Like many American teenagers, I am an avid viewer of television. I watch everything from football to the news to reality shows and even to those cheesy crime shows. However, lately it has not been any of the shows that have been catching my attention; it has been the commercials. Mainly, it has been the commercials for the 2014 Illinois gubernatorial election (the election that decides the governor).
The two candidates this race are Democratic incumbent Pat Quinn and Republican challenger Bruce Rauner. Quinn initially came into power after the impeachment of the infamous Rod Blagojevich in 2009. Then in the 2010 election, he narrowly defeated Bill Brady to secure the position of governor yet again.
Bruce Rauner is the Republican candidate. This is his first political election. He served as an advisor to Mayor Rahm Emanuel, and is a Chicago businessman.
These two candidates have been attacking each other over the airwaves for the past few months, doing everything short of calling one another the spawn of Satan. Rauner has been using clips of Quinn promising things that he did not follow through on to attack him with commercials like this. Rauner appeals to the audience by using ethos. He implies that if one does not vote for him, they will be voting for a lying scumbag, and in turn will be one.
Pat Quinn has also had his fair share of outrageous ads for his election campaign, such as this one. Here, he applies logos. He cuts his lawn in the ad, which is supposed to represent the cuts he made to state spending. Also, Quinn does this to connect to the audience, as he portrays himself as just a common man, or a man of the people. Voters tend to vote for the people that are most connected.
It is now within a month of the election, and these political advertisements are more prominently displayed than ever before. They use all popular methods of political rhetoric. However, only one will ultimately be successful.
These ads are ridiculous and kind of disgraceful. Many of them are unconvincing and I try to stay above them, but I know that they certainly have an effect on who many people will vote for. Either way, I assume half of Illinois' citizens will be upset by the winner. He'll either be a rich, white fat cat who's never known a normal day's work, or a possibly corrupt, regular guy who hasn't done enough as governor in the past.
ReplyDeleteI find these commercials annoying. They become so far fetched that I can't believe what either candidate is saying, even if they are someone who i would support.
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