Monthly Archives: September 2020

Mike Bloomberg starts the campaign by using his baby pictures and explaining his life as a boy growing up. He lists his achievements growing up and describes how he created his business and tried to show that he pays his employees well and makes reasonable job offers. They’re a mass use of pathos used in the video by mentioning the 9/11 tragedy and how he helped the city build again. This will significantly affect the audience because the 9/11 was an immense tragedy that affected America. The video, as a whole, contains a lot of pathos, logos, and ethos. He uses pictures of him and the citizens to show credibility that he was there to help the citizens when they were in need. The primary audience for this video are the minorities. He uses words such as “low-income families” and “raise salaries” to point out that he made significant changes to the country, and his money went to good use. He also mentioned problems such as affordable housing, free education, LGBTQ, Gun control, Climate change, Health insurance, etc. 

Further, in the video, he uses a video of Donald Trump being in power and hurting America by his actions. He uses the wildfire video to show how his actions didn’t do anything to stop the fire. When showing the picture of Trump, he uses black and white filter. When black and white filter is used, it is usually not a positive message.

He mentions many ongoing problems right now and attacks people’s emotions by mentioning that he will tax the rich and not the middle-class people. This video shows that this campaign is target toward democrats and people who are against Trump. This video is more of showing what he did to America without attacking another party or a person. It’s a complimentary ad because he shows that he can change this country for the better. This video can be very successful because it wasn’t problematic, and it was just stating essential things. 

Him using a lof of pathos will have a significant impact on people, and this ad did an excellent job in that way.

This video reached many audiences due to Bloomberg paying a large amount of money to promote it. When this information was released, many weren’t on his side anymore. He could’ve used this money to better use than a campaign ad. 

Joel Batz

Rhetorical Analysis of a Campaign Ad

Joe Biden: ‘keep up campaign’ 2020: https://www.washingtonpost.com/video/politics/campaign-ads-2020/joe-biden-keep-up-campaign-2020/2020/08/27/7dff81f0-d141-43bd-95e9-29274fe5c385_video.html

After viewing one of Joe Biden’s campaign ads it is obvious who the ad is aimed towards and the message portrayed. The audience for Joe Biden’s ad are people that are against president Trump, those who care about immigration, and citizen’s who haven’t made up their mind on who to vote for in the November election. I know this because in the beginning of the ad it states about the differences Biden would make to end the chaos of the pandemic, they stated how Biden won’t lay back as a president persuading citizens to vote for him and attacking Trump’s campaign. The ad also shows the audience that Biden cares about immigration and we can see this towards the end of the ad we’re the ad illustrates that Biden cares for immigrants and portrays photos of Biden with people of all different races. The message is obvious. Joe Biden is the total opposite of President Trump, he will “end chaos” caused by the pandemic, he cares about all the people in America no matter their race, gender, etc. 

This ad does a very good job when it comes down to evoking emotions, we see this by how the ad is structured. The beginning of the ad starts off strong stating that the U.S. will have to “keep up” when Biden is in office this evokes an emotion of hope that Joe Biden will finally get us out of the pandemic. Towards the middle of the ad it evokes an emotion of inspiration, the ad states that Joe Biden “has been hit hard in life” he lost his wife, daughter, and son, although Biden was hit hard he still got up and never gave up. The ad is mixture of positive and negative, I know this because the ad gives the reader the idea of how Biden will change our nation in a better way if he is elected president which is positive. On the other hand the ad gives the reader the idea that president Trump hasn’t done enough to fight back during the pandemic, which evokes negativity towards Trump’s campaign. 

I believe that the visual of the ad is one of the most important contributions to the message. The ad illustrates Biden being active which contributes to the title of the ad “keep up” throughout the ad we see images and videos of Biden spending time and having a good time with all different types of people from all different races. This contributes to the message of the ad, That Biden will be the president that will help all people no matter their race, religion or even if their immigrants. Joe Biden’s ad uses a lot of rhetorical strategies to persuade his audience, for example the ad uses pathos which aims to create certain emotions in your audience. As stated above Biden does this through the visual’s of the ad the background music of the ad and the way the narrator describes Joe Biden. The narrator describes Biden as a man who has been hit hard by life by has gotten up, a man who will fulfill his promises to get this country out of the pandemic which is aimed to create emotions of hope and inspiration in the audience.

I personally believe the ad was successful, the ad did a very great job illustrating the main points and the structure of Biden’s campaign. The ad does a very good job explaining Biden’s background which at the same time aims to create certain emotions towards the audience. Theses are great strategies to convince your audience that you are ethical and can convince many to swing their votes towards Biden.

The audience for Bernie Sanders’ ad for the 2020 presidential campaign is directed towards Latinos. It is for Latinos because the people included speak in Spanish and Spanish-speaking people would understand and everyone who participated in the ad are Latinos. Also at the end when Bernie enters and says “approved by Bernie Sanders” there is a picture of him with AOC hands held up together. The ad’s message is that Latinos, Hispanics, have the right to vote and as citizens exercise their right to vote for Bernie Sanders in order to protect values. This ad demographics appeal to the Latino voters, to the working class, low to middle-income Latinos because of the way they’re dressed within the ad, and to the Latino immigrants who have become citizens and urge them to vote because of their vote matters.

This ad’s message is to encourage other fellow Latinos to vote since a majority of people who enter the U.S. as immigrants who receive citizenship don’t vote. He’s trying to convey the message that he’s fighting for the voiceless because essentially this is our fight. He is arguing to defend DACA, for the immigrants that made sacrifices to be in the U.S. and for a better future for our families. 

The presidential campaign ad evokes feelings of encouragement and assurance because instead of himself speaking about his stance on Latinos having a voice he puts Latinos and clips of protests to defend DACA and of Bernie Sanders rallies, essentially giving the voiceless a voice. This presidential campaign is a positive ad because it pertains to the low to middle-income class Latinos, the ones who are never heard from. It also is a positive ad because it urges other fellow Latinos to vote for Bernie Sanders giving hope to the rest of Latinos who feel they have no power to create change but this is their time to fight, not only fight for a new president but for a better future for themselves and the future generations to come. It is positive because unlike other presidential campaigns he focuses on the Latino community rather than use this particular ad to bash other presidential candidates.

The visual elements aren’t dramatized like other presidential campaigns that I have seen. He uses videos of protests regarding DACA and adds testimonies from Latinos. The clothing of the participants within the ad is dressed like working-class citizens seen in the ad. The framing focuses on each person, only one in each frame in order to emphasize the importance of just one single person’s voice. 

I believe the persuasive technique used in this ad is the use of Pathos. Bernie uses emotion to captivate the Latino community and embrace our right to vote and use it to vote for him. The ad was successful because I know I am not the only Latina who supports a candidate who supports immigration reform and wants to give back to our community.

“Movement Nv SP”

(Go to the website and click on the one that is named, “Movement Nv Sp.”)

In the campaign ad I chose it talks about how Trump knew about Covid 19 since January, but didn’t decide to take action until march. In his speeches from the video he kept saying that he is working with china and other countries and that it is under control. Based on my what I watched, I would say that the target audience for the campaign ad is people who are aware of the corona virus numbers, and people who favors a leader who takes immediate action. This ad is also negative, because it portrays Trump as a president who doesn’t know what he is saying or what he us doing. The campaign includes some clips from Trumps press conferences and his posts on twitter with the exact dates, where he is saying that is working with multiple countries including China, to keep it under control, whereas the number of cases increase globally everyday. The campaign ad also shows the exacts date that the U.S government was informed of the virus. The video uses a mixture of logos, ethos and pathos, because the ad includes news articles, news reports as well as incorporates the numbers of deaths tolls & cases everyday. The filters and timelines used makes the video feel like you are watching a documentary. However, I wouldn’t say this campaign is very convincing, its very neutral in regards to people might second guess the information and just think the person altered the information to make Biden seem like he will take immediate action against Covid 19. People also might have questions like how will Biden help fight the virus? Will Biden actually take action? Does Biden have his plan well thought out? If Trump supporters are watching this I wouldn’t think that they would be at all convinced, because like I said this ad is very neutral.

I don’t believe that there is a targeted audience with this campaign ad. There reason behind me knowing is that majority of the people shown was Biden and his relations. This is mostly a presentation of Biden as a person and what he will fight for if he is a president. He presents arguments of advancing America in many beneficial ways and at a rapid pace that it’s citizens would not even be able to keep up. This will bring strong feelings of excitement and overall joy because of the future with a subtle gleam of hope as well. It plays on the emotions of people currently going through the difficult times of today. Furthermore, this is more of a positive ad because it does speak on what society has  problems with now. Such as the current COVID spread and how to actually handle it and how to bounce back from the setbacks because of it. The visual elements on this ad plays heavily on the emotions and gives the viewer more of a emotional push towards Biden. Despite the actual message of the campaign, even the camera shots tell and show many emotions too. For example, there are many still, black and white, and even vintage videos were exhibited in the ads. The still and B&W shots were probably to show the more serious nature of Biden as they were taken when he was in debate or some type of meeting. The vintage videos were more of a flashback to Biden when he was much younger. Also, not to leave out the different cameos of other political members such as Trump. There is also a shot of the American flag panning out with the text “We the people” slowly appearing and disappearing with militia members coming shortly after the text. One thing that does not lack when it comes to this campaign ad’s visuals are the protests and big groups of people speaking for what is right. This campaign ad could of been more focus on pep rallies and revolving more around Biden but it does the exact opposite. It shows more of the people and their endless motivation for change. There are is only two real persuasive technique that were used dominantly in this campaign ad. They consist of the emotional persuasive technique Pathos and the credibility persuasive technique Ethos. I believe that my ad is successful to a certain degree. Those who are more emotionally active and trust Biden more than the opposing side would give him their entire support and focus. This would have made the campaign ad more trust worthy only because it plays on the emotions. Furthermore, Biden has been more credible than his counterpart which means ultimately people would give him more support.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C3UsWMbUpF4&ab_channel=JoeBiden

One key takeaway from Richard Staub’s “Responding — Really Responding —  to Other Students’ Writing”, is the different ways that teachers look for when reading a students comment to their classmates’ drafts. Some teachers look for comments placed in the margins right next to the drafts, while others look for letters or notes that address the draft  as a whole. One thing I will try to keep in mind while responding to my classmates’ drafts is what will be the quality of my response to my classmates’ drafts.

Anne Lamott’s, “Shitty First Drafts” and George Dila’s “Rethinking the Shitty First Draft” are two texts that are used to inform readers about the different ways to go about writing first drafts. Lamott’s way of writing first drafts is more of a freestyle type of writing, while Dila’s first draft process is more of a think it through and edit while he’s writing type of style. After reading Anne Lamott’s essay, ” Shitty First Drafts”, I realized that her mindset when writing her first drafts is very similar to mine, from the standpoint of how she let’s her mind generate everything that is written on the paper and lets her ideas come as she writes. My process of writing first drafts usually requires no intensive thinking. As I’ve continued to write throughout the years, my mindset of first drafts have transitioned to the notion of first drafts aren’t meant to be perfect. It is meant to have mistakes in the writing. That is ultimately why it is called a first draft, because it will not be the last. I’ve always found it difficult to do planning and gather ideas before starting to write a first draft. Worrying about whether what you’re writing in the first draft is perfect or not, is what tends to limit your ability to get as much as you can on paper while writing. My style allows me to get things down and revise later, which has proved to be effective in my writing and that’s something I’ll continue to do in my writing.