For our first paper, we were each to choose a political ad that had been used in the recent election, and analyze it on a textual and rhetorical level. After describing the ad and outlining its elements, I began the process of researching the historical and political context that brought about the ad, how it affected the state of the election after it aired, an interpretation of the ad’s elements, and an analysis of its effectiveness.
I originally chose the Romney campaign’s “Be Not Afraid” ad for several reasons. First, because it contained a good amount of “mud-slinging” towards Obama, and since I disagree with the ad’s intent, I figured it would be easy to examine it in all my skepticism. This however, led my first draft to a bad place–it came out extremely biased and more focused on fact-checking than the media’s influence on the election.
After meeting with my professor and taking the paper for workshops at the Writing Center on campus, I found a way to balance out my bias and spend more time analyzing the ad in a way both Obama supporters, as well as Romney supporters, could gain something from. The other reason I was drawn to the ad was it emphasis on Obama’s free contraception plan and the anti-religion stigma the Romney campaign was trying to pair it with. Through the process I explored the idea of the Christian vote, and the tactic of gaining votes by forcing people to “vote against their fears”.
However, the largest issue within the ad was the fact that its largest tagline, “War on religion,” was cited as a legitimate opinion of the San Antonio Express-News, when it was actually a quote pulled from an opinion piece written by Michael Gerson, a well-known conservative journalist. More than any partisan battle, the ad called for voters to turn their attention to a sneakier problem—the media’s misuse of sources.
Caroline L. S. 