Commonplace Blog #8

Election season is almost to its much-anticipated end, and I’m here to discuss something that none of us in America can seem to escape reading; political advertisements. I’ve taken many courses throughout my education that involve dissecting and interpreting the intentions and meanings of various political ads. The fact of the matter is, politicians don’t hire a campaign team to just throw together some images and add a voice-over and call it a day. Lots of thought, care and research go into making these ads, and the intended audience is the most important party in this situation. Throughout the years, what is popular in political ads has changed dramatically. Back in the 50’s and 60’s, catchy jingles were used widely by politicians, whereas today such a thing would be an embarrassment, and cause the politician in question to lose respect and credibility. Personally, I detest political ads, solely because I can see through the facade that the ad places over the politician’s campaign being advertised. Some of these tactics to gain more voters include adding a diverse cast of extras (black, white, hispanic), in order to cater to the minorities of society, and show that they as candidates are ethnically inclusive. Although these politicians may very well be telling the truth about their policies, beliefs, and agenda, I often think there’s some serious exaggerating and white lies taking place. Point blank, I don’t use political ads to influence my political choices. Instead, I take it upon myself to research each individual candidate, in order to try and find unbiased data.