Marco Rubio's Powerful Depiction of the American Dream

Marco Rubio's "Bartender" is one of the most powerful ads in the 2016 presidential campaign thus far. Invoking a pathos and nationalism that resonates with all Americans, "Bartender" shows Rubio at his greatest. He does this using clever editing and musical techniques and a message that everyone wants to believe.

The ad starts with shots of Rubio's father coming home from work. These scenes are in sepia tone and slowly fade in and out to convey how they display the past. These shots invoke a sense of nostalgia because of the camera angles and music. The music starts out as only emotional piano, and the angles all obscure Rubio's father's face, as if the viewer is a kid again, seeing their own father come home from work. Rubio voices over these scenes describing his father and the dreams his father had.
Rubio then changes the subject by saying "He wanted all the doors that closed for him to open for me," and there is a shot of Rubio waking up to the podium, still in sepia tone. "And my father stood behind a portable bar all those years," says Rubio. "So I could stand here behind this podium in front of this room and this nation."
The camera changes to a shot of Rubio in full color. This change of color is the most genius rhetorical strategy in the ad. It clearly defines Rubio today from his struggling father in the past. Rubio is young and represents, to some, a change of character for a Republican candidate. This change in color enhances this view and gives hope for the viewer that the American Dream could be a reality. The advertisement ends with an animation of Marco Rubio's hip, lowercase logo.