Kim Woods

Due Wednesday 6/17/15 by 6pm

****Note: I will have a rough draft due Friday 6/19/15 by 6pm, when completing this assignment think of the ad you will choose***

Read all of the assigned readings for this week. Do any of the readings lend insight to the political ad you plan to write your paper about? Use the texts to help explain the rhetorical strategies in your ad.

In your post, post a link to your ad first. Then choose two quotes from the reading you have chosen. After the quotes, explain how the text lends insight to the ad you have chosen and how it helps you explain the rhetorical strategies of the ad.

Example:

· Pcl.stanford.edu

Quotes from “Don’t Think of an Elephant” by George Lakoff.

Quote #1

“Framing is about getting language that fits your worldview.”

Quote #2

The strict father model begins with a set of assumptions: The world is a dangerous place, and it always will be, because there is evil out there in the world. The world is also difficult because it is competitive. There will always be winners and losers. There is an absolute right and an absolute wrong. Children are born bad, in the sense that they just want to do what feels good, not what is right. Therefore, they have to be made good.

What is needed in this kind of a world is a strong, strict father who can:

· Protect the family in the dangerous world

· Support the family in the difficult world

· Teach his children right from wrong

Explanation:

In the political ad, “Time” from the 2004 presidential election, George W. Bush is framed as a strong father figure, a strategy which increases his ethos with his base audience. George Lakoff in his essay “Don’t Think of an Elephant” discusses the importance of framing, he writes “Framing is about getting language that fits your worldview.” The target audience of this ad are social conservatives. Lakoff claims that social conservatives view the role of a leader as that of a strict father figure whose role is to “Protect the family in a dangerous world.” The ad symbolically shows this in several ways.

The opening image is a metaphor— it is a picture of a rock being pounded by waves in a storm. The rock represents Bush and the storm is life’s dangers and unpredictability. This metaphor highlights Bush as a steady and reliable figure that is dependable and always there.

Later in the ad, he is shown taking a child’s hand. This also plays into the idea of the strict father whose role it is to guide and, as Lakoff explains, “Teach his children from right and wrong.” Both images enforce the dominant cultural metaphor that appeals to conservative thinkers and makes the president fit the desired worldview of his target audience, increasing his credibility in their eyes.