PARC Analysis "Guard"

President George W. Bush continues to utilize rhetoric regarding a growing economy and a safer, more peaceful America in the fight on terror as evidence of his qualifications for a second term in the White House. The Democratic National Committee has designed "Guard" to address what are often touted as the two top issues of the 2004 presidential campaign: the economy and the war in Iraq . Linking the two issues seems to be a key strategy for the ad. The sequence of images, music, and text seems to imply a correlation that allows the audience to create a causal link between the war and the economy. Moreover, the spot seduces the audience into its cadence with dramatic music, moving images, flashes of fire, and a combination of black and white and color camera shots.

The primary assumption of the advertisement is that President Bush knows he is misrepresenting and misleading the American people regarding the war and the status of the economy; therefore, he is not trustworthy. The last line of the text asks the rhetorical question: "How can you solve problems...when you won't even admit they're there?” To specifically word the question in this fashion suggests that Bush is proud, arrogant and stubborn or some version of all, because he will not acknowledge problems. The conclusion here is that he is unfit for the presidency.

This message is supported by the construction and sequence of the images shown. The central message is bolstered with specific aural and visual cues that present a graphic horror or dystopia message, which leaves the viewer with a general sense of woe and anxiety.

The creators of "Guard" construct a spot in which the viewer accepts the ad as reality based on the sequence of emotive imagery. For example, President Bush is not shown full screen, but rather in a faux television frame. This lends a formality and historical documentary overlay to the President's speech. Then, suddenly, the emotive images of war appear and flash by at a rather frantic pace. The viewer can pause briefly for another formal, mediated address by Bush; a second faux TV screen is offered as more evidence that his words contradict the problematic state of the nation. The ad flows and resonates insofar as the pathos (emotional appeals) resonates; the ad counts on the viewer's deep connection with American values (sanctity of life, family and liberty). The emotive, franticly-paced images alongside the 'objective' historical documentary shots offer the viewer the chance to buy into its overall message and implicit constructions in a sort of domino effect.

The visual story line in "Guard" is extremely emotive. The spot presents a narrative denoting that the war abroad is destroying our life at home by taking lives and affecting our economy. The explicit argument is the comparative inference between President Bush's optimistic rhetoric on the war and the economy, and the contradictory evidence which offers a competing version of reality. Meanwhile, the persuasion is enthymematic; the implicit invitation is that viewers may create a causal link between the two main issues for the 2004 Election, the war and economy.

A variety of camera movements allow for an overall feeling of anxiousness and concern, and draw attention to the few words of text that help to crystallize the ad's explicit and implicit arguments. The zoom in to the 'Mission Accomplished' sign and the newspaper articles adds emphasis and importance to these shots. When President Bush speaks in reference to the sign in the faux TV framework, the sense is that he is "on the record"; it calls the viewer back to their memory of that particular speech. After this slow draw in to the ad, the camera cuts straight away to war images flashing quickly by like a horror drama. The pace is fast enough to get a general sense of anxiety, and gives the viewer just enough visual information to take-away the mental image of the panic and destruction of war. At the end of the ad, the camera returns to a slower pace, touting the text message with wistful narration that "America can do better" over a visual of an illuminated waving flag. This affirms the viewer's presumed longing for peace, and implies that the Democrats can solve President Bush's "problems" and bring this peace to our nation.

The black and white toned (documentary-feel) photo of Bush laughing with the troops conveys that he is out of touch with the sober reality of war and is insensitive to the troops overseas because the image is accompanied by the statistic of how many soldiers had been killed to date since he previously declared the "mission accomplished" (war over). The "867 more American soldiers have been killed in Iraq" text line is shown first - in large text and center screen - and then the text reading "Cost: $100 Billion" gets fixed at the bottom of the screen, as if to casually (but very strategically) remind the viewer that the war does not just cost lives - it costs a lot of money. This subtle cue links the war and economy. Viewers might reasonably conclude that the DNC is a compassionate and pragmatic group by their sequence of visuals, which imply they value human life (first and foremost, because it is center), but also the economy and domestic implications of war.

Additionally, the colorization of the ad images are black and white when doom and gloom is messaged and colorful when the central themes are offered (Altman, 1986). Orange is the only color (in the war scenes, flames) other than flag at the end, which signifies warning or alarm. Other meaningful illuminations include soldier's wedding ring, the ending text slogan ("can do better") and the American flag because they are signals of family and faith. For instance, that soldier who wears an illuminated wedding ring connotes a family man separated from home; he is visibly distraught, with his head down in a praying position.

Aural Components

The music in "Guard" is dramatic and bold; powerful chords are consonant. The music begins with a bottomed out drum and base piano gong accompanied by an ominous strings section. At the close of the ad, wistful piano music conveys disappointment and a sense of longing for more; specifically, " America can do better."

The voice of President Bush is the sole voice heard in this ad. He narrates "Guard" with the exception of the final rhetorical question of the spot. This aural strategy allows President Bush himself to narrate his own attack ad. Implicitly, this says that he is so culpable that he can even hang himself; in other words, he has single-handedly forsaken and failed our nation .

On September 16, 2004 , the Democratic National Committee launched "Guard" and put out a press release to denote their intent in creating the ad:

"With this ad, the DNC is continuing its focus on George W. Bush's credibility problem, because it is critical for the President to guard his credibility on national security and economic issues," said McAuliffe. "He stood on the deck of the U.S.S. Lincoln with a banner behind him reading ' Mission Accomplished.' Since that Mission Accomplished photo op, more than 800 soldiers have been killed. Thousands have been injured. And we've spent $100 billion of the taxpayer's money."

"Bush has repeatedly said that the economy's getting stronger and that we've turned the corner, but since he took office, millions of jobs have disappeared. Those who have jobs are working harder and making less, and we have record deficits as far as you can see."

"Guard" features clips of George W. Bush claiming victory in Iraq and touting the strength of the economy juxtaposed with statistics that show the reality of the situation in Iraq and the lack of economic recovery."

On August 30, 2004 , FactCheck.org (a nonpartisan, non profit, consumer advocacy group) released an independent filing of the status of the United States economy. With supporting documents showing job growth by occupation and industry and average weekly earnings, they posit that the Bureau of Labor Statistics ( www.bls.org ) actually shows solid growth in employment in relatively higher paying jobs but no growth in low paying jobs. They also state that there is "good evidence that job quality has increased over the past year or more." However, this group also states that they cannot disprove Senator Kerry's claim that bad jobs are replacing good jobs.

The RNC (Republican National Committee) has dedicated a website to combating the messaging in various DNC ads. The following was said about Kerry's position on Iraq :

Kerry: We Should Increase Funding to Iraq "By Whatever Number of Billions of Dollars It Takes to Win" (NBC's Meet The Press , 8/31/03)

Reuters (9/27) reports President Bush "said he had no regrets about donning a flight suit to give his 'Mission Accomplished' speech on Iraq in May 2003 and would do it all over again if he had the chance, according to excerpts from an television interview released on Sunday." When asked "by Fox News if he still would have put on a flight suit to declare major combat operations in Iraq over, Bush replied, “'Absolutely.'” Reuters adds that when Bush "gave his May 1 speech fewer than 150 Americans had died in the war. Since then more than 900 have died." The interview "is to air on Fox's 'The O'Reilly Factor' on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, just before Bush and Democratic presidential nominee Sen. John Kerry face off in their first televised debate on Thursday." Also in the interview, Bush "was noncommittal about whether his top political aide, Karl Rove, knew in advance about ads by the group, 'Swift Boat Veterans for Truth' which attacked Kerry's military service in Vietnam."

Ad Analysis

Ad Context

Aural Components