Watching this video, one would be hard-pressed to think of HRC as anything other than a supremely trustworthy presidential candidate. Here we have diverse constituencies represented–among them a self-professed nerd, young girls, a Bernie supporter, the elderly, immigrants, and LGBTQ–all painting Clinton as a no-brainer choice. Listening is depicted as a virtue early on in the video, and at the end, a couple mentions that they trust her “because she trusts us,” alluding to the rhetorical move of building the audience’s ethos rather than her own. So is this video effective at dissipating the aura of untrustworthiness that some would say surrounds her image as a politician? If not, how?
As an aside, I love that the video creators had to insert the same shimmying clip of her twice, presumably because they were at a loss for other appropriate footage of her dancing or otherwise letting loose.
Hillary Clinton and Beyond 
I love this video, but then again, I love Hillary. This is an emotionally-charged pro-Hillary/pro-trustworthy video, and as you point out, absolutely plays on the audience ethos. The production is celebratory, whimsical, and peppered with signs showcasing adjectives like “tenacious” “compassionate” and “consistent” to describe both her character and presidental attributes which = trustworthy. The inclusion of varying degrees of Hillary supporters from all stripes allow for a broader gendering of the words used to describe a female candidate, and cuts against some of the sexist and hateful rhetoric we’ve encountered about HIllary in recent and distant past like “nasty” “crooked” and even “unrelatable”. In a visceral way, the video challenges some of these less benevolent notions through its ‘relatable’ cast of characters.
Given the issues Hillary has had with young voters, those “Bernie or Bust” peeps, I wonder if this video isn’t a target for them? I’m not sure how the video is being circulated, but my guess is that the inclusion of certain constituents are strategic in getting these ‘iffy’ voters, even still.
To address the “If not, how?” question posed by yimchristina it’s undeniable that large swaths of folks still think she’s compromised ethically, given the resurgence of the email debacle and what I strongly feel is the FBI’s blatent lack of ethos by its own leaks and involvement in partisan politics.
That said, will the younger voters go for the ‘safer’ HIllary or vote in the way of the radical (conjectured by clogan in “Hillary Clinton’s Breakout Moment at Wellesley”)
“….does radical change only truly occur when the system itself is attacked and overthrown?”
Who is the target audience of this video? I assert the video is for the Bernie youth vote. Can they be swayed, or are they tired with established, elite politics, and how does the video address this? It doesn’t, but what it does brilliantly is cast the video with people that the Trump campaign tends to alienate.
PS The shimmy is priceless!
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Hi petscortnyc,
Agreed – the video targets young voters, likely left-leaning millennials who EITHER a) live in swing states and must be reminded to register/vote OR b) are Bernie-or-Busters/3rd-party-voters. Members of the latter group almost certainly believe that ” . . . radical change only truly occur[s] when the system itself is attacked and overthrown.” That’s why they rallied behind Bernie in staggering numbers. And, unfortunately, that’s why a good portion of them are voting third party – either the libertarian, Gary Johnson, or champion of the Green Party, Jill Stein. But, as anyone with an Internet connection knows, a third party vote is a vote for Trump… talk about radical change. To most Democrats, Trump is dangerous. Hillary is safe. The choice is obvious, whether you like her politics or not. To a wave of millennials, though, both candidates pose unprecedented dangers to both America and the world. In other words, this video targets voters who find Clinton more threatening than Donald J. Trump. Sadly, I have a feeling that this video will only further convince them of her falseness.
Thanks for reading.
~ BH
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Hi yimchristina,
I think this video relies on coded visual rhetoric to convince viewers of Hillary Clinton’s trustworthiness. Some of these strategies seem hackneyed, overdone, and stiff, while others seem somewhat more successful, perhaps prompting viewers to register as Democrats and vote for Hillary Clinton.
The first successful visual-rhetorical strategy was to instruct subjects to face the camera head-on rather than from the side or an angle. They look directly into the camera, bodies open to the viewer. This gives the speakers and video an aura of credibility and – crucially – trustworthiness. You can’t trust Clinton if you can’t trust her most ardent, dedicated supporters.
The second successful rhetorical strategy is the over-representation of girl children. Not only do they symbolize American women’s promising future under the first female president, but they are also the most dynamic, interesting speakers, responsible for any and all authentic vibes .
The third successful strategy is the diverse range of subjects – to quote you, “a self-professed nerd, young girls, a Bernie supporter, the elderly, immigrants, and LGBTQ.” This hammers home Clinton’s core message: that she’s a unifying force, representing all the groups that Donald Trump has so flippantly alienated.
The fourth and final successful strategy is the background, which alternates between solid stills of cool, energized colors and black-and-white pictures of Clinton’s face in the background. These blown-up pictures render her larger than life, yet never detract from the on-camera subjects. To be fair, it DID feel like subliminal messaging at times. I had trouble focusing on two competing visuals – to fully absorb the speaker’s words, I couldn’t look at Clinton’s picture, even though I could sense its presence.
The first UNsuccessful visual-rhetorical strategy was the distracting camera movement. It moves, pans, or tilts if the subject isn’t dynamic enough on his or her own. This seeks to liven up any “duds,” artificially matching visuals to audio. I think the director/s were pushing their luck by asking everyone to do a little dance – even the kids look a bit uncomfortable. Most of the adults look downright awkward, even annoyed.
The second unsuccessful rhetorical strategy was to force subjects into faux-conversation with one another. They were probably trying to foster a sense of community, of spontaneity; still, most of these conversations seem quite forced. I wouldn’t be surprised if we’re watching pairs of complete strangers who happen to have something similar to say about Clinton’s merits.
Given the above analysis, I agree that the campaign video ATTEMPTED to augment Clinton’s ethos. But, let’s be honest – this video isn’t targeted toward Clinton supporters. It’s targeted toward black and Latino voters, Independents, Bernie Bros, disenfranchised Republican women, and those who are convinced their vote doesn’t count. I’d hazard that this video is being targeted toward swing voters online, or aired in swing states – Pennsylvania and Ohio, Florida and Nevada – during the campaign’s final stretch. For Clinton supporters, this video builds on pre-established ethos. For undecided voters, the most this video does is employ pathos, perhaps convincing viewers that Clinton is, in fact, a human being (cc: cute children).
At this point, we can assume that the majority of undecided voters are somewhat cynical. Anyone who watches this video with a prying eye can see that it’s a lukewarm attempt at counteracting the widely-circulated, widely-FELT claim that she’s untrustworthy. Having each subject attempt an awkward dance and say “I trust her” is a lot like Clinton’s shimmy during the first debate: desperate, and performed under pressure.
Thanks for reading.
~ BH
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I think you really pin-pointed what worked about this video and what didn’t. I wanted to add on to an unsuccessful strategy. The video is meant to incite confidence and trust in Hillary, but does not address any of the reasons why people do not trust her. As someone who has already cast my vote for Hillary it made me worry about what they might be trying to gloss over or avoid. It felt like they were trying to drive the point home a little too hard…
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This feels like an advertisement for Old Navy or any other mall-based clothes retailer where you see all types of consumers smiling and sporting brand-name clothing. Now I certainly trust Hillary MORE than I trust Donald Trump because he’s been proven in the act lying innumerable times but do I think this advertisement effective at building trust in others?
The video is moreso a feel-good collage of praise that is fitting and counters many of the pestilent remarks that are levied against her but does little to support the claims outside the use of several photographs. If I were to share this on my Facebook feed, certain individuals from cousins to outsiders would retaliate by citing instances such as warmongering, reverting on stances and EMAILS and I would have two instances from the video to cite back to to say that she is for the people.
Thinking about what Trump said this weekend about not needing Jay Z or Beyonce to fill his audience, I wonder what this advertisement could possibly look like if it were for him. Are there even these pop-culture infused ads featuring hipsters, women, foreigners and children for Trump? He bashed Hill recently on investing tons of money into advertisements and meanwhile, Trump has achieved cult status off of economic legacy, spiteful tweets and a subjective-hashtag-based slogan for around a year now.
By all logic, Hillary is undoubtedly the better candidate so what is it about her that doesn’t resonate with such a large percentage of the American public? People seem to believe Trump is an anti-establishment candidate but he’s also an insensitive nutcase. Why aren’t people turning up in droves to support Hillary?
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Why aren’t people turning up in droves to support Hillary indeed?! Hillary herself has said “You can’t just talk someone into trusting you–you’ve got to earn it.”
Once accusations are put forth, they are out there and difficult to refute or defend. Hillary is a candidate that has proven time and time again that she chooses her words carefully and she clearly has shown that what you say actually matters. And this will be especially true once elected president. There was alot of public mistrust of her back when she ran for Senator–and in response she ran, she won, she worked hard, and earned trust. Let’s hope history repeats itself…
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I like the Old Navy reference, because I had the same response to this video. It’s visually appealing and, honestly, any repetitions (intentional or not) are useful in reinforcing the message of the video. I almost feel like this video could be used as proof or a response to Trump’s comment about not needing The Carters to show that he has support; clearly, neither does Mrs. Clinton.
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Why aren’t people turning up in droves to support Hillary?
I have to ask myself this too. She is a candidate that has proven that she is more than capable of taking office, even with the flaws she has displayed. But what President is perfect? Hillary has the experience, probably more so than other candidates in more recent elections, and she has the history to prove so.
I suppose leaked emails completely ruined her reputation. I think that is really sad, since Hillary displays strong messages and background and yet people still refuse to move on from her mistakes.
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As much as I can see why Hillary’s emails might be a problem for undecided voters, this is the sort of election where you can just go “yeah, but look over here” and pick at random any day of the week Trump made headlines for doing something near-sociopathic. I feel like anyone who is undecided as they walk into their polling place will end up shrugging their shoulders and voting for Hillary. At least I hope.
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I had a similar response to this video as a few others did, about how it felt like a mall-retailer ad. It’s light, visually appealing, and, I think that the use of young women really speaks to the demographic that Hillary’s campaign aims at – young women. The repetitions aren’t redundant, but are useful in reinforcing the video’s message. To me that’s what made it powerful, while the visual rhetoric of the video kept it bright and light.
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I agree that this video is more cheerful than other persuasive techniques the Clinton campaign has used. It is definitely not dull or inaccessible. Maybe it mimics some of the techniques that retailers use in their ads, but it works. It sells the idea that H.R. Clinton is trustworthy and accessible.
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Love the video and the eclectic grouping of people from all ages,races,religions and social status. It offered a chance for a representative from each group to voice his/her opinion on behalf of all the others,However, if we could phrase it in a simple poetic style ,it would be …..
I trust her because she’s inclusive not divisive .
I trust her because builds bridges not walls.
I trust her because she’s accountable not irresponsible.
I trust her because she’s for cooperation not conflict.
I trust her because she is relentless not truth resistance.
I trust her because she’s a leader not a show freak.
I trust her because whenever she’s knocked down,
she stands up again.
I trust her because wherever she sets public and personal goals, she achieves most of them.
I trust her because she has been a national inspiration, gave international motivation and could soon become a worldwide
fascination.
What is really amazing is that each reason stated for this trust, Hillary’s record of public service is a live proof of its validity. However, it is because of the long record of successes and achievements that sometimes she and people around her don’t exactly know how to give them a proper glow .’The deserving acknowledgement of her being the most qualified presidential candidate ever in any election.’ Thanks as always to Michelle Obama who could easily deliver that well deserved message about Hillary Clinton.
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Do you trust her?
I find the repetition of “She is,” and “ I trust her” to be a successful rhetorical strategy, if the goal was to brand her as trustworthy. I find it successful in this specific video because it is accessible. I agree with the above assertion that, as the audience acts as a substitute rhetor for the the presidential candidate and this is more successful than other attempts because it doesn’t seem so rehearsed.
The repetition of “She is” establishes Hillary’s agency although she isn’t the main rhetor rhetoric of the video. The repetition of the phrase “I trust her” ,works in a similar way, in that it harkens back (or alludes) to the phrase “I’m with her.” Thus it highlights again and again that this video is for Her; it simultaneously highlights the hillary’s role in the presidential campaign and her femininity.
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