Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton surprised America this year as unconventional political candidates with unusual campaign strategies. Their ads remain no exception this election and drastically deviate from their true, publicizing purpose as the candidates attack their opponent and do not explain anything about their policies or themselves. They merely scrutinize their competition; they do not advertise anything.
A Gallup story, "Fear of the 'Greater of Two Evils' Could Spur High Voter Turnout," describes how this election is atypical because it features election warfare, politically incorrect posturing, extraordinary intraparty conflict and other uncommon characteristics. Gallup also states that the candidates' focus on their opponent's flaws because their close poll numbers force them to attract voter support, even though they know it is not a nice thing to do.
Clinton's and Trump's ads will most likely fail to convince loyal Democrats and Republicans to change their vote or view either candidate differently. However, they can influence swing voters — citizens who remain on-the-fence regarding which candidate they support. Swing voters should not let these ads easily sway them because they are superficial and designed to paint a negative picture of the candidate's competition.
In political advertising, it is normal for a candidate to point out their opponent's policy differences and state how they can perform better in a certain area. However, advertisements should not morph into opportunities to merely criticize the other person running for office. That is the purpose of political rallies, which give presidential candidates chances to garner support and persuade voters to support them. Some of these new advertising flaws appeared in the last election, but ads still served their true purpose. However, campaign ads seem to have lost all integrity in the 2016 election.
A Barack Obama 2008 campaign ad, "Inspiring," illustrates what political ads should look like. Obama graduated from Harvard Law School and professor Laurence Tribe from Harvard describes how he helped rebuild "an area torn apart by plant closings." The ad further articulates how he cut taxes for workers, won health care for children, worked on deep issues, was "successful in a bipartisan way" and led issues like arms control and ethics reform during his Senate career.
This ad does not attack his opponent, John McCain, and focuses on Obama's accomplishments instead. Interviews with authoritative sources even support this information. Since this is a campaign ad, these people only offer positive insight about Obama, but they still add credibility to his success because Obama does not simply say things about himself. The ad additionally conveys his political experience and what issues he values as a presidential candidate. Overall, it maintains a positive tone and uses subtle emotional appeal, two characteristics that do not appear in either Trump or Clinton's ads. In contrast, their ads use heavy emotional appeal and adopt harsh tones.
A John McCain ad, "Not Easy," also illustrates these ideas. His video does not say anything about Obama, but rather emphasizes his passion to serve his country and do whatever it takes. " I didn't go to Washington to win Mr. Congeniality. I went there to serve my country," McCain states.
One of Clinton's recent ads depicts Trump as a bully and compares him to fictional bullies Regina George and Biff Tannen.
The video starts with a definition of bullying — "A blustering, overbearing person, who puts down or intimidates others" — then conveys how Trump says things similar to these characters like "you sit down," or "how stupid are the people of this country?" The ad's focus then shifts to a scene filmed at a school, where a girl asks Clinton, "What are you going to do about people who want to be mean and all this bullying?" She replies, "Tell me why that's on your mind." The girl explains, "Well, I have asthma, and occasionally I've heard people talking behind my back." Clinton exclaims," That was really brave! I really do think we need more love and kindness in our country. That's why it's important to stand up to bullies everywhere they are and why we shouldn't let anyone bully his way into the presidency — because that is not who we are as Americans."
Attacking Trump is clearly Clinton's true purpose since he appears several times throughout the first 30 seconds and Clinton specifically says "him" at the end. Even though it indicates her passion to stop bullying in America, it does not openly say anything about her beliefs or plans for the nation. She also strategically uses children as an emotional appeal to people who experienced bullying or have children and can resonate with her statement. Her finals words explicitly express how voting for Trump betrays America's ideals. In essence, the ad leads voters who connect to her message to view Trump as a bully instead of learning more about him themselves.
On the other side of the aisle, Trump released an ad on Nov. 2 called "Corruption."
Any viewer realizes its malevolence from the first few seconds — "The Clintons; from dead broke to worth hundreds of millions." The video commentator then asks, "So how did Hillary Clinton end up filthy rich?" A short pause. "Pay to play politics. Staggering amounts of cash poured into the Clinton foundation from criminals, dictators, countries that hate America." The next sentence adds fuel to the new FBI email investigation fire surrounding Clinton. "Hillary cut deals for donors. Now the FBI has launched a new investigation." The ad concludes with, "After decades of lies and scandals, her corruption is closing in."
Like Clinton's ad, Trump intends to attack Clinton and does not say anything about himself, his policies or plan for the nation. He only analyzes her scandals and suggests that a hidden agenda, corruption, and lies underlay in her campaign. He also hints at the idea this corruption has caught up to Clinton and will prevent her from winning this election. Trump's ideas can massively impact viewers since they see and hear the speaker's words, which means they receive the same information twice and can remember it both visually and auditorially. In addition, the creator bolded words like "Hillary Clinton" and "filthy rich," forcing a subconscious connection between these ideas.
Research each candidate before heading to the polls and do not view these ads as reliable, truthful sources of information. It is important to recognize that the two candidates running in this election seek to attack each other, will uncover any scandal, and generally say negative things about their opponent. It is just as imperative to understand that political ads were not meant to become a negative channel for condemnation but originally intended to positively inform viewers about a candidate's background, policy, and future plans. Hopefully, political advertising will return to its true purpose in the next election.
