Ad Analysis

The ad assumes Kerry's voting record in the Senate is not in alignment to his campaign platform and rhetorically examines Kerry's vote against funding for troops in Iraq . The bill included measures that the ad says will "include money for body armor, higher combat pay and better health care for reservists and their families."

The ad begins with Bush's endorsement, “I'm George W. Bush, and I approve this message,”then evolves into a negative visual and verbal message against Kerry. By the end of the spot, the president's image may fade in the audience member's memory. This is common for ads that are considered negative because of a now mandatory stipulation that candidates must appear in their ads.

"Troops" Visuals

The ad's visuals utilize split screens throughout its 30 seconds.

At first, symbolic images of Congress and troops in combat roles are opposite a black background where the main messages appear in white print. The print attaches an ethos element to the message by making the statement seem more official while the grainy combat shots of troops evoke an emotional appeal or pathos. At 15 seconds, the ad makes use of the entire screen for a black and gray vertigo-esque background while the, now familiar, white print drives home the main message: "John Kerry Votes...NO".

Even the font size increases to a visual crescendo that is NO.

Now, the screen splits into thirds while a grainy picture of a troop seems to rip into three pieces that are replaced with the mantra visual, "John Kerry votes... NO".

The ad uses the same visual, combat troops ripped apart in thirds, for each of the three main messages which are that Kerry's vote against the Iraq funding bill translates into a vote against body armor for troops, higher combat pay, and better health care for reservists and their families.

http://www.georgewbush.com/KerryMediaCenter/Read.aspx?ID=3489

Ad's Audio

The ad begins with the president's verbal approval of the message, but is quickly handed over to a female narrator. Her voice is authoritative and accusing while talking about Kerry, but docile and kind while discussing the troops.

Briefly, a male voice is heard as an ominous reverberation to announce, “Mr. Kerry.” The female follows up with "NO" referring to Kerry's vote.

The background music for the ad escalates and intensifies throughout the spot. The pitch gets subtly higher, and the tones evoke a sense of foreboding as in most horror genre ads. An official sense of the military is brought to mind as quick snare taps are dispersed. The music then crescendos to lead the audience to the final note.

Nearing the end of the ad, the female's reoccurring no has now dropped in tone to a scathing growl. Her final announcement that John Kerry is "wrong on defense" serves as the verbal reinforcement to bold the visual text.

Combining Audio and Visual

The image presented of President Bush is almost gentle at the beginning of the ad, both visually and verbally. He walks in front of, what appears to be, a part of the White House, and the footage utilizes soft lighting that produces a film-like quality scene. He is seen talking to young looking men with a kind and fatherly expression, and finally he is shown nodding in agreement while apparently listening attentively to someone else speak.

From there, the audience is eased into the negative attack with an inspiring shot of the Capitol building in Washington , DC as the female narrator switches the topic to the importance of congressional votes.

To subtly impart the notion that John Kerry is bad for the U.S. military, during the brief seconds Kerry is seen, he is opposite a dull, fuzzy, grayish picture of U.S. troops standing sporadically in the desert with their backs to the audience.

In the previous frame, there was a different picture illustrating the U.S. troops. It was in color, and showed a seaman giving an energized “go” signal to a fighter aircraft launching from a carrier. Mythically, the placement and nuanced differences in these images may suggest to the audience that Bush's platform and prior leadership is healthy and brings color to troop morale while the possibility of a Kerry administration looks bleak for U.S. troops who would turn away in despair.

The narrator goes through each of the ad's three main messages while symbolically ripping the image of healthy, able-bodied troops into thirds. To illustrate the last main point, a female troop is shown giving her family a final embrace before boarding a bus. The image is the last one to be ripped into thirds as the narrator infers that Mr. Kerry would not be in favor of better health care for the family shown, but the ad does not say so directly.

The ad strongly suggests, mythically and aurally, that by supporting President Bush, you are also supporting the U.S. military. To support Kerry would achieve the opposite effect.