UNC-TV ONLINE:Election 2008:

10 Structural Features That Create Meaning in Political Ads

Teachers: Ask your students to read through this list and then use one of the activities: Analyzing an Ad or Analyzing a Web Site.

Candidate mythologies
When people think about a political office-holder like the President, Vice President, Governor, of Senator, they often, unbeknownst to themselves, associate mythological features to that person. Common mythologies about U.S. Senators represent them as:

Friend
Leader
Hero
Parent

These perceptions are "myths" in that they carry a lot of cultural baggage with them, but they are never true features of a president. They're used, however, to create emotion in viewers. If that face up on the screen asking for your vote is "your friend," you feel differently about him or her. If s/he's a "hero," s/he may make you feel proud or safe. If s/he's "your parent," you may feel trustful of him or her.

Myths like these are generally not spoken, but represented in images. A candidate shown with people trying to touch him, shake his hand, of clapping for him, is being represented as a hero. Shown with his family, he's obviously a parent, but he's also a parent when shown kissing babies or supporting laws that aid children. Probably the most common spoken myth is "friend." "Friend of the people," "the working man's friend," are popular ad phrases. Clasping a voter around the shoulders or a warm hand-shake visually represents "friend."

Background locations
Where the candidate is when he is shown, or where the opponent is shown to be in an attack ad, is critically important to what is being communicated. Kennedy was shown walking along the beach. Perot is almost always in a paneled den or office. Clinton is most frequently surrounded by people. Each of the backgrounds is used to communicate a variety of things about the candidate.

Props
Props are objects shown in the scenes. The most common prop is the American flag. Desks are important props. One candidate showed us a denuded tree in a desert as a prop representing what would happen if his opponent were elected. Headlines in newspapers are props used to verify statistical and factual claims ("If the newspaper said it, it must be true.") A podium is a prop, or sometimes other people serve as props. A U.S. Senate candidate in Wisconsin used a cardboard standup of Elvis as a prop!

Emotion-communicating faces
While any scene, any piece of music, any statement can induce emotion, the most common emotional device is the human face: the fear and anger in the face of teen druggie, the admiration and enthusiasm in crowd faces, babies' faces crying, fierce, uncaring expressions on the faces of opponents. All of these faces and their expressions are carefully planted in ads. A most common approach is to take the face of an opponent at its most unattractive and show that face as background for words written on the screen to indicate what awful things he has done. Faces are probably a candidate's most direct conduit to creating feelings in viewers.

Appeals
Every ad is designed to appeal to something in the viewer him- or herself. Insurance ads appeal to fears of disasters. Cosmetics appeal to personal ego. Many high-ticket products appeal to greed. Candidates appeal to feelings of patriotism, fears of such things as war, crime, loss of jobs, poor education for children and so on. Attack ads usually appeal to fear--of a variety of sorts. "You can't trust this guy." "This guy will take health benefits away from your parents." "This guy will lead us into war." And on and on. Every political ad has a central and sometimes several more minor appeals. Appeals are often what political consultants search for and term "hot buttons." Hot buttons are appeals that work very effectively with a large percent of the population of voters.

Music and background sounds
Almost all political ads use music. It's usually orchestral, stately, designed to sound inspiring to a broad spectrum of listeners. Volume of music is very important. A common approach is have a crescendo of sound at the end an ad. Background music is borrowed from horror movies when the ad attacks an opponent. Music is often fiercely patriotic-sounding.

Background noises are important and seldom consciously noticed by viewers. Sirens, traffic noise, drumbeats are commonly employed. A good way to pick up use of music and background sounds, of course, is to look away from the screen during the ad. You'll find a lot going on there that you'd otherwise be unlikely to notice.

Film editing and camera use
Slow-motion is commonly used to increase the salience of an image. Extreme close-ups increase our perceptions of importance. They're also used to emphasize emotion, evil, and truthfulness. Often the camera comes in closer to the candidate as he begins his pledge to us voters--whatever that pledge may be. Jump-cuts occur when scenes are edited together and the central figure moves suddenly from one location to another. In Dole's "Threat" ad, you can see a big jump-cut as we approach the young man represented as a druggie toward the end of the ad. Shooting from above the candidate when he's greeting a crowd provides an impression of warmth and bonding. Black and white pictures usually mean the topic is serious and, most likely, negative.

Clothing
What a candidate is wearing is carefully chosen to show the viewer something "important" about him. An expensive suit shows power, taste, authority. Shirt sleeves show hard work and empathy with ordinary people. Jacket over the shoulder shows ease, warmth, confidence. A loosened tie usually indicates the same characteristics.

Depicted actions
What the candidate is doing in a support ad and what the opponent is doing in an attack ad is important. Getting off a plane shows characteristics like international expertise and concern, familiarity and caring about the whole country, or just plain old power. Interacting with the family shows caring. Holding hands with a spouse does the same. Signing papers shows ability to get important things done. Greeting ordinary people shows popularity and caring. Speaking from a podium emphasizes power and good ideas.

In the opponent, the activity is sometimes representing as "silly" or weak. A good example is Dukakis's helmeted head popping out of the top of an army tank. The opponent is sometimes shown with an incriminating "other." Candidates are usually doing things in color. Opponents are usually doing things in black and white.

Supers and code words
Supers are words printed in large letters on the screen. They appear over a background that is supposed to exemplify whatever is represented in the super. A super says, "Pay attention to this factoid or claim." It often communicates outrage at something the opponent has done: RAISED TAXES THREE TIMES IN THREE YEARS. It often emphasizes the appeal that is being taken in the whole ad: WRONG FOR YESTERDAY. WRONG FOR TOMORROW. Supers often try to make maximum use of code words. These are words that sound simple but carry vast stereotyped and sometimes unconscious meaning for viewers. Good examples of code words and phrases include:

"values" Although it's never clear just what values are involved, the implication is that the candidate has them and the opponent doesn't.
"crime" Many argue that this word involves racial aspects for many viewers.
"welfare" Another word that is often code for race.
"yesterday" Not just occurring in the past, but too old, no longer relevant.

Esther Thorson, Graduate Dean of Journalism at the University of Missouri, has authored many studies on how people process product and political advertising.