A Rhetorical Analysis Of Political Advertisement

Once every four years, many of the standard television advertisements are replaced with something much worse: political campaign ads. There are many different types of campaign ads. Among them are characters ads, which serve to establish the good character of a candidate, bandwagon ads, which serve to convince the public that a candidate is best choice because many other people are voting for them, and evidence ads, that use facts to convince the public that a candidate is the best choice for office. There is, however, one type of ad that sparks more controversy than any of the others, the attack ad. The attack ad seeks to dissuade voters from choosing a certain candidate by attacking their character or track record. During the 2012 presidential election an ad aired depicting an average American, Joe Soptic, blaming Mitt Romney for the death of his wife. This advertisement aims to dissuade viewers from voting for Mitt Romney by using the three rhetorical devices: logos, ethos and pathos. The first device used in the ad is logos. Logos is the device that appeals to reason or logic. Logos is used to persuade the audience by making arguments that make logical …show more content…
Pathos is the device that appeals to the emotion of the audience. The use of pathos is not hard to find as the ads shows a man who has lost his wife. The sadness created by his story is augmented with images of the closed plant and surrounding areas. These images are shown with dull colors and a dark vignette around the edges, creating a dull and lifeless feel. This is meant to invoke sadness and sympathy for Joe, as well as create a fear within the viewer that bad things will continue to happen if Romney takes office. History has shown repeatedly that fear and anger are the best motivators. The Salem Witch Trials and the Red Scare are just a few examples. The creators of this ad were aware of this fact, and utilized it openly in this