Live Action Ad : Attack Ad Against John McCain

This commercial is an attack ad used in the 2008 United States election. It is made by the Democratic Party, with leader Barack Obama against the Republican Party, whose leader is John McCain. It is directed to American citizens who are eligible to vote in the election. This ad commits the fallacies Appeal to Tradition, Getting Personal, Shifting Ground and Black or White.

This attack ad says that McCain uses the ‘same old politics, same failed policies’. It commits the fallacy Appeal to Tradition because it is saying that McCain is ‘practicing the politics of the past’. It is also saying in a sense that since he is using this type of politics he is essentially a bad politician. The whole beginning section of this ad commits the fallacy Getting Personal. The Democratic Party is saying that McCain’s attacks on Barack Obama are ‘baseless, the low road...’ as well as saying he is using the ‘politics of the past’ which amounts to ‘failed policies’. The fallacy Black or White is also committed during this ad. It is saying that you must pick either Barack Obama or John McCain, and it wants you to pick Barack Obama. The last fallacy in this ad, Shifting Ground, occurs when the ad switches from getting personal with John McCain, to talking about all the good things Barack Obama has done and is doing.

The music in this commercial also aids this fallacy. The music when the ad is talking about John McCain is in a minor key, is gloomy and almost sounds like it would be played in a scary movie if something bad is coming or will happen. However, when the ad begins to talk about Obama, the music completely switches to sounding patriotic, happy and uplifting. The use of visuals also aids this fallacy. The visuals of John McCain always switch to black and white, always have dark tones and are of only McCain by himself. The visuals during Obama’s part are very bright and colorful, and it shows him helping others and getting involved. Text that appears in this commercial during McCain’s section is white on black to make the phrases appearing pop. During Obama’s section, the text has white lettering but is placed on a blue background. Also, Obama’s logo is placed on the screen during his section as well as a website and all of his ideas are written out on the bottom of the screen.

Overall, this ad is used to criticize John McCain for his attack ads against Obama. Unfortunately by doing this, Barack Obama is criticizing something that he is now doing himself, almost as if he is lowering himself to that level. To avoid this altogether, Barack Obama should avoid using attack ads to further his campaign.