Rhetorical Analysis: The Hillary Clinton Campaign

586 Words3 Pages

Political advertisement has been around almost as long as we have been holding elections, and although we hope to find honesty in commercials and other forms of advertisement, often times we are met with logical fallacies, and advertising appeals. This election year is no exception. Both republican and democratic parties have released countless commercials in attempts to win the favor and votes of the American public. Hillary Clinton is no exception, her campaign has released countless commercials thus far. In one of her latest commercials, Clinton and her campaign managers employ the skillful use of ethos, bandwagon appeal, and the hasty generalization fallacy in an attempt to win over the votes of African American and Hispanic voters during this primary. Morgan Freeman narrates this commercial, with a deep, steady voice that demand’s the trust of listeners. By using Morgan Freeman’s compelling, authoritative voice, this commercial skillfully employs the use of ethos to voice Hillary’s claims. It is without doubt that the ad would be far less effective, and far less coercive if anyone else’s voice would have played in the background. Morgan Freeman is not only a celebrity …show more content…

This is done skillfully through the use of a greyscale slideshow of photos of African American and Hispanic people alongside Hillary playing in the background of the entire commercial. The pictures show Hillary Clinton at varying ages alongside people of color fighting hardships, or happily greeting Hillary with signs. These photos state boldly that people of color support Hillary, therefore all people of color should. Bandwagon appeal is powerful because it makes people feel safe, and like they are making the right choice. With this commercial the Hillary campaign is effectively saying that people of color support Hillary, and they are happy to do it. Be happy too, support Hillary for