(draft)
The advertisement I chose to analyze is a YouTube ad from the National Organization for Marriage. Known for being a deeply conservative group, they are putting forward a video that encourages people to become more involved with preserving traditional marriage values by highlighting personal evidence of discrimination and complaints.
The ad is obviously targeted towards people who already agree with conservative values of marriage being between a man and a woman, so there’s no aspect that is trying to persuade people to change their minds, per se. The goals of the ad are to further polarize those who are for and against the legality of gay marriage by villainizing society for being so insensitive to these people’s beliefs.
In terms of pathos, the advertisement uses fear as a medium for communication. A lot of the dialogue involves scaring the audience with potentially disastrous (to them) situations, such as
“My freedom will be taken away” is a statement expressed by one of the actors in the ad. This organization want to make it clear that changes in this aspect of society would have a huge negative impact on the way these people currently live their lives. Another woman suggests that she’ll have to choose between her faith and her job. The point the ad is getting at is that the acceptance of gay marriage as a viable option will hurt their lives and make them have to sacrifice important aspects of their day to day lives.
