Ad Analysis

The ad from 1976 that I read was in support of Jimmy Carter. He ended up winning this election accumulating over 50% of the popular vote and 297 electoral votes. The message the ad portrayed was that Carter is an honest man who will bring "change" and be more "open" with the people. This is essentially the story that Carter gets across. The past shenanigans of Richard Nixon have lost the people's trust, so the "story" that the ad is that Carter is not like Nixon. The ethos based argument used in this ad has a lot to do with decorum. The people felt after Nixon resigned, that they needed someone in office who they could truly trust. In other words, they needed someone to fit into this role, or to fill this decorum. This ad emphasizes just this. By portraying Carter the they do, the ad makers allow Carter to have the right decorum to fit the job of president. Aside from decorum, the ad also slightly deals with logos. The ad talks up Carter several times on character traits that Nixon proved he did not have. By emphasizing these traits in Carter, it would not make sense why an individual would not want to elect him. Although a stretch, logos does play its cards here. The simplicity of the ad struck me as interesting. Generally, a simple ad needs not ten seconds to wrap up. This ad proved extremely simple the entire time, but it lasted over thirty seconds. That was the only other component that stuck out to me.
The ad about Obama was in support of his doings in the past. It was a response to a Republican ad that must have bashed him. The response must have been sufficient because Obama came out on top that year in the election. The message Obama wishes to get across in the ad is that what the Republicans said is not true. He says in the video that the Republicans took his comments on small businesses "out of context." Obama claims he completely backs these people because of their "sacrifice." Ethos is a big part of Mr. Obama's argument as well. Part of the book's definition of ethos is the "ability to look trustworthy." Obama surely wants to abide by this idea. By setting things straight in this ad, he informs people of the truth while gaining trust. There is a quote in the TYFA book that complements this idea well when it reads, "While logos sweats over its GPA, ethos gets elected class president." In Obama's case, he gets elected the actual president. Other than ethos, I believe the ad exercises logos also. Logos states, "the best resources come from your opponent's mouth." Obama is obviously attacked earlier with his words on small business, but he turns around his opponents words to make it seem as if he had the right idea the whole time. This ad differs greatly from the past one, because the times have changed and campaigning is a whole new animal.