A picture is worth 1000 words

The cliché, so hackneyed, yet so true.  At critical times in the commercials, simple pictures complete the narrative and make them convincing to nearly every type of voting American.  Bush’s “100 Days” uses both the pictures themselves and also the appearance of the pictures to help further its persuasiveness.  At the beginning of the commercial, a picture of the White House comes together in the middle of the screen.  Immediately before the announcer mentions John Kerry, the picture rips apart, as if the simple idea of Kerry in the White House is destructive.  This time, the pictures show a distraught looking man and a woman.  These pictures offer prolepsis of what the moods the American people will have if Kerry is elected and he implements his policies.  The incomplete verbal narrative becomes complete when the observer connects the images with the verbal script.  Later in the commercial, the announcer comments on Kerry’s policy concerning the war on terror, images of terrorists appear on the screen.  Most convincingly, the camera focuses directly on the eyes of one of the suspicious and dangerous person.  With this image, the commercial makes another prolepsis forward suggesting that if Kerry were elected President, people such as these would have free reign in America.  The pictures in this commercial serve as prolepsis for what the country would be like if Kerry were to be President. 

Looking further at the pictures, one notices that everybody is working on a nice day.  Imagine if the two construction workers in Bush’s “Lead” ad were working instead of in the sunshine, in the freezing cold with sleet coming down on them.  The message to the viewer would be quite different in this case.  Or, imagine if the white man smashed his cell phone on the ground instead of gently using it.  Instead of portraying a positive image of what the President is doing for the country, the ad would make the President look like a negative force on the country. 

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Both pictures are of the same person, and they both have on nearly the same suit.  However, the emotion on the face, the way the hair is done, the color of the hair and the even the quality of the picture all effect the image created in the picture.  If Kerry were to run a one minute ad saying nothing but good thinks about himself and using the picture on the left, it probably would not be as effective as a five second ad where he simply says, "I am John Kerry, and I am running for president."  Which Kerry would you vote for?

Copyright Kevin Lessmann
 2004