Evaluating political ads
Political ads are a very important part of a political campaign. Political ads try to convince people why and why not they should vote for a certain candidate. A paper political ad is much more powerful because it has to convince people to vote for a certain candidate using words and pictures while a TV ad uses tone of voice along with videos. Evaluating a political ad is very important, when someone looks at a political ad they don’t normally take the time to look really in depth at the ad.
When looking at a political ad it's important to look at the purpose of the ad. Political ads have a certain reason why their written, what type of audience are they aiming for. It’s also important to look at the facts in a political ad. A way to tell if the facts are true is if the ad has a source that can be looked up to see if what is said on the ad is true. Political ads are also created for a specific audience. Republican ads are created for Republicans just like Democrat ads are created for Democrats. Some political ads are created to only be read by adults because of foul language put into them.
When evaluating a political ad it’s important to look for Ethos or ethical appeal of the ad. The ethos in a political ad is telling whether the speaker is credible or not. The wording used in a political ad can define whether a speaker is credible or not. If the speaker uses a lot of facts that can be proven true they are a credible speaker because it shows that they know what they're talking about. If a speaker uses facts that are proven false then they are not credible because it shows that they don’t know what they're talking about because everything is false.
In the pro-Trump political ad the speaker was not credible. The political ad does not include facts that can be proven true. There is no cited sources to check what was put into the political ad so it cannot be proven true or false. Without proof that the facts are true, the speaker is not credible because there is no credible source for the facts.
Logos or logical appeal is another prime part of evaluating a political ad. When looking for the logos in a political ad it's key to look for the facts. The next step would be finding out if the facts are true or not. Some political ads have where they got the facts cited at the bottom of the ad while others don’t. Political ads that have a source where facts can be proven true are credible ads while political ads without a source to check facts is not credible.
There is no logos in the ad because there is no facts that can be proven. In the ad it says that the roads and bridges are crumbling but there is no source to tell where this information was gathered so there is no proof that the statement is true. The ad also states that Clinton won’t change a thing but there is also no source proving that statement true.
The pathos is the emotional appeal in a political ad. When looking for the pathos in an ad it’s best to look at the pictures and the words used in the ad. The font used when writing can identify the pathos in a political ad because certain fonts can create different emotions. Pictures can also identify the pathos in an ad, some pictures used are supposed to make the audience reading the ad feel scared and unprotected. There is also pictures used in ads that are supposed to make the audience feel relieved.
In the background of the political ad there is a building that is falling down. In front of the building Clinton’s face is shown, the picture makes it look like Clinton was the reason why the building was falling and she was not going to help fix the problems. The ad is made to try to strike fear into the hearts of it’s reader by making it look like everything is going to be destroyed if she becomes president.
Political ads help presidential candidates in their race to become president so it's very important that they are properly understood. The political ads are used to convince people to vote for them so it’s important for the people to know what their reading and what statements are true or false. It’s also important to know whether the speaker is credible or not when reading the ads. Paper political ads have a big role in the presidential election they can help or hurt a candidate and it’s all about what is on the ad.
