2012 Presidential Campaign Ad Analysis

Due to the fact that these political advertisements and the media manipulate political perspectives, this truly is an insult to the idea of free elections because as the government through advertising is now shaping Americans’ beliefs there are no longer unaltered political views. The people are no longer making their own decisions but rather having choices placed in front of them. The system of democracy is substantially degraded when citizens’ outlook on politics

In Mrs.Smith's English class we had a political ad project. We learned about all the logical fallacies like logos, pathos, and ethos. We also watched political ads. It first started with a plate form we all had to right one. Then we had the option to be with a partner or to go solo and we could combine our plate form. Once we had combined them we had to write our script using it. Trying to fit 7 rhetorical elements, such as ethos, pathos, and everyman. Once we had our script written we had to film our candidate. We had about 3 weeks to complete the project which was plenty of time it just sneaks up kinda fast.

However, between the 1950’s and 1970’s, campaigning was slightly different. Presidential candidates did not have a Twitter account to occupy the news channel it attacked the opposing candidate with subtlety, and in some instances addressed real issues. In other words, the presidential race in the decades of the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s was to some extent cleaner than it is now. As a result, after reviewing different campaign commercials from 1950's one can conclude politics, especially campaigning, by the 1950’s Television ads became its most utilized political weapon.

Glittering generalities are a popular method of propaganda. It is used by many candidates to evoke emotion throughout society in an ethical manner. During the 2012 election, candidates Barack Obama and Mitt Romney used one-word slogans for their campaigns. Obama used the word “Hope” while Romney used the word “Believe”.(Document E). It proved to be effective for Obama, the winner of the election. This method would cost $100,000, which is a reasonable amount of money for this type of advertisement.

These types of ads, also known as attack ads, target the opponent's flaws and weakness in an unethical manner. As shown in Document D, negative ads only include the negative points about a candidate’s opponent. One example of this is in George Bush’s attack ad, “Tank Ride”. “[Michael Dukakis] has opposed virtually every defense system we developed...And now he wants to be our Commander-in-Chief. America can’t afford that risk.” While most people would think that these negatively-skewed ads would turn away voters, according to data, this has actually proved to be an extremely effective strategy. Although attack ads have proved their effectiveness, they are not particularly informative or even ethical, as they are disrespectful to the

In this day and age, political advertisements are stretched to the limits of toleration. Many of them focus more on the shortcomings of their opponents rather than the ideas and plans they have for the country. Often, the ads are nothing more than superficial smears aiming to tarnish the image of the target nominee. If the ads where kept cleaner and were more focused on important

The media runs rampant, promoting both true and fraudulent information. Many Americans do not trust political advertising because it lies about personal backgrounds, exaggerates, and take things out of context to manipulate voters’ sentiments. (Gerdes, Louise) Each year, it seems like the candidates find new and clever ways to cast their opponents in negative lights. A more recent example of this was the 2014 North Carolina Senatorial race between Kay Hagan and Thom Tillis. An abundance of bruising commercials aired on the radio and television all around the state, bashing each candidate’s views, from taxation to abortions to women and gay rights. However, despite all this negative campaigning, the American public has learned to decipher between true and false. Mudslinging is not a new occurrence. With a long history dating back to the near founding of the country, negative campaigning had plagued nearly every political candidate in America. Thomas Jefferson and John Adams criticized each other mercilessly during the 1800 election, from foreign and domestic policies to their own person behavior (Gerdes, Louise). Alexander Hamilton, under his pseudonym “Phocion,” accused Thomas Jefferson of having an affair with on of his slaves (Editorial Accuses Jefferson). Jefferson was also accused of being an atheist, causing many older women to bury Bibles in their backyards in case he got elected. During the 1828 campaign, Andrew Jackson himself was accused of murdering Indians. His wife was charged with adultery (Kennedy, David M.). After many decades, Americans have learned to decrypt the negative campaign advertising and find the facts. The people are neither obligated to believe everything they listen to, nor are they required to gather their information from just one source. Newspapers, Internet articles, political speeches, and radio and televised news broadcasts, such as 60 Minutes and Face the

As Election Day approaches, especially during presidential campaigns, critics of politics decry low voter turnout. Advertising can be

Since then, commercials have all had a similar format, appealing to your emotions, showing you why you need it. Emphasis is put on you rather than their products, and how much some products sold is unreal. This growth in the market for those advertised products isn’t refutable, and obviously politicians realized this technique works because they started using it too. There’s little doubt in my mind that it works for politicians just as much as it works for multi-million dollar corporations. Emphasis on emotional appeal rather than reason and logic is a big theme in this chapter, and Postman is correct in making it one because it is undeniably what changes our view on politics

"You don 't get the chance to make America great by getting rid of everything that made America great,” Stated by Hillary Clinton during her campaign rally in St. Louis, Missouri to attack candidate Donald Trump from his previous diverse rhetoric. Political Rhetoric has been very popular in today’s society. Politics use this as a platform to criticize other candidates about important points that are essential to the United States and its citizens. Not only does others believe that political rhetoric is out of control but it is a negative form of art. During election time, the media and the internet are critical for candidates because it gives them easy access to the younger audience. Although social media is enormous in today’s society, this is the best way for young voters to make their voices heard. Scott Keeter a research analyst and exit poll analyst for NBS News stated that “Young voters have given the Democratic Party a majority of their votes, and for all three cycles they have been the party’s most supportive age group” (Keeter, 1). According to U.S. Census Bureau over the course of time the rate of younger voters “Dropped from 50.9% percent in 1964 to 38.0 percent in 2012” (U.S. Census Bureau, 2).However, the media continue to evolve with modern society. I believe that rhetoric such as visual political rhetoric helps the youth to get more involved with the political arguments while being educated and entertained at the same time.

It is very common among the United States’ political sphere to rely heavily on T.V. commercials during election season; this is after all the most effective way to spread a message to millions of voters in order to gain their support. The presidential election of 2008 was not the exception; candidates and interest groups spent 2.6 billion dollars on advertising that year from which 2 billion were used exclusively for broadcast television (Seelye 2008.) Although the effectiveness of these advertisements is relatively small compared to the money spent on them (Liasson 2012), it is important for American voters to think critically about the information and arguments presented by these ads. An analysis of the rhetoric in four of the political

Ads have existed for so long for a reason, there’s really not another alternative as effective in trying to introduce someone to a product, movement, or idea. The particular smoking ad from an organization called Health Canada created an Ad that clearly shows the negative effects of smoking cigarettes, not only that, but they also try to give aid to those who are looking to quit their detrimental habit; they carry out this goal of informing and persuading users to quit or abide from starting, by using many elements which include purpose, photo, text, and content. This Ad was great to analyze since it’s easy to define what the media is trying to portray, as well as to it having distinct images making it intriguing to question and inspect.

“Twenty-first-century election campaigns are structure to garner the most favorable media exposure reaching the largest number of prospective supporters, with the greatest degree of candidate control over the message”. (Dunaway & Graber 2009. Pg. 315) Media in regards to political advertising is much more narrower. Some candidates are primarily interested in voters who preference the outcome of the race instead of the process of the election. A great example is President Obama in 2008, had little interest in any media markets in California because he expected to win by a comfortable

     When candidates develop a plan of attack for campaign advertising, they tend to aim for at least four types of commercials. One form or type of commercial is those which play on the fears of countrymen. Fear

Political campaigns are very significant in American politics and elections. It is the period before the electorate makes political decisions in the form of elections. The attention of the citizens towards politics intensifies as the date of the elections draws near. The salience of voters improves as the election date draws near and could manifest in the form of increased media attention. Political discussions, campaign interest, strength of the intention to vote, and knowledge about the candidates are other manifestations of increased salience of voters. Another indication of improved intensity is the effort put by the candidates and their political parties in the campaigns. Parties increase their efforts in the