Morgan Comeaux

The rhetorical concept of kairos considers the timeliness of an argument or message. The Greek term means the “right time” or “opportunity.” It is named after the Greek god Zeus’s youngest son, who was the god of opportunity.

There are three aspects of kairos. The first is the idea of the right time for something to happen. When we use the term “perfect timing,” this is the concept that is being captured. Second, kairos can refer to the presence of an exigency, which demands rhetorical action. Third, kairos can mean that an opportunity has presented itself.

Many advertisements employ kairos. Kairos is used when the advertiser takes another popular thing that is being discussed at the time and uses it to grab the attention of the audience to reveal another message.

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Open Rhetoric Copyright © by Morgan Comeaux is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.

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