Ads with ethos aim to build a brand’s credibility and trust with consumers to influence their purchasing decisions. Establishing trust is important to both consumers and brands. In fact, Statista data shows that 60% of online shoppers in the US say they are willing to spend more money if they trust a brand, making it worth a company’s time to apply advertising strategies that leverage this mode of persuasion.
Explore the history of ethos, modern ways that brands use it in their advertising messages and marketing, and real-life ethos examples in ecommerce ads.
What is ethos in advertising?
Utilizing ethos in advertising means using techniques that signal brand credibility and trustworthiness. Strategies for ads with ethos include using customer testimonials and expert or celebrity endorsements to build trust and brand loyalty.
Ethos is one of the Ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle’s modes of persuasion, which he covered in his work The Art of Rhetoric. The three modes are: ethos, pathos, and logos. Ethos is about establishing trust, pathos is about generating an emotional response, and logos is about using logic to persuade. Together, they form Aristotle’s Rhetorical Triangle, which The Art of Rhetoric asserts a person can use to connect with an audience.
While companies use all three sides of the Rhetorical Triangle in advertising, ethos plays a significant role in conversions. A 2024 scientific study found that trust was the most influential factor in ecommerce purchasing decisions, carrying more weight than the factors of perceived risk, perceived security, and word of mouth.
Examples of ads with ethos
- Customer reviews and testimonials
- Social impact and charitable initiatives
- Customer engagement
- Expert and celebrity endorsements
- Creator and influencer partnerships
Brands use ethos in their advertising and marketing to establish their trustworthiness, often highlighting their expertise, brand reputation, or social proof of their products’ reliability. Here are five ways to encourage trust-building between your brand and your target audience.
Customer reviews and testimonials
Featuring positive customer reviews and testimonials in your advertising and marketing content is one way to establish credibility. The 2025 Edelman Trust Barometer, an annual snapshot of how trust functions in global society, found that people are more likely to be influenced by people who “understand what people like them need and want” than by someone in a position of power. Another study found that respondents became more confident in a product’s value after reading positive reviews.
Apps like Okendo are designed to help you collect reviews that illustrate your brand’s trustworthiness. Hair care brand Good Wash Day, for example, collects reviews through Judge.me and then repurposes them for social media. “I always put myself in the shoes of the customer,” says Carla Saull, Good Wash Day’s founder, on Judge.me’s website. “They have a right to know—completely true, unfiltered. They’re spending their hard-earned money.”
Social impact and charitable initiatives
Corporate social responsibility (CSR) can also be a powerful tool when your brand is trying to build credibility. According to Statista data, 70% of consumers say they want to buy from brands that share their values, and roughly half of consumers say they value brands that speak out on climate change, mental health, and diversity.
You can show consumers you care about the same social causes they do by putting your brand values front and center in your advertising. Highlight your special certifications, industry recognition, socially responsible business practices, or sustainable manufacturing practices to establish credibility and trustworthiness with your target audience. The goal is to help consumers feel more comfortable with your product and more likely to choose it over a competitor.
Sarah Vachon, founder of sustainable olive oil brand Citizens of Soil, prioritizes sustainability and gender inclusion in her business practices. She looks for small farms that use sustainable farming practices and highlights this aspect in her brand’s marketing.
Customer engagement
Replying to customer comments on social media or soliciting feedback on public review forums can also function as advertising, helping to bolster your brand’s reputation as one that earnestly cares about its customers’ opinions. Nicola Buffo, cofounder of nut butter brand Pistakio, says that they make sure a real team member engages with every message from a consumer. “Human touch is something that we always try to bring forward to be a brand they rely on,” she says on Shopify Masters.
The 2024 Edelman Trust Barometer reports that listening contributes to trust-building. Make your target audience feel seen and heard by giving them opportunities to engage with your brand, such as through surveys, social media posts, and user-generated content (UGC) opportunities.
Listening to consumer wants and needs even gave Nicola and cofounder Francine Voit an idea for a new product: a pistachio date bark. Nicola says, “It’s our first limited-edition SKU, and that came out of our community because we started seeing so many people using pistachio with dates.”
Expert and celebrity endorsements
Celebrity-created products and brands are still a major driver of purchasing decisions for young shoppers, with 45% of Gen Z and 33% of millennials buying from such brands. Some of advertising history’s most iconic campaigns and commercials used celebrity endorsements to influence consumer perceptions. Sports brands, for instance, have a long history of athletes promoting their products. A classic example of this is Michael Jordan endorsing Nike on and off the court.
Hedley & Bennett, a kitchen supply brand, partners with food industry experts at every stage of product development. They’ve developed products with chef and journalist Kenji Lopez-Alt, James Beard Award–winning chef Evan Funke, and hospitality expert Martha Stewart, lending their brand deep credibility. The brand’s approach is meant to make customers think, “Evan Funke developed this bread knife. It must be epic,” says founder Ellen Bennett on Shopify Masters.
Creator and influencer partnerships
In addition to celebrities and experts, brands turn to influencers and content creators to provide consumers with social proof. The 2024 Edelman Trust Barometer found that 74% of people trust their peers as much as they trust scientists, and the 2026 edition found that 70% of people surveyed were unwilling or hesitant to trust someone different from them. This suggests that consumers look to people they have a personal connection to or who they perceive to be like them—friends, family members, colleagues, online reviewers, and influencers—when making purchasing decisions.
Steven Vigilante, head of development for beverage company Olipop, says traditional advertising has changed in favor of more organic strategies like influencer marketing. “I just think the best ad ever won’t do what a really cool social stunt or collaboration will,” he says.
One way to find potential collaborators is to search Shopify Collabs, a marketplace where brands and creators can connect.
Ads with ethos FAQ
How is ethos used in ads?
Companies use ethos in ads in the form of user reviews, expert opinions, or celebrity or influencer endorsements to build credibility or trust with prospective customers. When customers feel like they can trust a brand, research shows that 60% of them are willing to spend more money with that brand.
What is an example of an ad that uses ethos?
Ethos examples in advertising include commercials that feature celebrities, such as Nike and Gatorade ads with basketball player Michael Jordan, Pepsi’s Britney Spears commercials, and Coke’s LL Cool J ads. By associating themselves with figures who are already well-liked and trusted by their target audiences, these brands leverage ethos to gain consumers’ trust and persuade them to buy.
How does Nike use ethos in their ads?
Nike partners with iconic sports stars like Michael Jordan, LeBron James, and Serena Williams to promote its athletic apparel, attempting to persuade consumers that if the world’s best athletes wear Nike, then consumers who aspire to be like them should too.
