essay: BTS UNICEF Speech

The UNICEF speech was presented by one member of South Korean pop group Bangtan

Sonyeondan, also known as BTS, Kim Namjoon, on November 24, 2018 at the UNICEF

conference held in New York. The speech, in addition, correlated with BTS’s Love Yourself

campaign launched with UNICEF to promote their belief that “true love first begins with loving

myself” (Namjoon n.p). The purpose of the speech is to motivate fans of BTS and everyone to

find who they are, so they can take steps to love themselves. In the UNICEF speech, Kim

Namjoon makes the argument that everyone should speak their truth by using an appeal to

pathos, an appeal to ethos, and the bandwagon appeal element.

The first rhetorical element that Namjoon utilizes is appeal to pathos by explaining how

he learned to love himself. An appeal to pathos is a method used by the author to convince the

audience of an argument through an emotional response. For example, toward the middle of the

speech, Namjoon takes a personal turn, rather than a group approach, by saying “I would like to

begin by talking about myself” (n.p). The anecdote starts with where Namjoon came from and

referred to a lyric within a song from the early albums that connects to his “happy childhood”

(n.p). However, he changes the story to how he molded himself based of what people thought of

him and their vision of who they thought he should be, as Namjoon got older. As a result, most

people thought Namjoon as well as the other members of BTS were hopeless, which led the

group to lose their name and become “ghosts” (Namjoon n.p). According to Namjoon, music
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was a “sanctuary” and the only thing that would call his name, in addition to the love and support

he received from his fans and group members of BTS, who stayed by his side. In the midst of

overcoming expectations others set for Namjoon, he was able to find his voice and learn to love

himself, despite “stumbling and falling” (n.p) along the way. Namjoon connected with his

audience by telling his personal story on how he used his love for music to overcome what others

thought about him. He wanted his audience to understand that if he could do it, then they could

do it as well. Due to the connection, Namjoon inspired his audience to speak their truth and learn

to love themselves.

Another rhetorical element that Namjoon uses, is an appeal to ethos when he alternates

between the different names that he is famously recognized for among his audience. An appeal to

ethos is a method used by the author to convince an audience of an argument based off character.

Namjoon specifically exhibits appeal to ethos by establishing his authority as the “leader of the

group BTS” (n.p), but switches into a story about himself. In his story, he explains how he was

an ordinary boy from a small town in Korea. Since BTS is a big idol group internationally, while

an ordinary boy is anyone, switching perspectives from a seemingly out of reach leader in a big

international boy band to someone who people could see on the streets serves as powerful

evidence that Namjoon is not perfect. Furthermore, changing the perspective from an

international celebrity to an ordinary person sheds the imaginary wall between celebrities and

fans to create a smoother transition to where Namjoon begins to explain his struggle of finding

his voice within all the molds he tried to “jam” (n.p) himself in. Namjoon also states “[m]aybe I

made a mistake yesterday, but yesterday’s me is still me. I am who I am today, with all my

faults” (n.p). This further proves that fans can also connect with Namjoon as someone who

makes mistakes, has faults, but can still find a way to love himself by making those faults or
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mistakes a part of him. By creating credibility, both on an authority level and familiar level,

Namjoon wanted to convey to the audience that he was an ordinary human who used his love of

music to accomplish something great. Once again, making his audience stay connected by

making them feel like he is no different from them and that they are capable of loving

themselves and speaking their truth.

The final rhetorical element that Namjoon applied in the UNICEF speech is the logical

fallacy of bandwagon appeals. A bandwagon appeal is a method used by the author to convince

the audience of an argument because everyone else agrees with the argument. Toward the end of

the speech, Namjoon mentions how some of their fans from around the world shared their stories

of how they came to love themselves through the message of the Love Yourself campaign. As a

result, he urges everyone to “take one more step” (Namjoon n.p) because fans from around the

world and the members of BTS have already taken the one step to love themselves. By quoting

evidence of fans and group members who have already started to take steps to love themselves,

Namjoon reinforces the idea that everyone in the audience needs to start taking those same steps.

To empower young fans from around the world listening to the UNICEF conference

speech to speak their truth, Namjoon used an appeal to pathos with an emotional story, an appeal

to ethos, and a bandwagon appeal. He appeals to pathos by expressing how music created a path

that helped him learn to love himself instead being defined by everyone’s view of him. He

appeals to ethos by stating his standing as a leader of an international band, BTS, as an artist, and

as an ordinary guy who will continue to make mistakes on his journey to whomever he will

become. For a bandwagon appeal, Namjoon mentions how fans are already sending stories on

how BTS’s message helped them love themselves, and then urges for others to tell their story, so

that they may speak their truth.

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Work Cited

Namjoon, Kim. “‘We Have Learned to Love Ourselves, so Now I Urge You to 'Speak

Yourself.'".” UNICEF, 24 Nov. 2018, www.unicef.org/press-releases/we-have-learned-

love-ourselves-so-now-i-urge-you-speak-yourself.