Agree or die..

This ominous and slightly ridiculous political ad is credited to Personhood USA and is titled “The Pro-life Tea Party Vote.” It is quite obviously pro-life and was created in support of Amendment 62, “The Personhood amendment.” The creators of this ad want America to ban abortion and want us to think we are bad Americans for allowing it for this long.


First of all I have to mention the music in this ad. It sounds like the music one would hear in the trailer for a really intense movie. By using music like this the audience is probably first drawn to it because they think it is a movie trailer and by the time they realize it’s just someone shoving antiabortion ideas down their throat it’s too late s they might as well just watch it.


The use of vocabulary in this ad is clearly to make the viewer feel a certain way. It begins with a quote by Thomas Jefferson, “The care of human life and happiness and not their destruction is the first and only legitimate object of good government.” By placing this quote large on a dark background focuses the eye to it and sets the tone for the ad. They also used terms like “decline of America” and “..you have a chance to stop what we started..” They refer to the supreme court as “men in black robes plotted,” and said they “legislated their corrupt ideas from the bench.” They never use a positive statement in the entire ad.


Finally the use of symbolism drives people to feel a certain way. While the grim reaper is fading to Obama it says “the Angel of Death arrive and Hell followed with him.” They also fade Obama’s face to the Joker from Batman. I don’t even think that needs an explanation... By creating such a dramatic ad they want people to appreciate their message and do what they want. This ad never once says a positive thing about the view of the other side. I think I would appreciate ads much more if they took time to at least mention the other side’s view in an honest way. If their ideas are that much better they should be able to mention the other side and respond to it in a way that proves their idea is better.
-Lauren Oliver 
(video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_Os0cwpCQE&feature=player_embedded )