“Our Children are Watching…” The upcoming presidential election is an election unlike any other. The first candidate without any military or governmental experience, Donald J. Trump, is the Republican nominee. While the Democratic nominee is the first woman ever nominated— Hillary R. Clinton. Despite the lack of ads in this election compared to previous years, the rhetorical strategies still focus on discrediting the other opponent. Hillary Clinton’s advertisements are no exception. Hillary targets parents in, “Role Models”, using pathos and ethos to formulate her argument. She uses imagery of the home and children to set the scene, music to set the mood, and Donald J. Trump’s own words against him to make her point: that he is unfit to
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It has been an overwhelming fear and fact that children pick up a great deal from television. By highlighting Donald Trump’s lowest moments on television, Hillary’s “Role Models” gives parents a peek into the future of their children’s electronic influencer if Trump is elected president. Trump’s most controversial statements are played on repeat throughout the video. The camera flashes to different children zoned into the television as if they are soaking up his words like a sponge soaks up water. The camera rarely shows Trump 's face clearly though we hear his words. The question: “Would I, as a parent, want Donald Trump to be a role model for my child?” comes to mind. Children are hearing the statements: “They’d be carried out on a stretcher…You can tell them to go f*ck themselves…I could shoot somebody, and not loose any voters…” that encourage violence and cursing. If Donald Trump became the next president, he would be what our children are looking up to— their role models. In the voice-over, Trump degrades women, disabled people, and Mexicans calling them “rapists”, accusing them of “bringing drugs”, and “crime”. The ad forces its audience to think: if children had a role model like the Trump depicted, they would think that making sweeping generalizations and derogatory language was socially and morally acceptable. To make her point concrete, the simple words “our children are watching” and “what example will we set for them?”
It has been an overwhelming fear and fact that children pick up a great deal from television. By highlighting Donald Trump’s lowest moments on television, Hillary’s “Role Models” gives parents a peek into the future of their children’s electronic influencer if Trump is elected president. Trump’s most controversial statements are played on repeat throughout the video. The camera flashes to different children zoned into the television as if they are soaking up his words like a sponge soaks up water. The camera rarely shows Trump 's face clearly though we hear his words. The question: “Would I, as a parent, want Donald Trump to be a role model for my child?” comes to mind. Children are hearing the statements: “They’d be carried out on a stretcher…You can tell them to go f*ck themselves…I could shoot somebody, and not loose any voters…” that encourage violence and cursing. If Donald Trump became the next president, he would be what our children are looking up to— their role models. In the voice-over, Trump degrades women, disabled people, and Mexicans calling them “rapists”, accusing them of “bringing drugs”, and “crime”. The ad forces its audience to think: if children had a role model like the Trump depicted, they would think that making sweeping generalizations and derogatory language was socially and morally acceptable. To make her point concrete, the simple words “our children are watching” and “what example will we set for them?”