Four Phases of Political Advertising and Rhetorical Purposes

Four Phases of Political Advertising and Rhetorical Purposes

Introduction

In political advertising, campaigns commonly use four specific types of phases throughout the entire election process. It is important to understand what these four phases are and how political parties use them in their campaign advertising. The four phases of political advertising are:

* Phase 1: Advertisements that contain biographical information are often intended to introduce a candidate to an audience early in a campaign.

* Phase 2: Advertisements are those that contain argument information and help to identify the candidate's positions on various issues

* Phase 3: Advertisements that attack and attempt to reduce the credibility of an opposing candidate

* Phase 4: Advertisements that show a visionary nature, and attempt to establish the candidate as a leader or one who has a vision of moving the country forward

This essay will show an example of each type of candidate political ad for each of the four phases in the 2008 Presidential election cycle, and will show how one or more of the three rhetorical purposes of political advertisements are utilized by the campaigns.

Four Phases of Political Advertising

Phase 1 of political advertising focuses on introducing the candidate to the audience. The advertisements contain information that explains whom the candidate is and what makes the candidate the person they are. Phase 2 of political advertising is the phase in which the candidate argues the main points and focuses of the campaign. The advertisements during this phase will take a strong stand on the major campaign issues and will allow the public to weigh the positions the candidate stands for. Phase 3 political advertising turns to focused attacks of the opposition and include attempts to reduce the credibility of the other party’s candidate. The aim during Phase 3 is to reduce the opponent’s credibility, thereby making the advertising campaign position its...