Thursday, October 20, 2016

Have You Heard? Apparently Trump is a Bully

On Monday Oct. 17, Hillary Clinton released another campaign ad, America's Bully. This ad is a blast campaign against Trump that mostly uses negative ethos for its argument. This ad is special in that it also uses some comedy and culture in its argument.  The ad starts off with a dictionary definition for the work "bully" It then fades to a scene of the character Scut Farkas, the neighborhood bully from the movie A Christmas Story. The clip shows Scut bullying the main character, taunting him into crying. the ad also incorporates clips of bullies from other movies such as Mean Girls and Back To The Future. This is a comical approach to calling out Trump for his harsh, blunt, and bullying attitude in some situations. It especially appeals to those who have seen these movies, which are just old enough to capture some of the younger voters, but not too young to only appeal to people unable to vote yet. The Ethos in this ad comes directly from the clips of lines from bullies in the movies meshed with clips of similar lines from Trump. It highlights Trumps actions as that of a bully, and not someone who should be the leader of a country.

The second Half of the ad shows a little girl asking Hillary a question. She asks what Hillary is going to do about bullies in America. Hillary asks why she asks this, and it is because the girl has been bullied before for having asthma. This section is a split of positive ethos for Hillary and pathos in the form of sadness for the girl. The ethos comes from Hillary's apparent wonder and want to help this little girl with her problems, and eventually the whole country with its issues. Hillary commends the girl for being brave to ask the question as well, bringing some happiness into the pathos argument as well.

The big issue I see with this ad is that the Trump is an asshole river has long been run dry. I can't imagine anything from this argument will sway anyone who is undecided or planning to vote Trump. One of Hillary's largest appeals to many is that she isn't a bully like Trump, and that's the problem. Anyone that cares about if the president is nice or not is already voting Hillary, so I can't see this ad swaying anybody. One of Trumps largest appeals to his voters is that he is a jerk who is straight to the point, no matter if it offends people, and that is a trait of someone who can and will get things done the right way.

Overall, I see the appeal and rhetorical strategies this ad uses, and its  pretty cool video with all of the movies referenced within, but I can't see this ad moving around the polls at all. Anyone with a preference on how nice the president is has already locked in their opinions, only to be swayed by some other argument..

3 comments:

  1. I completely agree. Hillary can’t do much more to make Trump look bad considering the last 3 debates and Trumps woman's harassment scandal. If Hillary wants to gain support, she should focus on promoting herself.

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  2. I agree- I think that many people have seen Trump's bad comments, so instead of attacking him even more, I think it would be helpful for Clinton to promote herself

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  3. I agree- I think that many people have seen Trump's bad comments, so instead of attacking him even more, I think it would be helpful for Clinton to promote herself

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