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 Better Voters... Better Consumers The television commercials of John Kerry and George Bush, though ideologically different, employ much of the same tools in making the short advertisements into complete narrative. Although the separate parts of the advertisements, such as the verbal scripts or visual images do not make complete narratives, when the observers sum together the parts of the commercial, the ads become complete narrative. In addition to forming narratives, the commercials also encourage the viewers to come to certain conclusions about the competing candidates in the election. Among the tools of persuasion the commercials use are the depiction of images and the playing of music in the background. The commercials also use different coloring of text to make some text appear pleasing and some texts to appear threatening to the viewer. These tools of persuasion, perhaps done without the viewers conscience of them, make the narratives persuasive. Hopefully, this web site will have made its readers more aware of the different types of persuasive techniques employed in campaign commercials so that when they view the next ad, they may rise above their persuasive techniques and make uninfluenced and independent decisions based solely on their own review of the facts and their own evaluations of the candidate. With this website, I am hopeful to help voters make more informed decisions in November. After designing this website, I started to watch all commercials on television with a more inquisitive eye. In doing so, I noticed that campaign commercials are just a small fraction of the numerous commercials that use the same techniques to persuade viewers. The next time you watch TV, I challenge the readers of this site to view the commercials with the same inquisitive eyes you now view campaign commercials. Do you notice music you may not have noticed before? Do you notice who is in the background? What kind of imagery are the commercials using to try to convince you to use their products? Hopefully, this website will not only make the reader a more astute voter, but a more astute consumer as well.
Copy Right Kevin Lessmann |
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