Commercial Blog

In APUSG, we recently made campaign commercials to support our mock elections which are coming up shortly. Mr. Adamak asked us to choose a commercial other than our own and analyze it based on a set of criteria. I chose to analyze the commercial for the conservative "Rossi/Kelley" campaign.

This entire commercial centered on humor and mudslinging. While Peter insists that he didn't do anything, that I did most of the talking, the goal of the commercial was not political persuasion, it was attack. The commercial was extremely funny in its use of short video clips of me, all taken out of context, and used its mudslinging in a humorous way. The commercial could also be classified as a contrast ad, contrasting clips of me that cast me in a negative light with stoic images of Peter cast against the lake.

The humor of this piece is its sole benefactor, luckily for its creator, it has plenty. Despite its humor, the expression of political views was seriously lacking, with the only political discussion being the "platform based on principles such as perseverance and self-reliance." Are you kidding me? That sounds like nothing, it says nothing. My commercial may not have been the most political, but it certainly addressed more than 'perseverance'.

I give this commercial a five out of ten. Although it was highly funny, it seriously lacked in the addressing of serious issues or anything, for that matter; it would have been much better suited as a "Roast of Michael Olson" than as a political commercial. Plus the fact that I find it irritating that video of myself taken from a video that I graciously donated time outside of school to help Peter with ended up being used against me for political gains. While this commercial would not sway me for its lack of anything political, I fear its humor may woo a large percentage of the voting populace.