4 pages essay about personal writing reflection

Ad Analysis

Mirrors, Hillary Clinton

The political Ad, “Mirrors” was a campaign tool achieved on behalf of the Democrat candidate to the White House, Hillary Clinton. The ad was first aired on American television on the 23rd of September, 2016 in which the candidate was mocking the opponent Donald Trump. The ad was creatively used both in audio and visuals to depict the opponent as a villain chauvinist having no respect for the feminine gender, and should not be voted in as the 45th President of the Greater US Nation in the upcoming election on 8th of November, 2016. In the ad, it begins by Hillary Clinton extending a warm hug to a young girl with an approval message running through that particular section of the ad that somehow twists the gesture she extended for the message that was to follow (PCL Stanford University 1). Immediately, after his endorsement for the message the ad that follows heinously talked of Donald Trump negative resentments about women. In a perverted sense the ad does not necessarily talk about Clinton but rather the Republican candidate Donald Trump, in what is sound engineered of her views about women or rather the feminine gender (Detisch 1).

After the first part where Hillary endorses the message and extend an affectionate hug to a white teenager, that which is to follow is of a young African lady moving closer to stare herself in the mirror, it is quickly interrupted with that of another Caucasian girl with glasses staring herself in the mirror, and then an Asian young girl making her hair as she stare in the mirror. The gesture in their faces expresses their unhappiness/ un-contentedness/ sadness perhaps due to their physical appearances, but it is agreeable that there is a general show of dissatisfaction among them (PCL Stanford University 1). Immediately after running the three parts, Donald Trump remarks of what seem to resonate with the three particular scenes is run on the background. Trump is shown uttering despicable insults in a gesture that is believed to allude to the three ladies shown before in the ad.

The ad ‘Mirrors’ has effectively deployed the use of ethos to appeal to the voters about the characters of Donald Trump, as despising women in the video. As the ad continuously runs Trumps is heard hurling incessant abuses towards the feminine gender showing contempt and disgust at feminine physic with the video motions flipping through images of more young girls staring at their bodies in front of the mirror. These remarks believed to be made by Republican Candidate are rather conspicuous and attention grabbing. Furthermore, the look on the faces of the girls played through in the 30 seconds video show of girls running through some kind of emotions and suggestively of negative thoughts. Whereas the girls do not express themselves in the clips one can feel the negative energy of Trumps insults running in the background resonating to their emotions (PCL Stanford University 1). Also, the clip features one of the interviews attended by Trump where in the real footage by CNN was allegedly referring to Mrs. Rosie O’Donnell a famous feminine figure. Donald Trump in her response to the interview question referred to her as being ugly and with a fat face. Also, the ad feature a clip from another of Trumps interviews where he was asked if he had any respect for women and he retorted, “…I cannot say that either”. All these sections of the ad seek to relay to the voter about the ethos (ethics)/ credibility of the character they were seeking to vote for in the upcoming election (Ahlquist 1). This was a juxtaposition relayed by the clip for the audience to ponder whether Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton was the rightful president to trust with the welfare of the American women and daughters.

The clip runs Trumps harsh resentments as the ladies look themselves in the mirror emotionlessly. This is one area that the ad has effectively deployed the use of pathos to appeal to its audience/ viewers. Mirror as an effective title provides a reflection of what the candidate (Trump) thinks of the ladies staring themselves in the mirror versus what the ladies feel of themselves (Kronke 1). The words of insults running through the background somehow allude to the reasons for their depression, i.e., the insults are addresses them and their physicality, as they stare themselves in the mirror. The video also plays rising and falling intonations of the piano to ride through the emotions of the listener. Also, the girls used in the ad are from different background to expresses the unbiased nature of the insult hurled towards women of all background. The choice of words/ insults used in the video further invokes feeling of insecurity and lower esteem to the girls. For example, words like, “…she eats like a pig,” or even “…her fat ugly face…,” and “she is a slob,” all are expression deployed to appeal to the conscious of the voter (PCL Stanford University 1). The choice of words used is intentional to incite emotional appeal aimed at informing the voter of the characters persona. Donald Trump is well known for his unforgiving, incompatible, and unapologetic style of expression/ language. From the video he makes several comments about women not having a good body/ physic/ appearance, and even utter despicable words about women body parts, “she does not have a good body,” “…she has a fat…”. It is from such choice of words that the video seeks to taint the image of the opponent and question his credibility to assume the most powerful office in the land.

For logic appeal the ad ‘Mirrors ‘seek to achieve is to cast doubt among pro-supporters of Trump to reconsider their commitment and persuade them to vote for Hillary Clinton as the better candidate. As can be seen in the video there is a Caucasian girl looking at herself in the cars side mirror and on the tone and insults of Trump in the background she is about to cry (Kronke 1). This adds another appeal to the video needing the voter to sympathize with the girl who is negatively insulted by Trump in the background. The ad was essentially asking whether that was the best president to lead over the daughters of many American families. The audience are made to believe that Trump hate women especially young girls. This is symbolical to entrusting the future of younger feminine generation in uncouth and loathe character, Trump (Ahlquist 1). The logic of the ad was to influence the American voter to decide whether after running of the video, Donald Trump was the best candidate for the office of the president (PCL Stanford University 1). This is because the American philosophy has a very strong position about familial values. From the video, several of Trumps comment is vitally used to invoke voters’ conscious, especially to woo female voters to reconsider the attitude of such a candidate towards the feminine voters. Therefore, the ad was critical in addressing the American families who were also the voters to consider placing their hands in the safest pair of leaders, i.e., Hillary Clinton and the running mate, Tim Kaine (Detisch 1).

In the ad “Mirrors” it is used as an effective campaign tool to persuade voters against voting for Donald Trump in the 2016 election. The ad effectively used ethos, pathos, and logos, to make an appeal about Trump character and the style of leadership that was not appealing to a feminine voter (Kronke 1). The 30 second clip is filled with Trump incessant insults that are a tactful strategy to invoke audience emotions on making decisions likely to compromise the lives of their daughters. The ad is vocal about the rights of children especially those of feminine gender in the greater American society. It aims to spark inquisitiveness and moment of self-reflection among American voter to reconsider the character of their presidential candidates (Ahlquist 1).

Work Cited

Ahlquist, Meghan. "Presidential Campaign Ad Rhetorical Analysis". Prezi.Com, 2019, https://prezi.com/ofyiefvunlhd/presidential-campaign-ad-rhetorical-analysis/. Accessed 6 Oct 2019.

Detisch, Aj. "The Definitive Guide To Ethos, Logos And Pathos". Studiobinder, 2019, https://www.studiobinder.com/blog/ethos-pathos-logos/. Accessed 6 Oct 2019.

Kronke, David. "Rhetorical And Visual Analysis Essay". Ilopez7english1311.Blogspot.Com, 2019, https://ilopez7english1311.blogspot.com/p/rhetorical-and-visual-analysis-essay.html. Accessed 6 Oct 2019.

PCL Stanford University, Library. "Mirrors | Hillary Clinton". Youtube, 2019, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vHGPbl-werw. Accessed 6 Oct 2019.