Rhetorical Analysis of Campaign Ad – Anupa Gulab

Feel The Bern  – Bernie Sanders

The presidential campaign ad I will be analyzing is from a former presidential candidate, Bernie Sanders. This ad is titled “Feel The Bern” which is narrated by Barack Obama. This ad was directed to those who have supported Barack Obama in the past, and those who want their voices heard. I could tell the ad was directed to Barack Obama supporters because he is the narrator and he is speaking highly of Bernie which will get the attention of those who voted for Obama in the previous elections. This ad was also targeted to minorities and other marginalized groups because a lot of people from those groups supported Obama when he was running for election.

The argument that is being made in this ad is that Bernie Sanders is a well-experienced man who has done many good things for our country before and he will fight for the people of the United States. After watching this ad I felt trust in Bernie Sanders, I think that it was because of the credibility this ad built up by having a man like Barack Obama who many trusts to narrate and speak good things about the former presidential candidate, Bernie Sanders. Another feeling this ad evokes is hope, because of the visuals being shown as Obama speaks about Sanders. There were images and videos of Bernie Sanders out speaking to the people, and him working alongside Obama. This ad was a positive ad because the message was not to bring down another running candidate, instead, it was a message to get voters to see why they should vote for Bernie Sanders and display the good things he has done and the impact he has on this country. For example, the ad listed that Bernie Sanders is an “Authentic, Passionate, and Fearless” man who “served on the veteran’s committee and got bills done” said Obama.

The persuasive techniques used in this ad are ethos and pathos; like mentioned previously, since Obama is a trusted man by many in this country, he builds credibility in the ad which means ethos was used as a persuasive technique. Pathos, however, was used in the visuals because they portrayed very positive emotions which make the viewers feel like there might be hope for this country after all. These two techniques were used very well in the ad to spread an overall very positive message and allow viewers to trust and vote for Bernie Sanders. I think this ad was very successful because as a viewer, I was able to gather a lot of information about this former presidential candidate, Bernie Sanders in exactly thirty seconds. I also found that using Barack Obama for a campaign ad is genius because of the amount of trust and credibility he holds on certain groups in the United States.