Analyzing Political Advertisements, Research Paper Example

Political advertisements require millions of dollars every year to produce for television.  The campaign team and candidate must put much thought behind the message to accurately state the facts or opinions that the audience should take from it.  This is not an easy task, and a poorly constructed advertisement can cost thousands of dollars, countless man hours and can even cost the candidate the entire election. According to Diamond and Bates, there are four phases for political advertisements.  There are also three rhetorical strategies to present the audience with the appropriate phase and message.  In order to gain a deeper appreciation for these phases and rhetorical strategies, four unique television advertisements have been chosen to analyze the effectiveness and purpose of each phase and strategy in action.

The first phase involves advertisements that contain mainly biographical information, and these are often intended to introduce a candidate to an audience early in the campaign.  This first phase is illustrated through the advertisement entitled “Barack Obama Inspirational TV Ad.”  Barack Obama’s history as a law student at Harvard and his political rise as a Senator in Illinois are emphasized (BarackObamaPresident, 2008).  The purpose is to express Obama’s political history and experience to the public as validation for his presidential candidacy.  This campaign advertisement utilizes one rhetorical strategy indirectly and that is to emphasize Obama’s background and hard-working intelligence to promote his virtues as a political leader.

The second phase includes argument information to help identify the candidate’s positions on various issues.  These are critical issues where the candidate’s position is unclear or needs reiterated.  This phase is illustrated in the advertisement entitled “’Low Road’ TV Ad.”  This advertisement begins by refuting McCain’s claims over Obama’s positions on several major issues (BarackObamadotcom, 2008).  After refuting these claims through valid and reputable newspaper quotations, the advertisement emphasizes Obama’s stance on middle class tax cuts, advanced energy plan, development of alternative fuels to “break(s) the grip on foreign oil” (0:23).  Three of the rhetorical strategies are utilized.  First, it directly refutes the opposition’s attacks, but it also directly attacks McCain’s comments and makes him appear less credible.  It ends by restating Obama’s campaign promises to build his virtues to the audience.

The third phase attacks and reduces the opposing candidate’s credibility.  While this can be seen from the previous advertisement, it is clearly emphasized in the advertisement entitled “’It’s Over’ Ad.”  In the opening scene, a clip of McCain’s speech in September 2008 is shown where he claimed the time was over for special interest groups.  However, the advertisement shows McCain’s chief advisor lobbies for oil companies, his campaign manager lobbied for corporations that outsourced jobs, and his campaign chairman was a bank lobbyist (BarackObamadotcom, 2008).  These facts are shown to directly contradict McCain’s position on special interest groups.  The advertisement ends with the comment “John McCain – We just can’t afford more of the same” (0:26) and it is accompanied by a video clip showing McCain and President Bush waving together.  This last image invokes poor feelings that individuals had towards Bush and used them to compare McCain to Bush.  This advertisement uses the rhetorical strategy of directly attacking McCain and his controversial position.

The fourth phase shows the candidate as a leader and visionary for taking the country into the future.  This phase is shown in the advertisement entitled “Barack Obama Ad – What If?”  It begins by explaining the Obama’s excellent leadership qualities and vision and asks the viewer to question what the country would look like if the country had presidential leadership like Obama’s (Tpmtv, 2007).  While his message is very clear and pointed, this advertisement solely uses the rhetorical strategy of building the candidate’s virtues as a leader.

Each of these phases has been appropriately utilized throughout these political advertisements and the rhetorical strategies are specifically utilized to emit a direct message to the viewer.  Political advertisements must be carefully planned in order to portray the correct message to the audience based on the specific phase that is intended.  Rhetorical strategies are used in tandem with the phases to ensure that the purpose of the advertisement is maintained and presented correctly.

References

BarackObamaPresident. (21 January 2008). Barack obama inspirational tv ad. Retrieved March 31, 2010 from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NKGqyMtnO7E

BarackObamadotcom. (11 September 2008). “It’s Over” ad. Retrieved March 31, 2010 from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OHvb4O_bkoo

BarackObamadotcom. (30 July 2008). “Low Road” tv ad. Retrieved March 31, 2010 from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zPPLSHKH0h4

Tpmtv. (08 August 2007). Barack obama ad – what if?. Retrieved March 31, 2010 from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TaU3fjVAFbE