Visual Rhetoric Paper

Political ads play a major role in deciding which candidate people vote for. The parties realize this, so they place a great deal of emphasis on making their ads convincing to sway voters. To do this, they rely heavily on visual rhetoric to convey a message that they often do not directly state. Through the use of logos, ethos, pathos, and sometimes even humor in the visuals of an ad, it allows voters to be influenced by the ad without fully realizing it.


In this classic political ad used by Lyndon B. Johnson against Barry Goldwater in the presidential election of 1964, the ad relies on a heavy amount of pathos to convey its message to the public. It starts off with the young girl, often referred to as Daisy, picking the petals off a flower in a field. This is a practice that is often seen in what is considered to be happy children in many old movies. This gives the view a calming effect and a sense of peace over the video. As the girl nears the end of counting the petals she picks off her flower, you hear a more ominous voice begin to count backwards from ten. When the voice completes its countdown, you see a nuclear explosion, presumably in the same field in which the girl was picking her flowers. This plays heavily on the fears Americans had at the time. This was during the Cold War, a time in which America lived in constant fear of a nuclear attack from the Soviet Union. Seeing this little girl, who had just previously brought a sense of serenity to the viewer, presumably be obliterated by a nuclear attack plays not the emotion of fear for the viewers, but also that of the viewers’ children and loved ones. The ad plays the explosion clip for twenty seconds, to emphasize the destruction and let the viewers’ fearful emotions heighten. When the explosion ends, all that remains on the screen is the message “Vote for President Johnson on November 3.” This tries to convey to the reader that if they vote for Johnson, a nuclear attack will be prevented and their families will be safe. On the other hand, if they vote for Goldwater, it gives the message that they will be attacked by Russia and their loved ones will be in danger.


In this ad that Barack Obama used during the election, it once again relies on a large amount of pathos to convey its underlying messages. The clip starts off talking about the current state of fear America is in. To emphasize this, it shows an almost fearful expression on George W. Bush’s face in the background. This is to show that during the eight years of the Bush administration, America has lived in fear and that something needs to be done about it. To remedy this fear, Obama offered the notion of hope. To convey hope, he showed himself alongside many different groups of people. It shows him meeting different types of people in attempts to show that he does not favor any societal group, but instead is in it for everyone. It shows him meeting with a smiling child, which gives the notion of a more family friendly figure that people can relate to. It shows that he believes in the protection of the American public and that he believes everyone should be given an equal opportunity in this country. It continues to show him smiling next to a soldier to give off the message that he is supportive of our troops. Continuing on, it shows him hugging a smiling elderly woman as it talks about his policy towards senior citizens. This allows the viewer to presume that he will be in favor of policies protecting the rights of senior citizens and policies that protect social security and retirement plans. The advertisement ends with a picture of Obama shaking hands with a message “Believe Again” showing on the screen. This tells the viewers that with Barack Obama, there is hope for America to regain some of the prominence that it once held. Also, the fact that everyone seen with Obama in the ad is a Caucasian also says something. When Obama first announced he would run for office, many believed him to be a minority candidate. By showing himself with people that are of a minority, it attempted to shed that image.


In one of Ronald Reagan’s 1984 campaign ads, it relies somewhat on the concept of logos. The majority of the ad consists of a bear walking through various parts of a forest as the commentator discusses different views of the bear shown. In all actuality, the bear represents the Soviet Union. Like a bear, the USSR was viewed many different ways by different people. At times a bear can be seen as peaceful and nonthreatening. At other times however, it can be seen as vicious as it tears apart its prey or mauls an intruder. So, like the Soviet Union was, it is unknown how great of a threat the bear really is. The video concludes with the bear coming into a clearing and meeting a man, who is presumably Reagan. The bear then begins to take a few step backwards, indicating that it is backing off from a confrontation with Reagan. This is to show that if Reagan would be elected, the United States would have a leader that is strong enough to go toe to toe with the Soviet Union and keep the two from coming to a major confrontation. The logic in this is that with a strong leader, you could keep a threat from coming to a full frontal confrontation, and thus preserving at least a tentative peace. Even if conflict remains, the strong leader that the ad makes Reagan out to be would keep the conflict from escalating to a true threat to its people.


The anti-Democrat David Zucker Albright ad relied on a strategy of humor to get its message across, along with a touch of logos. The purpose of the ad is to poke fun of the Democrats for being friendly with opposing dictators and terrorists, as seen when President Clinton gave Kim Jong Il a basketball signed by Michael Jordan in hopes to build a friendly relation with them, as well as hoping to prevent them from producing nuclear weapons. Following the presentation of the basketball, the video goes on to show a nuclear missile being launched, indicating that the attempts at an amicable relationship had not deterred North Korea from its course to obtain nuclear weaponry. Following this, it goes to a humorous clip of Kim Jong Il playing basketball as a way to mock the Democrats policies. The scene then turns to a picture of the destroyed US embassy in Tanzania, and then to a damaged U.S.S Cole in Yemen. This is used to further mock the Democrats policy of attempting to befriend its enemies, as in turn they would commit attacks on our nation. To represent the democrats and the policy, it shows an overweight woman giving cookies and singing “Kumbaya” with terrorists, while two other terrorists are shown with bombs strapped to them coming out of the storm cellar. It then shows the overweight woman, representing the democrats, mowing the lawn in front of a North Korean nuclear facility. The woman then goes on to paint the walls of Osama Bin Laden’s cave and to change the tire of another terrorist’s car. This shows how the Democrats were bending over backwards to try to appease the terrorists and attempt to form a solid relationship with them so that they would cease to be a dangerous threat to the United States. The video concludes with the woman slapping Kim Jong Il on the butt as he flies towards the basket to make a dunk. He misses, gets up, and fires on the crowd. This is meant to show that while we may attempt to be friendly with our enemies, they will take advantage of this friendliness and use it against us. By making a mockery and showing the failures of this policy in place by the Democrats through the visual rhetoric, the ad attempts to convince people to vote a republican into office to improve foreign policy.

Through the use of visual rhetoric, political parties convey their intended messages to voters. Whether it’s through feeding off peoples’ emotions through pathos, through the logic of logos, through humor, or anything similar, a visual can very profoundly affect how one feels about a subject. Political campaign managers realize this, and they do the best they can to take advantage of it.