Analyzing Obama Campaign Ad: Ready My Plan

Running head: READY MY PLAN
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Obama Campaign Ad: Ready My Plan
Student’s Name
Institutional Affiliation

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Obama Campaign Ad: Ready My Plan
The paper analyzes of Obama Campaign Ad: Ready My Plan (Obama Campaign Ad:
Read My Plan, 2012). The ad was Obama's last message to the Americans before the 2008
presidential election. The paper starts by describing theories regarding elements and strategies of
the campaign ad (Cutlip, 2012). Furthermore, it discusses the application of the methods vis-à-
vis Obama campaign ad. In the last section, it provides a conclusion as well as recommendations
on what needs to be added to the ad.
Theories of Political in Political Campaign
Theories of persuasion and relationships
Currently, the theories of persuasion and relationships are predominantly used both
theoretically and practically. There are various publications and business periodicals revealing
how these theories are applied in practical applications. However, it is important for one to
understand how these theories apply and how they can be used. Most strategies used in such
cases involve engaging the audience in a purposive communication with the major goal of
convincing people in a way. The primary element in these theories involve change of opinion in
terms of having or lacking significant information. According to the social scientist Herbert I.
Schiller, information is power and is obtained from controllable sources in business, education
and top state leaders. This information can only reach the public through disseminators;
however, its flow is controlled by public relations professionals. Public relations professionals
make use of the combination of power and persuasion to get access and utilize the information.
Elements such as the great image battle, source credibility and audience analysis should be
considered in these theories. Based on Aristotle’s description of persuasion, he explains that
persuasion may be triggered by the audience when a speech influences their emotions. Human

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judgement in most cases varies when we are pleased and pained. Following Aristotle’s argument,
a number of ideals can be learned. First, the reaction of the hearers can be an indicator of
persuasion and secondly, the speaker must trigger some emotions among his audience.
The former U.S president Obama can be a great example of personnel who mostly used
persuasion and relationship theories in most of his speeches. He is described as a powerful
rhetoric and captivating oratory. He was able to become a national figure and a democratic
presidential nominee based on his speeches. He made passionate speeches that drew many
followers during his campaign rallies. Most people applauded him based on his campaign speech
and most believe that he is so special because of his rhetoric and oratory elements. A question
many people ask is to what makes Obama’s speeches so special compared to other figures. Most
people tend to believe that the reality that he introduces, the style he uses, his topics
argumentation and appeals play a significant role in making his speeches special. The Obama
campaign therefore elicited extensive debates not only for being the first American president but
also for possessing the power to persuade and influence people.
Rhetoric Situation
A political Ad has the following elements: Texts, author, audience, author, context, and
Kairos. The combination of these three elements is called the Rhetorical Situation. The "text" can
apply to any piece of rhetoric, not just written or spoken rhetoric. The text might be a persuasive
speech, a compelling image (like an advertisement), a physical object, or even a place. The
persuasive "texts" I am analyzing in this paper is a political campaign ad (Engberg-Pedersen,
2016). In examining a political ad, it helps to think about all three elements of the rhetorical
triangle to help us break down the ad further.

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Author: In political ads, the author is usually somewhat obscured. It is required by law to
identify who produced the political ad, which is why at the end of the ad you often hear
something like "I'm (Name of Politician), and I approve this message." It does not mean that
Barack Obama or Mitt Romney sat down and wrote the ads themselves, but they have endorsed
them, so it is safe to say that they know their content (Engberg-Pedersen, 2016). The actual
creators of the ad are a skilled team of many different writers, directors, and editors. So, when
talking about the authors of an ad, it is safe to say (Name of Politician) or (Name of Politician's)
camp, or (Name of Politician's) team is the author of the ad. Any of these statements is accurate.
However, sometimes political ads are created by groups not endorsed or directly controlled by
the candidate (Engberg-Pedersen, 2016). One needs to pay attention to who endorses the ad at
the end. Some groups that have their agenda will create political ads, and this is important to our
rhetorical analysis. Often in political ads, the very negative attack ads will be created by groups
not officially endorsed by the candidate (Engberg-Pedersen, 2016). A famous example was the
"Swiftboat Veterans for Justice" attack ads that ran against John Kerry in the 2004 Bush v. Kerry
campaign. • Swiftboat Vetera.
Audience: Who the text is directed toward is very important. Different audiences will
have different values and interests. When analyzing a political ad, one should think carefully
about who the audience is and try to think from their perspective as much as he can.
Furthermore, he has to keep in mind that the text might not be directed toward the audience
(Hoover, 2013). Is the ad targeting a specific audience? What are the values of that audience and
how does the ad play to those values? Is the audience sympathetic or skeptical? Is the ad rallying
the base or trying to win independent voters?