Monthly Archives: October 2012

Given the events of last week’s presidential debate, I thought that I would talk about the pathos evident in Obama’s new anti-Romney ad against Big Bird. This 30 second commercial is too funny. I mean the gist behind it is bad, but I feel like this is something that Saturday Night Live would have produced. Anyways, the commercial definitely has an emotional appeal. The music in the background paints a gloomy scene. The comparisons of Big Bird to people such as Bernie Madoff, also makes fun of what Romney said, how can a big, fluffy bird that has been a part of everyone’s lives be such a horrible thing. This ad could also be seen as pro-Romney to someone who wants the government to stop subsidizing PBS. This ad is just poking fun at Romney’s statement and making it into a bigger problem than it should be. I applaud the Obama campaign on trying to make a satirical ad, but it ended up just coming back to bite them in the butt. Although it was hilarious to see Big Bird be vilified, this ad was not liked by the owners of Sesame Street and they have asked for it to be pulled. Even though this ad was great, it should have been left to a comedy show to use, like SNL, Stewart, or Colbert. It clearly makes a point and all the while attacks Romney, but it has not been properly used and therefore is receiving much negativity (also this is something that the presidential candidates should be debating.) If you haven’t seen it you need to. Here is the link. Enjoy 🙂  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZxs09eV-Vc

When I think of an example of pathos I automatically think of the Sarah McLachlan video for the SPCA. To me this video is the perfect example a pathetic appeal. There are constant images of abused animals panning across the screen. All the while they are accompanied by Sarah McLachlan’s song “Angel”, which is a soft, slow, and sad sounding song. These images often are able to hit home with most people, assuming that they have a pet of their own. And just in general no one likes to see animals get hurt. This commercial has been on the TV for a couple of years now and many others that are similar have followed suit, such as the one with Willie Nelson.  Clearly, both the music and the images are used in order to make people feel back for abused animals and then go forward to donate money to the SPCA. Or it could also push them to adopt animals from the shelters as well. Another example of pathos that I have seen around is an US Army recruiting commercial. It begins by pictures of soldiers marching, climbing, and training. It also shows images of helicopters landing and soldiers in action. All of these images could go on the persuade someone to become extremely interested in joining the Army.  The music also could evoke emotions out the audience. So in all, both of these commercials have strongly charged images and music that have the ability to persuade their audience to do what they want them to do.