Abstract
This paper examines how genre theory facilitates the understanding of spam messages by analyzing their content, form, and specific features, as well as the relationship between the genre and rhetorical persuasion. Genre is considered useful because it makes communication more recognizable and understandable to recipients, aiding in information processing. The term “spam” refers to unsolicited electronic or commercial messages typically sent to a large number of recipients without regard to their identities. The study evaluated 100 persuasive email spam messages obtained from 100 recipients, although only a few were analyzed qualitatively due to space limitations.The analysis revealed multiple layers within the spam genre, each with underlying intents to defraud recipients. These fraudulent intents are executed through the three classical modes of persuasion: ethos (appeal to credibility), logos (appeal to logic), and pathos (appeal to emotion). While these rhetorical appeals have long been used to influence audiences, a detailed linguistic examination of their deployment in contemporary advertising language remains essential. Pathos, in particular, often manifests in appeals to emotion, with spammers drawing on tragedies such as wars, political crises, natural disasters, and serious health conditions like cancers affecting sensitive organs. These emotional appeals are designed to dispel disbelief and manipulate the target audience’s feelings. Findings indicate that spammers employ strategies such as confession, expressions of regret, pleas, promises, praise, and thanks, often reinforced with emotive adjectives to heighten emotional impact. Logos is deployed through logical appeals, including argumentation, claims, warrants, data, and examples. Linguistic markers such as “initially,” “later,” and “finally” are used to structure reasoning and classify information logically. Ethos is applied by appealing to credibility and trustworthiness, often through expressions of deference to the rights, feelings, and sensibilities of the recipients. These rhetorical strategies indicate that the spam genre is not a singular form but a complex array of recognizable print genres, each strategically designed to persuade and manipulate recipients while achieving fraudulent objectives.
Keywords: Internet, Spam, Genre, Persuasion, Fraud
DOI: www.doi.org/10.36349/sojolics.2025.v01i01.027
author/Bulus Wayar
journal/Sokoto JOLICS 1(1) | June 2025 |
