Reshuffling the Way America Thinks About Hillary Clinton

Hillary Clinton's recent advertisement, "Reshuffle the Deck and Rebuild the Middle Class," describes her goal, as the potentially future president, to restore the struggling middle class. In her advertisement, Clinton often uses the effects of media and set situations to sway her audience. Through these ways, Clinton establishes certain forms of rhetoric, such as pathos (the use of emotions) and ethos (the establishment of character).

Clinton is frequently seen face-to-face with the camera, with inspiring music playing in the background, expressing her concern about the unequal pay gap between society's classes. She states, "You have got CEOs making 300 times as much as the average worker is making." As she discusses this topic, the film flashes to her meeting and smiling with middle-class workers. This portrayal of Clinton makes others feel that she is a genuinely relatable person and that Clinton will be able to help them due to the actions they see her do in the advertisement. She also says, "We need to have people believing that their work will be rewarded." Clinton puts emphasis on believing, forcing others to think how great Clinton will positively benefit them if elected president.

Clinton effectively creates ethos in her advertisement through her personal and innovative connections with the audience. She mentions how her mother grew up in poverty and was not able to go to college, but, through hard work, her mother was able to see Clinton go to law school. Clinton uses ethos through the way she describes how she rose above from the typical, hardworking middle-class dilemma. This anecdote helps others know that Clinton is legitimate in her claims about middle-class Americans.

Additionally, she expresses, "So I'm going to do everything I can, reshuffle the deck, so that being middle class means something again." The metaphorical approach, "reshuffle the deck," Clinton establishes allows others to see her simple, but efficient character. This metaphor implies that conflicts seem easy to Clinton, which compares to how easy it may be to reshuffle cards. Furthermore, the way she is able to manipulate such language provides a strong foundation of her ethos. Clinton knows that through her 'reshuffling,' she can convince the audience of her sincere and truthful character.