Pathos
The San Antonio Food Bank uses the pathos rhetoric technique of persuasion (Horton and Lynch 240). The site develops emotional sentiment from it’s viewers (Horton and Lynch 240), with the slideshow displayed on every page, as displayed in figure 4. There are two photos of young children. We are more likely to show more sensitivity towards that factor. Knowing this, the food bank’s developers understand that users are more willing to donate food and/or money. Although there are photos that show workers preparing, loading, and unloading food, the actual donated food is never displayed. There is one flaw within these photos. There’s a photo of an older gentleman laughing, but the picture shows no signs of hunger or need. Also, the site uses consistent links, which makes users more likely to explore the page (Horton and Lynch 240).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_kSsn7Z3B3A (Figure 4: This slideshow displays the emotional appeal described above)
Ethos
The San Antonio Food Bank does a great job in assuring users of its credentials and purposes (Horton and Lynch 240). The home page displays various events and performances that they take part in. For example, The Big Give SA is a community wide giving challenge that helps bring awareness to community social challenges (SAFB). They encourage everyone to join in this 24-hour challenge and ensure that the profits will go to those in need. They ensure this by stating that they will be able to provide 70 meals for every 10 dollars they receive (SAFB). The San Antonio Food Bank also partnered with Walmart to allow donations to be made at the register.
The San Antonio Food Bank displays its credentials in other ways also. As displayed in figure 5, on the left of each page are the organizations that the SAFB is a part of. These include Feeding Texas, Haven for Hope, Feeding America, and United Way. Also, the SAFB has been awarded with four stars through Charity Navigator (SAFB). Users are also convinced of trustworthiness, by checking The Corporate Involvement page. It thanks all of SAFB’s partners and displays various sponsorships, drives, donations, and volunteer opportunities (SAFB). All links located on the site are clickable and working, assuring viewers that they can trust it.
Web Site Analysis 