Rhetorical Analysis Of Obamacare: More Than A Glitch Campaign
More Than a Glitch
Many political campaign ads are full of logical fallacies and metaphors which contribute to a candidate’s downfall or success. In fact, they are known for it. It is often rather easy to manipulate people to vote a certain way by using deceptive persuasion or making metaphorical comparisons. When trying to persuade someone else to adopt a position, these rhetorical tools contribute to the overall purpose of each campaign. The video campaign, “Obamacare: More Than a Glitch,” is a perfect example of this.
“Obamacare: More Than a Glitch,” was a campaign ran by The Heritage Foundation in 2013. The Heritage Foundation is a forty-one year old institution which promotes conservative ideas and values. “The Heritage Foundation …show more content…
It uses almost the exact same video, only the narration as well as the content of the computer screens shown are humorous in the way that mocks Obamacare and the negative impact that it has on the people of the United States. “Get Covered” is an ad that was released about a week prior which promotes Obamacare through the use of emotional manipulation and metaphors. There are multiple images of families shown as well as a single woman with her young baby all saying as well as text showing “We’re covered.” Jib Fowles explains this use of these images best in this excerpt from Common Culture: “And that is the immediate goal of advertising: to tug at our psychological shirts sleeves and slow us down long enough for a word or two about whatever is being sold” (1). These psychological tugs are done through the manipulation of emotions. Every single image and person used in this video serves a purpose which supports this. They were chosen to appeal to single mothers, teens, families, and couples. Each group is shown saying, “We’re covered.” These appeal to Fowles’ emotional advertising appeals especially number three: “3. Need to nurture. Akin to affiliative needs is the need to take care of small, defenseless creatures, children and pets, largely” (6). Every parent has the natural urge to want to protect their family and children. These emotional tugs were chosen perfectly for a health insurance commercial and to entice viewers to want to sign
Many political campaign ads are full of logical fallacies and metaphors which contribute to a candidate’s downfall or success. In fact, they are known for it. It is often rather easy to manipulate people to vote a certain way by using deceptive persuasion or making metaphorical comparisons. When trying to persuade someone else to adopt a position, these rhetorical tools contribute to the overall purpose of each campaign. The video campaign, “Obamacare: More Than a Glitch,” is a perfect example of this.
“Obamacare: More Than a Glitch,” was a campaign ran by The Heritage Foundation in 2013. The Heritage Foundation is a forty-one year old institution which promotes conservative ideas and values. “The Heritage Foundation …show more content…
It uses almost the exact same video, only the narration as well as the content of the computer screens shown are humorous in the way that mocks Obamacare and the negative impact that it has on the people of the United States. “Get Covered” is an ad that was released about a week prior which promotes Obamacare through the use of emotional manipulation and metaphors. There are multiple images of families shown as well as a single woman with her young baby all saying as well as text showing “We’re covered.” Jib Fowles explains this use of these images best in this excerpt from Common Culture: “And that is the immediate goal of advertising: to tug at our psychological shirts sleeves and slow us down long enough for a word or two about whatever is being sold” (1). These psychological tugs are done through the manipulation of emotions. Every single image and person used in this video serves a purpose which supports this. They were chosen to appeal to single mothers, teens, families, and couples. Each group is shown saying, “We’re covered.” These appeal to Fowles’ emotional advertising appeals especially number three: “3. Need to nurture. Akin to affiliative needs is the need to take care of small, defenseless creatures, children and pets, largely” (6). Every parent has the natural urge to want to protect their family and children. These emotional tugs were chosen perfectly for a health insurance commercial and to entice viewers to want to sign