It’s that time of year again. Well, close enough. In November of 2008 the citizens of the United States will have the opportunity to vote for their next president, and they are already being bombarded with a wide variety of political ad videos to sway their decision. Most of these videos seem to use visuals to get a certain message across, also referred to as “eye candy” by Brooks Jackson and Kathleen Jamieson in their book Unspun: Finding Facts in a World of Disinformation. A good example of “eye candy” would have to be Hillary Clinton’s video “Warned.” Further dissection of this video reveals what tactics she uses to convince the audience that she is the best choice for the new president.

In “Warned”, the audience Clinton is trying to appeal to would more than likely have to be the “middle class”, and how she is going to improve our troubled economy. The video focuses on her being a “proven leader”, and able to get the job done without just talking about it. In her ad Clinton is depicted as either a “savior” or a “woman of the people” with her plans to save the economy and help create millions of new jobs for people. Three main tactics she uses in her video to get her message across would have to be background location, props, and supers and code words.

The background locations play a significant role in “Warned.” Many of the shots include several houses flashing by, going along with the phrase “two million homes may be lost.” According to the ad, because Bush is helping his friends more than the “middle class”, many homes may be foreclosed. Showing tons of houses gives the audience more of a feel for what may be lost to them. Another popular location in Clinton’s ad would have to be her campaign sites, with her fans in the backgrounds cheering and waving around her support posters. And because her ad deals with creating jobs, it shows her talking to a variety of people. It also shows many different types of jobs and their locations after it flashes at the bottom of the screen “create millions of new jobs.”

Because Clinton is trying to appeal to the “middle class”, many “middle class” or average folk are used in her ad as props. Hispanics, African Americans, and Asians are specific types of people props she uses to also influence those specific ethnic groups. Home foreclosure signs and houses are another prop in her ad. The economy is bad, and because “Bush did nothing”, Clinton is implying that many of those homes may be foreclosed. The message being sent with house and sign images is that if she were elected for president she would be able to fix the economy so the citizens don’t have to worry about losing their homes. The other major prop in the ad would have to be all of the political ad signs for Clinton. She is seen smiling and walking around in what appears to be a campaign site with many happy onlookers cheering and waving their support signs around. If these people are for her, shouldn’t you be too?

Supers and code words are used quite frequently in “Warned”. In the beginning of her video the announcer talks about the homes that “may” be foreclosed. Then it cuts to Clinton talking and at the bottom of the words “Clinton calls for reform of Federal Housing Administration.” This is one of her many plans to help improve the economy. Other words that appear in bold black that flash across a white screen are “Bush did nothing”, referring to him not acting after Clinton’s warning of homes being foreclosed. During the later half of the video her plans to improve the economy flash at the bottom of the screen, which include: “emergency economic plan, freeze foreclosures, immediate tax rebates for the middle class, create millions of new jobs.” The visuals to go along with the words include people working and her communicating with others. “More than talk” and “It’s about the people” are the last words to appear. These words tie back to the idea that Clinton is a “woman of a people” and a “savior” for the fact that she has plans to fix the economy and that she is trying to appeal to the middle class; for the people.

As seen in “Warned,” “eye candy” is a very popular tactic among politicians to sway voters one way or another. Audiences tend to pay more attention to visuals than what is actually being said in the video, and Clinton’s video is no acception. It’s more easy to follow the pictures and the bold words being flashed across the screen rather than listen to every single thing being said by the announcer.