Friday, September 25, 2015

Turning Popular Culture into Criticism - "Orange is the New Black" Advertisement

"Orange is the New Black", a political primary ad by American Crossroad PAC, is an example of a concise and effective political campaign ad.

The advertisement is attacking Hillary Clinton for allegedly receiving and sending classified information on her personal email. The ad highlights a press conference involving Clinton. Clinton is wearing an orange shirt during the press conference which the ad-makers effectively took advantage of. The title of the ad, "Orange is the New Black", turns a piece of popular culture against Clinton and Clinton's orange outfit implies the reference that she is a criminal. The orange suit parallels a prison outfit in this advertisement.

The ad-makers strategically picked a clip from one of Clinton's press conferences where she is stuttering and seems startled, attacked, and confused. A reporter continually prods at Clinton, asking if she wiped the server of her computer. Clinton does not give a clear answer and is continually stuttering, looking around and making distracting hand motions. The characteristics of her actions while she is being questioned make her look uneasy and reinforce the idea that Clinton is not telling the truth.

While showing the clip of Clinton at the press conference the music in the ad is not to overbearing as to distract the viewer from Clinton, but the music has the right amount of darkness and urgency that  sets the tone of the ad. The pounding xylophone sounds in the music seem to intensify Clinton's stress during the press conference and make it easier for the viewer to make the connection that she may be lying.

The ad also uses text to emphasize the argument that Clinton is not a trustworthy person. At the beginning of the advertisement, a quotation from The New York Times appears on screen and says, "...Classified information was in Hillary Clinton's email". This quotation is powerful in the ad because The New York Times is a well-known and well respected newspaper and many people trust it as their source of news. The quotation appears right as Hillary Clinton claims she did not send or receive classified information in her email. This placement of the quotation seems to infer Clinton's guilt.

Overall, this ad is extremely effective because of its use of visuals, audio, and text to persuade people to reconsider their views on Hillary Clinton. True or not, the ad-makers were very successful in making viewers question who Clinton really is.


2 comments:

  1. I have seen this ad before and used it as an advertisement analysis last week. I liked how you said the music "wasn't to overbearing to distract the view from Clinton." You also did a really good job bringing in all the different elements into one argument. Great analysis!

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  2. Wow! Ella this is really interesting! Thank you for your perspective.

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