The
2012 election is coming to an end and there has been much stated by both
parties. Soon we will see either an extra term from Barack Obama or an entirely
new president through Mitt Romney. Throughout both of their election campaigns
there has been quite a battle of attack advertisements in order to persuade the
audience not to vote for the other candidate. This type of campaigning has
become favored over the years and now politicians rely on it in order to gain
votes. This is contrary to many other elections in which the candidate used
their own beliefs and ideas to gain votes instead of sabotaging the opposing
politician. There has been an ad released against Obama saying that he has
allowed 4 billion dollars of debt to accumulate everyday he has been in office.
The title reads, “We have seen storms in Virginia, but none like this…” This
may be correlated with hurricane Sandy saying Obama’s term has been more
destructive. Along with media, the popularity of attack ads, and the
effectiveness they have been known to acquire all reveal the beliefs and values
popular culture has placed upon mudslinging.
Media has changed the process of
traditional elections. Now it is impossible for candidates to escape the
spotlight. Anything they do is watched and analyzed by people looking to find
fault anywhere at any time. With this pressure and constant watch it is nearly
impossible for a politician to be error free. When they make an error it is
instantly blown out of proportion into a countrywide situation. There is no
such idea as a secret when a political icon gets close to the top.
Now that people have discovered the
entertainment aspect of attack ads it has become the go-to weapon in any
campaign. The popularity and attention the ads get from voters has caused candidates
to resort nearly entirely on them. Without the use of attack ads most
candidates do not stand a chance. The fact that their opponent is revealing all
of their flaws, true or not, without any retaliation causes no reason to vote
against the other competitor.
Along with popularity comes
effectiveness. It is highly easy to win anything if the competitor appears to
be much worse for the whole than oneself. This has led to many victories in comparison
to the traditional way of only explaining the position and beliefs of oneself. Few
competitors rely on the traditional style of campaigning and should be praised
for their efforts because it is a cleaner more proper way of campaigning but
put against an accomplished mudslinger it is nearly impossible to win.
Throughout election history new
ways of campaigning have become aware to the candidates. As this continues it
becomes harder to come up with new ways of gaining votes. It has now
transformed into only degrading the opposing side instead of focusing upon oneself
and the beliefs and ideas that should be known. Through media, effectiveness,
and popularity the traditional styles of campaigning are over and now attack
ads are the only way to become an accomplished politician.
Your points made about how advertising has turned negative were very well written, however, it did not fit the intension behind this essay. If you were to connect these point with clips from the advertisement to prove your points made, this would create a more on-topic paper. Your beginning paragraph did an excellent job with giving an insight to what the advertisement you chose was going to be about, however, you did not mention it again after that. The effect of having negative advertisements on society is a great point to try and connect into the message of the advertisement and if you can do this, your essay will be a very interesting one.
ReplyDeleteFirst, it is the 5th essay, not the 4th we are working on! :)
ReplyDeleteYou mention in the introduction that the popular beliefs and values of America has turned into mudslinging, is this really the case? Does the population (us) really embrace this concept? I find it differently, especially regarding our reactions and discussions in class.
I find that a link to the article would be very helpful for me to understand what you are talking about. Either in the beginning of this draft, or at the end as a reference in your final paper. Along the same line, a paragraph discussing the denotative meanings of the advertisement would make it easier for the reader to put your discussion into context.
You point out that there is an entertainment value to the attack ads, but what about them is entertaining? Why is the American population drawn to these advertisements?
You do a good job describing why political ads are used. I think that your argument will be more effective if you draw upon examples from the advertisement in question.
I like how you discussed the effects of media on the electoral process, that media takes information out of context and blows it out of proportion. To make your argument more credible, a link to the advertisement would help. Like you said in the beginning with Obama being more destructive than Sandy.
The ending part where you describe the change in electoral campaigns is good, and I think that it can help make your essay very strong.
More analysis of the advertisement, both denotative and connotative, will help your arguments. So my main advice is to incorporate more analysis of the advertisement in your essay!
Hope this helps, good luck bro! :)
What else do politicians rely on to get elected? What does that say about our society? What about the anonymous, not tied to a candidate, super pac money it takes to even run a campaign? Or what legislation is talked about compared to what is actually passed by a politician? Or the video records of politicians voting for each other? Or the overwhelming amount of people that are black balled and removed from the picture? Or the record breaking amounts of corperate campaign gifts in the form of cash? Is this team of presidents hiding anything by making us think the main show is the hot new spicy attack ad?
ReplyDeleteI like the direction you are heading with your essay. I see a lot of similarities between our topics. You mention briefly how attack ads are only effective if voters continue to vote thinking, "the lesser of two evils" type thinking. I think if you expound on this idea you can tie in your ad with the connotations it has on our society.
ReplyDelete