This is the first of two new ads released by the Bush/Cheney campaign that discuss the issue of Tort Reform. Tort Reform, according to the U.S. Legal Forms website, “commonly refers to laws passed on a state-by-state basis which place limits or caps on the type or amount of damages that may be awarded in personal injury lawsuits. Those who advocate tort reform argue that limitations or caps need to be placed on damages able to be recovered in lawsuits because excessive damage awards create an oppressive tax on the cost of doing business.”

John Kerry and other Democrats have consistently voted against Tort Reform; the ad cites ten votes in which Kerry voted against these reforms. According to the Bush-Cheney ‘04 website, “ The GAO has determined that lawsuits are the #1 cause of rising liability premiums. ” The GAO is the Government Accountability office, “a nonpartisan agency that works for Congress…[that] investigates how the federal government spends taxpayer dollars.” Their conclusions can be read in the report entitled “Medical Malpractice Insurance: Multiple Factors Have Contributed to Premium Rate Increases” on the GAO.gov website.

The premise of the “Med Mal” ad is that women's health is suffering because “John Kerry and the Liberals in Congress” are allowing frivolous lawsuits to drive up the price of insurance and forcing “good doctors” out of the field. George W. Bush has been clear that Tort Reform is a major part of his agenda for the next four years, and is now explaining why. The ad thus assumes that Kerry will not work to end “junk lawsuits” since he voted “to block medical lawsuit reform 10 times.” The ad also assumes that women's health is in a state of “emergency,” and that without these reforms, women all over the country will be left with insufficient health care.

http://www.georgewbush.com/News/Read.aspx?ID=3745

Visuals

The ad begins in black and white, with a woman who is obviously distraught looking down and rubbing her forehead. The black and white images of the woman and the x-rays create a desperate visual; it is dark and gloomy and depressing. As Darrell M. West writes, “Media consultants use…grayish or black and white colors to associate opponents with a negative image” (8). The ad is associating the problems in women's healthcare with John Kerry by using dark colors to emphasize Kerry's fault in this “emergency.”

The woman is framed at the top and bottom by two thick borders, with images of x-rays faintly visible. These borders remain constant throughout the ad, framing the images and continuing the feeling of fear. The x-rays move within these borders, blurring in and out, creating an uneasy feeling. The ad is using what Nelson and Boynton describe as “camera conventions of the horror genre,” which “give viewers a queasy sense of movement and nauseating color-going for what Stephen King calls the gross-out level of horror” (55). The x-rays are essentially pictures of bones, which are not necessarily gross but do offer a creepy feeling consistent with the horror genre.

The woman in the ad is clearly wearing a wedding ring and a set of pearls, allowing her to become the image of what may be considered the average, albeit upper-middle class, woman. The image quickly switches to a room filled with x-rays, perhaps the reason why this woman is so upset. The woman's image then flashes in and out, switching quickly with images of the x-ray room. X-rays continue as the background throughout the remainder of the ad, maintaining the conventions of the horror genre.

The editing in the ad is also consistent with the horror genre, with each image quickly flashing white before the next image appears. As West writes, “Abrupt cuts from image to image create a jarring look that tells the viewer something bad is appearing before them” (9). The bad thing is that women's healthcare is in jeopardy because of “out-of-control personal injury lawyers.”

The visual text in “Med Mal” is bone-like; the letters are faded and white similar to the bones in the x-rays. The words are not straight and bold but appear on an angle, fading quickly in and out in the same jarring manner as the pictures. “Advertisers have found that memory of a message is greatly enhanced by combining visual text with spoken words and descriptive images” (West 8). The ghost-like words reflect the audio message and strengthen this message by reinforcing the feeling of horror.

As Nelson and Boynton write, describing an ad in 1992 put out by the George H.W. Bush campaign, “viewers can appreciate the spot's presentation as the evocation of a nightmare society, a place of political horrors” (63). The “Med Mal” ad is similarly portraying the world with Kerry as president as this horrible place. The harsh editing and the dark images convey to the viewer that women's health is in a state of “emergency,” and that if Kerry is elected, the emergency will get worse.

At the end of the ad comes George W. Bush's approval message, in which he is seen in full color working hard in the White House. The ad is portraying Bush as the source of hope for all of those who may be affected by the “emergency,” which Kerry helped create. By showing Bush in color at the end, he becomes the positive candidate, placing him in strict opposition to the negative Kerry.

Music and Narration

The music in “Med Mal” also serves to create an eerie mood consistent with the horror genre. The music is threatening, with a quick melody that evokes a feeling of panic. The melody resembles the sounds heard in a horror movie, most closely like that in the popular Friday the 13 th films.

The voice in the ad is that of a woman, probably because the ad is discussing women's health. As West writes, “Female narrators are used for health care ads because market research reveals that women make the preponderance of health care decisions in American households” (10). While female voice-overs are not often used in attack ads, it seems logical for a woman to discuss the health care issue especially since it directly concerns women.

The ad also uses code words to reinforce the “scary” image of Kerry as President. Describing Kerry as a “liberal” serves to associate him with other messages that may not be appropriate. “For example, West asserts, “one voter might associate liberal with fiscally irresponsible, whereas another could interpret that word as synonymous with moral laxity” (West 11). By using the code word “liberal” and combining the word with the horror images and sounds, the ad is able to enforce the message that if Kerry is elected, the world will suffer.

“The ad does not mention Edwards, but it says that Kerry and liberal members of Congress contributed to the problem by voting 10 times against medical lawsuit reform. In each case, Kerry opposed similar versions of legislation backed by President Bush that would place a nationwide $250,000 cap on non-economic damage awards.”

“The legislation has passed the Republican-controlled House but not the Senate, where the trial lawyers' Democratic allies _ including Kerry _ have been able to block it. Trial lawyers argue that there should be tighter controls on insurance companies, not on juries that may be a victimized patient's only hope for justice.”

“Kerry and Edwards say they have their own plans for medical malpractice reform. They want to get insurance companies to lower medical malpractice premiums, sanction lawyers who bring frivolous claims, and force those who bring lawsuits go before a medical specialist to make sure a reasonable grievance exists.”

“The Bush campaign argues that Kerry's plan mostly expands Medicaid. The Lewin Group, a neutral health care research company, has said that 97 percent of Americans with health insurance would keep their current plans, while about 25 million uninsured would gain coverage…

“The Lewin Group has said it was $1.25 trillion over 10 years. Kenneth Thorpe, who teaches health policy at Emory University and was in charge of financial estimates for the health care proposals of the Clinton administration a decade ago, has pegged it at $653 billion over a decade. Bush's campaign cited Thorpe's estimate in the past when it was the only analysis available.

“Kerry says he will pay for his plan by rolling back Bush's tax cuts for the wealthiest 2 percent of Americans.”

Ad Analysis

Ad Context

Visuals