Most of us want to be remembered for our best qualities,
greatest achievements, and proudest moments. Politicians, however, in a
desperate grab for votes, choose to advertise themselves differently. In true
Darwinian fashion, candidates have recognized the way to win the race is to
beat out the strongest competition by targeting their weakest. Even pre-Trump, attack ads have worked extremely
well in a polarized America, and they’ve become even more prevalent in the last
election. A September
2016 report from the Wesleyan Media Project put it best in
stating, “Just over 60 percent of Clinton’s ads have attacked Trump while 31
percent have been positive…Trump, on the other hand, has by and large used
contrast ads, which both promote himself and attack Clinton. He has aired no
positive ads.” Let's see what Team Trump™ has cooked up for us.
This
is an issue advertisement attempting to appeal to women, specifically mothers.
While I’m quick to object to the legitimacy and sincerity of the advertisement,
it was probably a smart move for Trump to target middle aged white women, who
really turned out for him on Election Day. By choosing Trump’s daughter Ivanka
as an advocate for women’s policies he allegedly supports, he likely created
sway in the minds of voters with the belief that he doesn’t have women’s issues
on the agenda.
Team
Trump™ did a whole lot of
work last election season smearing the Clinton campaign with accusations of
corruption and crooked behavior. In
the following advertisement, Clinton is accused of engaging in pay to play
politics, accepting money from dictators, selling out American workers,
exploiting Haitians, and giving US uranium to Russia. “Hillary Clinton only
cares about power, money, and herself.”
I think the top Youtube comment on the video is a good example of the reaction Team Trump™ was gunning for with this advertisement:
Team
Trump™ employs a few nifty strategies in this
advertisement. As one Washigton Post writer wrote,
“This is Trump as his Trumpiest” This
advertisement relies on a lot of assumptions about Clinton. The video begins
with a fearful voiceover of international crises: Iran
promoting terrorism! North Korea threatening! ISIS on the rise! Libya and North
Africa in chaos! A montage of sick Hillary pictures play. This is
two-fold. First, the fear mongering drives the audience into danger control. In
order to avoid the collapse of the modern world, they are urged to vote against
Hillary. Second, if the fear was not enough to drive the audience away from
casting a ballot in favor of Clinton, her health scandal just might be.
I also looked at the motherhood ad done by Ivanka and I also agreed that it was not very sincere. I think it was also a very cliche and predictable move by the Trump campaign which also contributed to the lack of sincerity.
ReplyDeleteI enjoy the fact you used the Ivanka ad in your blog. Many woman in this country despise Donald, but the same ones who dislike him will view Ivanka more favorably. Ivanka has always played a big role in Donald's work. Whether it was the Apprentice, The Trump Organization, and now currently the White House Ivanka has always been Donald's most trusted employee. Historically Donny T has favored his children as advisors. Ivanka seems to be his favorite child. For all we know Ivanka might be trying to make a Political run of her own in the future. Great ads and great Blog!
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