Ad Analysis Cardin "People"

First aired on August 31, 2006, "People" is among the earliest ads rolled out by the Ben Cardin for U.S. Senate campaign. Cardin's bid for the U.S. Senate is built on his foundation as an incumbent in the U.S. Congress, representing the state of Maryland and the Baltimore region in particular. Congressman Cardin's early campaign ads seek to reacquaint voters with his record in Congress and to project the continuation of his efforts on behalf of Maryland voters in the Senate. Representative Cardin's initial ad roll out situated Ben Cardin as a man of all the people with extensive experience and an established record of working in the interests of "minority" Maryland voters.

"People" is a 30-second spot featuring eight Maryland voters making positive claims of what Ben Cardin has done and will do for the people of Maryland . The race, class, and gender demographics of this ad are key to understanding how the Cardin campaign constructs Rep. Cardin and his target audience or voter base. The ad is a virtual dialogue between the people in the ad and viewers at home. The speakers at once address and represent the home viewership, thereby including the viewer in an intimate conversational space with those featured in the ad and the candidate, Ben Cardin (Nelson and Boynton, 1997, 212). By featuring endorsements by presumably middle and working-class white women and men and working or middle-class African American men, "People" becomes a roster of Cardin constituents. In a race where voters of any class or race cannot be guaranteed to vote along party lines, "People" serves to establish early on in the campaign that the Cardin constituency is diverse.

"People" also establishes Ben Cardin as an affable, albeit awkward, populist advocate. The ad constructs Representative Cardin as a peer of working class Marylanders. It also accesses mythologies of the candidate as a "regular guy" with whom the constituency can identify. "People" also signals for the viewer that Ben Cardin is accessible and "friendly." This is achieved by aural and visual cues rooted in the informal. This informality with which the citizens discuss Cardin, as well as Cardin's performance of relaxed, no nonsense humor contributes to constructing Ben Cardin as a friend of the people.

"People" opens with Dorothy Gischel, a seemingly white woman, speaking directly into the camera. She states very simply, "Times are hard, and Ben gets that." This shot establishes several visual and oral rhetorical practices that are carried throughout the ad. By asserting that Ben Cardin "gets" that times are hard, Gischel signals to Maryland voters, especially working class voters, that Ben Cardin is a sympathetic candidate in touch with the lives of Maryland voters. This begins a pattern of testimonials whereby seemingly working-class Maryland voters attest to Ben Cardin's record of having sympathy for and working on behalf of voters. Such appeal to working class voters is carried through the testimonies of Carl Tuvin, a white, older man who testifies to Cardin's advocacy for better health care. A younger white woman, Ashley Peddicord, appears later in the ad and directly holds Ben Cardin responsible for her being "able to afford college." White women are significant in "People" for multiple reasons. On one level, women often bear the brunt of economic marginalization in the United States , as historically they earn less than most men (Andersen and Collins, 2006, 73). Thus, the three white women speak directly to other female voters as well as symbolize the most economically vulnerable of Maryland workers.

Another significant testimonial features Leonard Green, an African-American man, stating directly into the camera: "Ben's fighting for our jobs." Mr. Green is the only person in the ad to use the collective pronoun, our, which is significant because the "our" Mr. Green works on two levels to construct the Cardin constituency. First, the "our" implies working-class Marylanders, like factory workers in Baltimore , who are experiencing layoffs. Second, because Mr. Green is Black, the "our" works to signify African Americans as well. At the time the ad was aired, Congressman Cardin's most viable opponent in the primary was Democrat Kwesi Mfume, former head of the NAACP. His projected Republican opponent was Lieutenant Governor Michael Steele, the first African American to hold a statewide office in Maryland (Fisher, 2006). In light of Mfume's popularity, as well as Michael Steele's projected appeal to a racial cross section of the voting public, Ben Cardin's campaign must directly address African Americans early on.

The word "real" is used often in the ad. This realness also works on multiple levels to construct the constituency. In the middle of the ad, white text moves across a black background that reads, "REAL PEOPLE REAL RESULTS." The real people to whom the ad is referring are the working-class, every-person in Maryland . The real results refer to Cardin's established track record of advocating for legislation focused on making tough times less difficult for those in Maryland . However, the key appeal of the trope of realness is that it portrays (or implicates) Cardin voters as "real," unpretentious, common people with a non-nonsense appreciation of effective political work. The realness of the people is reflected in the ad's inclusion of the names of each speaker. The inclusion of the names on the lower left hand side of the screen gives viewers an indication that these are actual Maryland voters. This signals a degree of transparency and authenticity as well as a familiarity. The authenticity of the people who endorse Rep. Cardin directly contributes to the viewers' sense of Cardin's own authenticity.

"People" also serves to reacquaint the Maryland public with Representative Ben Cardin. It works to make Ben Cardin familiar, authentic, straightforward, and effective. It does so by framing Rep. Cardin in intimate terms. It then clues the viewers into his emotional authenticity. Finally, Cardin is constructed as a mythic common sense individualist whose straightforwardness indicates his focus on advocating for the "real" Maryland voter.

A significant strategy repeated throughout "People" is the use of Rep. Cardin's first name by the people giving testimonials. Each of the eight Marylanders refers to Rep. Cardin as "Ben." This gives viewers the impression that Rep. Cardin is known by the people in the ad and therefore knowable by the viewers. By referring to him as "Ben," the ad distances viewers from his ties to government. The use of his first name allows for an informal appreciation of the candidate. The use of the first name also creates the illusion of intimacy through verbal familiarity which "… emphasizes you-talk as well as I-talk, addresses experiential, rather than abstract matters, avoids impersonal commands, and so on" (Hart, 1994, 29).

The rise of television as a primary source for voters to get to know candidates has created a political landscape where voters want to feel and know candidates personally and intimately. This has also led to what scholars refer to as a "feminized" rhetorical style which relies on personal and emotional disclosures couched in the language of relationships (Hart, 1994. 31). This feminization comes from the trope of women as inherently more emotionally attuned (whereas men are often perceived as more "logical"). Thus, when Terri Trupp says, "Ben does more than care he makes a difference," her feminized position of an arbiter of emotionality testifies to Rep. Cardin as a man who is emotionally grounded as well as politically efficacious. While Rep. Cardin does not emote or make overt revelations about his emotional ties to the people of Maryland, Terri Trupp - a woman - vouches for him and acts as an emotional surrogate of sorts.

Despite the fact that Cardin has been in office for 40 years, the conventions of campaigning for office require that he constantly assert that he is innovative, and different from his colleagues, opponents, and even his own record (Edelman, 1988, 49). To do this, "People" frames Rep. Cardin as a man who works on instinct to advocate for the common people of Maryland . This is further supported by the testimony of one of the African American men, Kelton Addison, who says, "Ben had the guts to vote against the war." This constructs Ben Cardin as an innovative man, set apart from other representatives currently in the House as well as his future colleagues. The Washington Post illustrates this by claiming that Representative Cardin's tenure in the legislature is characterized by "…tough-minded independence" ("Ben Cardin for U.S. Senate," 2006).

As Representative Cardin is constructed as a common man, he is also depicted as a man who does not take himself too seriously. Cardin is shown standing in what looks like a typical working-class Maryland neighborhood. He is in the center of the frame in a blue buttoned down shirt and a yellow tie. He is not wearing a suit, and he speaks directly into the camera. This helps construct him as a straightforward, plain looking and plainspoken man of the people. Arguably, the high point of "People" is Congressman Cardin's feigned offense at the claim that he is not "flashy." The camera shows Cardin, right of center in the frame, crossing his arms and saying, "Who says I'm not flashy." The music then picks up and the text "REAL PEOPLE REAL RESULTS" comes onto the screen. Rep. Cardin's awkward delivery of the quip only serves to reinforce that he is indeed not flashy and, in fact, so straightforward that he is his own straight man in a joke about himself. Jokes are about delivery, and delivery is tied into a person's embodiment and their relate-ability (Nelson and Boynton, 1997, 90). Rep. Cardin's ability to poke fun of himself makes him seem even more sincere (Nelson and Boynton, 1997, 71).

"People" is underscored by upbeat music with prominent piano and guitar. The music is unobtrusive and pleasant, and punctuates each speaker's statement. The up-tempo music crescendos after Cardin's "Who says I'm not flashy" joke, to reiterate the jocularity of the moment. This soundtrack, best described as Muzak, works to keep the tone of "People" light and inoffensive (Nelson and Boynton, 1997, 131). The inconspicuous music allows viewers to glean emotional cues from the speakers rather than the soundtrack.

The ad is cast in neutral to bright tones. Significantly, all of the women are shot in soft light, making them seem softer. All of the testimonials are classic "talking heads," which reinforce the feeling that the viewer is in conversation with the people in the ad.