One reason this ad is effective is because it contains pathos. Pathos is how something appeals to one's emotions. While giving off the perception of death, the ad uses neutral and calm colors. The ad is saying that death is a bad thing; but not trying to race or outrun a train will lessen your chances of a tragic death. The ad makes up for its blunt use of a dead body by using calm and neutral colors to ease the feelings of the viewers. The first thought that comes to mind when someone sees a toe tag is death. Because the ad shows a body lying on a medal table covered with a sheet it is obvious that this person is dead.
This advertisement completely grabs the viewer's attention because the largest thing on the ad is the feet sticking from under the sheet. When someone sees this advertisement they wonder what it is about so they continue to read. After seeing the feet the next thing that draws attention is the toe tag. The tag really appeals to emotions because it is associated with death. Another reason this ad is effective is because it contains logos. Logos is how something appeals to logic and, or, reason. This ad appeals to logic because people know that trying to race or outrun a train is not a smart idea. People also know that when someone does attempt to race or outrun a train they end up dead. When a person thinks of a race they often think of two common things, car against car, bike against bike, etc. A train against a car is not something that comes to mind because there would be no competition. A car may be able to reach higher speeds, but a train outweighs a car. The ad reads, "I raced a train and all I got was this lousy toe tag" Often times when a person wins a race they expect a reward, but this ad shows that your only reward for racing a train is not really a reward. This ad has many different ways of appealing to logic. Everyone is aware that racing or outrunning a train is illogical, but people still do it.