In the beginning
of this ad Mitt Romney talks about “hopes and dreams diminished by false
promises and weak leadership.” This statement itself is very vivid and pulls on
America’s heart, but what really is going to persuade viewers is the imagery
accompanying this statement. There are
worn down buildings proudly displaying the American flag. Through this Mitt Romney is trying to show
how fatigued and depleted America is right now and he will be the one to come
to save the day. He shows this at the end of the ad when the flag is not simply
hung on some sad, dilapidated building, but instead billowing in the breeze
with the sunset in the background. The
ad also shows a dad with his son on his lap playing on an iPad which symbolizes
family and an advancement of technology, both of which are important to
Americans. This ad does not attempt to logically persuade
viewers by using numbers or statistics, but instead uses something stronger. He emotionally attracts the viewers by
talking about raising the standard of living, building a stronger middle class,
helping the fatigued America and of course, showing him playing with a baby.
Vivid
imagery is used strongly throughout this ad to show Mitt Romney as no more than
an average guy, who can relate to America.
He show visiting people working, many at manual labor jobs, but
everyone is smiling with him. One way he
is persuading Americans in this ad is by fatigue. A study by Galliot et. al. studied the
effects of blood glucose on self-control.
One way self- control is defined is emotion regulation. The study found that when a person has low
blood glucose and is fatigued that they have lower self-control, or emotional
regulation. In this ad Mitt Romney is persuading
America through their fatigue. He talks about Americans “being tired of being
tired.” This is accompanied by the sad
imagery of the worn down buildings, and is going to make viewers feel that yes
they are tired and worn down. When
viewers are feeling this fatigue he then jumps in to persuade them by making
the music more upbeat and showing them how much better they will be with
him. There are smiling faces, kids, and
his speech is uplifting, so they start to feel persuaded to vote for him.
A
major persuasive technique that is used is power. This ad talks about what a triumph Mitt
Romney is and how he is winning. In fact
a reference to him winning is made six times throughout this ad. A pronounced part of American culture is
competition. We are extremely competitive and do not like to lose. Mitt Romney uses this fact to say to America
that if you don’t want to lose, you better get behind him because he is going
to win and you want to be a winner. By
the end of this ad, the aim is to make the viewer find new found energy from
their fatigue, feel uplifted about the future of America, feel like a winner
and most importantly, feel like voting for Mitt Romney. He did all that without quoting one statistic
or reliable data, and without giving any of plans of how he is going to make
all of this happen.
Lizzy Trumble
trumb404@regis.edu
Gailliot, M. T., Baumeister, R. F.,
DeWall, C., Maner, J. K., Plant, E., Tice, D. M., & ... Schmeichel, B. J.
(2007). Self-control relies on glucose as a limited energy source: Willpower is
more than a metaphor. Journal Of Personality And Social Psychology, 92(2),
325-336. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.92.2.325
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