Sleeper Effect Essay

In September, Donald Trump aired an ad against Hillary Clinton. Earlier in the month, Clinton gave a speech to donors in which she called Trump supporters “deplorable” because of their stances on social issues. In this ad, Trump attacks Clinton for her comment. The video begins with a montage of clips in which Clinton is (literally) framed in a dark light while a woman narrator explains the premise of Clinton’s quote. Next is a clip of Clinton, again darkened, saying the “basket of deplorables” comment, along with a slew of insults, like homophobic, xenophobic, and islamaphobic. These images are juxtaposed with images of passionate Trump supporters at rallies; the narrator says “People like you, you and you: deplorable.” The ad ends with the narrator asserting “You know what’s deplorable? Hillary Clinton viscously demonizing hard working people like you.” Finally, a picture of Trump is shown as he approves the message. This …show more content…
The sleeper effect says that “messages from unreliable sources exert little influence initially but over time have the potential to shift people’s attitudes.” The premise of the sleeper effect is that over time, you remember the information you learned, but forget that the source of the information was unreliable. To apply the sleeper effect to this ad, let’s imagine Ted, an undecided voted, sees this advertisement while watching TV. Upon initial viewing, Ted might completely discount the idea that Hillary Clinton demonizes hard working people. Ted knows it’s election season and politicians love to run ads attacking their opponent. Since this ad was produced by Trump, Ted doesn’t