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Michael Pronin
Dr. Lori Bedell
CAS 137H
13 October 2014
Firms: A Play on Hypocrisy
The 2012 election saw many ads produced and enormous sums of money spend on that
purpose. In every respect, it was a tight race, with many sitting on the fence even deep into the
election. With central issues surrounding economic policy, health care, foreign policy, and
homeland security, there was much to target within ads. Furthermore, with many organizations
and groups having large stakes in the election, the ads werent coming solely from the
candidates. The result was a very interesting and volatile campaign.
During the election, Obama released an ad entitled Firms. The ad begins with Obama
walking along a front porch looking off onto the yard in a thoughtful stare. Then the scene
changes to Mitt Romney singing America the Beautiful in front of a crowd of people. The
music changes slightly, and gives a more ominous feel as pictures come on the screen of the
different things that Romney had done. Each picture is coupled with a caption mentioning his
decisions and actions, like outsourcing jobs and keeping money in foreign bank accounts. The
ad finishes with a black screen that reads Mitt Romney is not the solution and then it is
continued with Hes the problem. The ad effectively demonstrates the unpatriotic acts of Mitt
Romney through appeals to logos, pathos, and ethos through the stylistic choices made
throughout the ad.
In analyzing the piece, it is important to take a deeper look at the characters present. The
first character seen is Barrack Obama at the beginning of the advertisement. Hes seen gazing

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off in a relaxed manner on a porch, and approves the message. Then the shot moves to Mitt
Romney, who is singing to a crowd. The advertisement shows the outward personality of
Romney, focusing on his lively manner of speaking, or in this case singing to the crowd.
Moreover, the pictured Romney is a popular one, as he is seen in front of an approving crowd of
people. Of course, this isnt to say that the ad puts Romney in a positive light, but the first
glimpse of Romney sets up the juxtaposition of how Romney behaves on the campaign trial, or
on the outside, versus how he acts in reality and in the past on key issues.
Similar to how the characters are portrayed in the ad, the setting also creates a very
distinct contrast. First, Mitt Romney is seen on stage singing at a rally or a convention, in a
room full of supporters and admirers. However, the scene changes in a manner that almost
suggests that we are going behind the scenes of Mitt Romney, delving into his actual actions
rather than looking on the surface. Pictures of empty American factories and lonely streets flood
the screen, evoking feelings of solitude, demonstrating the reality that underpins outward
appearance. Setting is used very well in this piece to convey Obama's argument.
The bulk of the advertisement is made up of various images that are accompanied by
captions of Romneys actions. Complementing the music well, the pictures evoke a lonely
feeling. The first picture shows an empty factory and a caption that reads that the jobs were sent
to Mexico. Clearly, there is a very sad feeling that comes with this picture, as it reminds the
viewer of all the suffering that comes from unemployment in the United States. Continuing on
this trend, every image shown is desolate, from office buildings to streets, creating a very key
appeal to pathos. Moreover, at the end of the ad, there is a shot of Switzerland, with the Swiss
flag waving proudly over the country, while the patriotic music continues to play in the

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background. This theme continues, with a shot of Bermuda and the Cayman Islands, which
further works to show Romneys hypocrisy and appeal to pathos with unpatriotic images.
The music selection for this piece is clearly pivotal for its meaning. Showing Mitt
Romney singing a very patriotic song and then juxtaposing this with very unpatriotic acts makes
Romney seem like a hypocrite. The entire ad continues with this theme. The reasoning is to
show that what is on the surface isnt necessarily what America will get as their president. It
plays to Obamas strength, since he has already been the peoples president, and the people have
gotten to know him. Romney, on the other hand, is still all talk as far as his speeches go.
Romney singing is a representation of everything he says and it illustrate the need to go a little
deeper instead of taking him at face value. Moreover, the music changes slightly from the scene
where he is singing to the crowd of people to when the pictures begin to appear on the screen.
The song begins to sound much more hallow, with the people in the background drowned out.
The song evokes a feeling of loneliness from the audience, setting up stronger emotions over the
pictures and captions. The music choice ends up being very important to the desired emotional
response in the ad.
The style with regards to word choice of the ad is also crucial to its overall meaning.
Each statement is short and declarative. This creates a sense of undoubtable absoluteness of the
statements. Since they are all made to be facts, it builds the credibility of the ad by making the
statements short. This style side steps the possibility of misinterpretation or use of opinion by
going straight at what the implications of the actions are and how they contrast with American
ideals. Indeed, ethos was of prime consideration when establishing the style of the ad.
While style plays to ethos in this ad, presenting the statements in forms of newspaper cut
outs further establishes a reason to listen to the ad. Each caption comes with a citation from

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various credible sources, such as the Los Angeles Times and ABC News. This works to side step
the partisan issues that follow many such facts, since it comes from news outlets, which the
people trust to report the facts and the truth. Certainly news sources dont come free from bias,
but it remains as one of the more reliable mediums to find out what is actually happening in the
world. Furthermore, the mere fact that the ad includes citations, instead of empty assertions,
gives it more credibility.
While there are clear appeals to pathos and ethos throughout advertisement, the strongest
appeals come from logos. As the piece is mainly set up in a logical or pragmatic way, it isnt
surprising that the strongest force at the end comes down to logos. Like in any election, the
public has to try to decide whether what the candidate says will reflect actual actions. This
advertisement clearly shows that Romneys previous actions include outsourcing jobs, which was
one of the important issues of the 2012 campaign. This is an appeal to logos, as it demonstrates
that Romney is less looking out for the American people as he is for large businesses. Moreover,
the ad attacks Romneys personal integrity, by pointing out that he placed money in foreign bank
accounts in order to escape American taxes. Logically, this has many negative implications.
This shows that he is breaking American laws, functionally disrespecting American ideals, and
the ad cleverly shows this while he sings America the Beautiful. Furthermore, it shows his
lack of faith in America itself and that he isnt the candidate that would fight for the people, but
instead for selfish interests. This ad goes to the route of the issue, by demonstrating why
Romney is not the logical choice.
While the ad makes many rhetorical appeals, one of its strongest appeals is to the
commonplace of the importance of patriotism. The ad shows Romney singing a patriotic song
and then it demonstrates unpatriotic acts. This is something that innately would irritate an

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American, since patriotism and the homeland is so important. The advertisement doesnt need to
establish that being patriotic is important, but instead that comes as assumed. This sets up a very
powerful appeal as it shows that Romney is acting in an unpatriotic way, effectively destroying
ideals that many hold dear.
This short ad proves to be ripe with many rhetorical appeals that demonstrate why
Romney cannot be trusted. The commonplace of patriotism creates the foundation for the
egregious hypocrisy that is present in the ad, which is demonstrated through logos, impacted by
pathos, and evokes reaction through pathos. With picture and music choices playing key roles,
this ad functions as a very effective attack on Romneys character and political stance. Ads like
these surely contributed to the reelection of Obama in 2012.

Works Cited

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Obama for America TV Ad: "Firms" (n.d.). Retrieved October 13, 2014, from
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ud3mMj0AZZk