Professional Documents
Culture Documents
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Televised political campaign advertising remains the most influential means for candi-
dates to communicate with the public. One of the most closely watched political races
in the United States played out on TV during the fall of 2006, matching Missouri sen-
atorial candidates who held widely diverse ideologies yet championed very similar issues
that were hot button topics nationwide. We applied symbolic convergence theory with
its critical method, fantasy theme analysis (FTA), because of its facility to explore and
understand meaning constructed through the convergence and competition of alternate
symbolic worlds. Through this method, not previously used as a means of tracking the
rhetorical visions of competing political campaign TV spots, we explain the master ana-
logue that underpins the advertising rhetoric and offer insights into how candidates
and voters make policy choices and the rationales they use to defend them. We illus-
trate that both the verbal and the visual narratives depict the vastly diverse rhetorical
visions of the candidates and, by extension, their supporters based on opposing views of
morality associated with Republican and Democratic worldviews. This study extends
the reach of FTA in studying the visual signs and symbols of political advertising.
doi:10.1111/j.1753-9137.2008.01031.x
Visual signs and symbols are powerful rhetorical tools in political communication.
This study analyzes political campaign TV ads in the United States, media rich in
visual content and a landscape steeped in conservative and liberal ideologies char-
acterized by paternalistic and nurturing models of morality. Our challenge was to
understand and assess the ads’ rhetorical visions in order to determine the social
reality that candidates are asking voters to embrace. To meet this challenge, we used
Bormann’s (1972) theoretical lens of symbolic convergence theory (SCT) and its
method of fantasy theme analysis (FTA) informed by Lakoff ’s (2002) theory of
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J. T. Page & M. E. Duffy A Battle of Visions
In FTA, fantasy has been defined by the theorist as the creative or imaginative inter-
pretation of events that fulfills psychological or rhetorical need (Bormann, Koester, &
Bennett, 1978). Theme refers to how this interpretation emerges in communication.
A fantasy theme, then, is a dramatized message constructed with imaginative language
and imagery that depicts characters engaged in actions that account for and explain
human experience (Benoit, Klyukovski, McHale, & Airne, 2001; Cragan, & Shields,
2007). Fantasy themes inevitably organize facts and events through different perspec-
tives and points of view (Bormann, 1990, p. 107). The term ‘‘fantasy’’ was designed to
capture the constructed nature of the theme (Foss, 2004, p. 111). In SCT vernacular,
rhetorical fantasies are not Freudian subconscious fantasies; they are conscious fanta-
sies, visibly present in everyday communication (Bormann, Cragan, & Shields, 2003).
Political campaign TV ads typically contain different perspectives and points of view
communicated through imaginative language and imagery. The multiple TV ads pro-
duced for specific political campaigns form a message cohesiveness that is experienced
by audiences viewing the ads—although at times, people may ignore or even reject
a dramatizing message (Bormann, Knutson, & Musolf, 1997).
RQ2: How are the rhetorical visions of the candidate and his/her supporters represented
in the advertisements?
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SCT recognizes that communication not only creates reality for individuals, but
individuals’ meanings for symbols can converge to create a shared reality, a unified
rhetorical vision. The coalescing of fantasy themes and types yields an overall inter-
pretation of reality, a worldview.
RQ3: What do the archetypal structures or master analogues of the candidates’
rhetorical visions reveal about their worldviews and, by extension, their supporters?
We consider the symbolic content and rhetorical form of both still and moving
visuals. In particular, we recognize that complex visual texts like televised political
ads, unlike a photographic image stopped and captured in time, use movement to
rhetorically depict dramatizing images with connotative or associative meaning.
To answer these questions, we first consider the nature and influence of televised
political campaign advertising. Next, we consider the potency of visual components
in constructing ad messages. We then provide an explication of the critical approach
and method. Results from our analysis are then presented along with in-depth
critiques of two ads. Once we discover the master analogue that underpins the
advertising rhetoric, we gain insights into how candidates and voters make policy
choices and the value-laden rationales they use to defend them. We conclude with
a discussion of the study’s implications.
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J. T. Page & M. E. Duffy A Battle of Visions
the creation of an ‘‘informed’’ electorate (p. 98), Brians and Wattenberg (1996)
specifically looked at the 1992 presidential campaign and found ad viewers to rank
significantly higher in campaign issue knowledge and salience than TV news viewers
or newspaper readers. Hart (2000) argued convincingly that advertising campaigns
play a role in sustaining democracy by bringing about a dialogue among candidates,
the press, and the people. In a replication of Brians and Wattenberg’s study, Holbert,
Benoit, Hansen, and Wen (2002) had similar findings. Even though they considered
two additional communication sources—televised presidential debates and general
political discussion—Holbert et al. found that viewing the 1992 campaign ads was
a strong predictor of issue knowledge and salience. However, Ansolabehere and
Iyengar (1996) summarize research that shows the role of negative campaign ads
on electorates and the political process, suggesting that such advertising reduces
political participation and increases polarization.
Research also supports the importance of visual messages in political communi-
cation. Bystrom, Banwart, Kaid, and Robertson (2004) address what the authors
called ‘‘videostyle’’ in ads from multiple mixed-gender election cycles in the United
States between 1995 and 2002. They analyzed aspects of the ads in terms of verbal
communication, nonverbal communication, and production quality. They con-
cluded that a winning female candidate is more likely to have no recognizable setting,
to smile and dress formally, is pictured with her competitor, and more likely features
other people (nonfamily members) than herself. A losing male candidate more likely
features other people than himself, more likely includes family members, features an
anonymous speaker or government official, has little eye contact, and dresses more
casually.
Lakoff ’s (2002) theory of gendered moral metaphors offers an interesting expla-
nation for the differing ‘‘videostyles’’ of competing political candidates. In Moral
Politics, Lakoff discusses the gendered metaphors that conservatives and liberals use
to shape their consciousness. He describes the paternalistic model of morality and
the nurturing parent model. In the paternalistic model, the strict father figure
neglects the children (public) for the purpose of their own good (i.e., improving
their broader or long-term circumstances, building their self-reliance). This model is
characterized by authority, boundary setting, and moral order metaphors, among
others. In the nurturing parent model, the progressive caretaker is driven by an ethic
of care to protect and teach the children (public) social responsibility. This model is
characterized by empathy, fairness, compassion, happiness, and self- and social
nurturance metaphors, among others.
Cultural differences have also been explored in political advertising research
(Holtz-Bacha, Kaid, & Johnson, 1994; Tak, Kaid, & Lee, 1997). Holtz-Bacha et al.
used content analysis to explore cultural differences between political advertising in
Germany and the United States and in Germany and France. Categories include TV
production techniques such as cinema verité, animation, and staging, though the
authors do not theorize regarding the reasons behind differing production techni-
ques and cultural differences. Using the rhetorical approach of narrative analysis,
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however, Barbatsis (1996) does theorize how use of production techniques in polit-
ical ads can shape reality for the viewer.
In light of these findings, it is important to take a closer look at the ads
themselves to examine their rhetorical properties, in this case, the use of fantasy
themes. Three decades ago, Bormann et al. (1978) applied FTA to political cartoons
generated during the 1976 presidential race, acknowledging the power of the still
image to construct meaning. In televisual messages, we acknowledge an even
greater power. ‘‘What proceeds or follows a frame or a picture influences the
perception of it’’ (Zakia, 2007, p. 53). Ever since Postman (1985) marveled at
the technology of TV, ‘‘(it) gives us a conversation in images, not words’’ (p. 7),
scholars have proposed that the visual components are the most prominent and
effective argument in many political spots; they are an argument by camera work
and are far more potent than verbal logic (Biocca, 1991; Nelson & Boynton, 1997;
Richards & Caywood, 1991).
Visual rhetoric
Although language has the potential for multiple meanings, beginning in our earliest
years of education, words have been introduced to us through dictionary defini-
tions—predetermining meaning, pronunciation, and etymology. Words have rules
of grammar and syntax and a linear and logical structure (Audigier, 1991). Images,
however, have their own visual syntax that constructs a ‘‘more complex reality’’ than
linguistic discourse (Foss, 2005, p. 142). Images in ads often suggest visual claims
that would likely be unacceptable in verbal form (Messaris, 1997, p. 225). These
visuals invite the viewer to participate in meaning construction. Yet due to little
knowledge or discussion of visual literacy in society, people lack a consciousness of
visual syntax and a language for articulating how they interpret visual images. More-
over, moving imagery is both more ambiguous and more potent than still imagery at
delivering symbolic messages. Moving imagery requires immediate processing—it
does not allow for study, reflection, and interrogation. Kozloff (1992) writes of the
power commercials have to shape the world through storytelling. Pictorially, each
commercial creates a visual fiction. The political ad, unlike the commercial ad, often
presents a documentary-like visual fiction that viewers enter and vicariously expe-
rience. Barbatsis (2006) makes this argument in her analysis of the pictorial images in
‘‘The Harbor,’’ a negative political campaign ad that used black and white close-ups
and montages. Pictorially, the ad’s simulated reality did not attempt to copy the
everyday reality of Boston’s harbor but, rather, to offer viewers a look at familiar
reality through different eyes.
Although ads’ spoken and written words have more conventionally fixed rules,
structures, and meanings, visuals propose meaning in ways that are simultaneously
subtle and powerful. They contain points of view, assumptions, and evaluations that
direct viewers to understand stories presented in a particular way. Within the rhet-
oric of visual images, meaning making is grounded in audience-oriented form rather
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J. T. Page & M. E. Duffy A Battle of Visions
than subject-oriented content (Burke, [1945]1969). How the ad’s ‘‘story’’ is con-
structed, for instance, through perspective, movement, angle, or lighting, directs
the force of its interpretation and its acceptance. Form suggests meaning and guides
how viewers should think about that candidate.
In this study, we consider both spoken and written words and both visual content
and form. For example, the visual content may be a candidate addressing a group of
constituents, and the form of that content may be how she or he is depicted through
perspective, depth of field, movement, lighting, and the recurrence of imagery. We
also consider conventional symbols, allusion, and metaphors. For example, a scene
may show a candidate speaking to a crowd of laborers to advance the message of
populism. In political ads, juxtapositions of images often function metaphorically as
the means to semantically frame messages. Juxtapositions often guide us to images in
our culturally encoded experience, thus presenting an interpretive frame for large
numbers of social groups (Morreale, 1991). Given the predominance of visual rhet-
oric in political campaign advertising, this study considers both the linguistic and the
visual form and content of the Talent and McCaskill ads.
Theoretical perspectives
SCT and FTA follow in the tradition of rhetorical and qualitative theories, including
Burke’s dramatism theory, Fisher’s NPT, Osborn’s metaphor theory, Cormack’s
ideology, and Goffman’s framing. One may explore the rhetorical function of visuals
as dramas, narratives, metaphors, manifestations of culture, meaning-filled voids, or
interpretive frames, among others. Although these theories and their methodologies
may analyze images as signs encoded with values and beliefs, as pictorial language
with semantics and syntax, or as condensation frames that call up a referent, SCT and
FTA provide a window on how reality may be understood through the convergence
and competition of alternate symbolic worlds.
SCT is useful for the study of all kinds of rhetoric in which themes function
dramatically to connect audiences with messages (Foss, 2004, p. 109). SCT has a close
relationship to argumentation in that shared fantasies provide a common set of
assumptions that support good reasons for specific arguments. Although this study
considers political messages delivered to prospective voters via TV ads, Foss (2004)
places diverse groups into the SCT perspective, ‘‘scientists . . . assume that argument
is based on the careful observation of facts, while lawyers use precedent . . . as the
basis for argument. These groups share different fantasy themes as the basis for the
construction of arguments’’ (p. 112).
The cultural mores and environment, the events of the day, threats and attacks,
and politicians and policies all are the raw materials from which groups build social
reality as represented by fantasy themes. In his discussion of the Puritan rhetorical
vision, Bormann (1972) points out that the Puritan pilgrims’ response to harsh
conditions in America might be interpreted by the outsider as desperate efforts to
stay alive. But the dramatized reactions of the Puritans themselves involved an
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‘‘afterlife with high potential for ecstasy or terror’’ (Bormann, 1972, p. 34). Likewise,
Morris and Buchanan (1997) found that the fantasy themes of paramilitary organ-
izations’ communications represented the righteous master analogue of militia
members—a worldview that would be starkly different from that of most citizens.
As SCT and FTA demonstrate, groups may interpret events in much different ways,
even to the point of having mirror-image fantasies about the same event (Bormann,
1985).
FTA offers a clear technical vocabulary for the general analysis of imaginative
language and imagery (see methodology): dramatis personae, plot, scene, sanction-
ing agent, and master analogue. This facility to explore and understand the meaning
constructed by diverse elements makes FTA appropriate to guide this study of
political communication. Politics is viewed increasingly today as a form of symbolic
action, as spectacle, or as ‘‘the performance of power’’ (Page, 2007). Deetz (1992)
shines a light on the role of the mass media in cultural production. The questions he
raises have to do with the viewer’s or listener’s ability to participate fully in the
political process, given the context and content of media messages. Although his
primary focus is on the corporatization of media and society, we should note that
political advertising is produced by corporate entities, often backed by corporate
agendas.
Hall (1982) focuses on how events and activities are signified and thus influence
how people act and the choices they make. Power and money fuel political campaigns:
‘‘The power here is an ideological power: the power to signify events in a certain way’’
(p. 69). While Hall is mainly writing about the role of news media in shaping how
events are signified, we argue that campaign advertising is a critical aspect of how
citizens interpret the world and in creating a certain sort of public sphere. To para-
phrase Hall, meaning does not depend on how things are but how things are signified
(p. 77). SCT and FTA are tools allowing us to discover the powerful yet often unac-
knowledged ideologies embedded in news and advertising media.
In more than 30 scholarly articles and book chapters (Cragan & Shields, 2007),
FTA has been applied to press coverage, survey results, public relations campaigns,
cartoons, Web sites, political campaign discourse, corporate strategic planning, and
more, yet it has not previously been used as a means of tracking the rhetorical visions
of competing political campaign TV spots. Scholarly research in political campaigns
and advertising has resided in the realm of social science and positivism rather than
in the humanist, interpretive, and critical tradition. Kinder (2007) is among those
researchers, yet he recently called for an expansion of theoretical and methodological
approaches and offers an example of the persuasiveness of storytelling drawn from
the work of Pennington and Hastie (1992). According to these authors, stories frame,
organize, and explain the evidence presented and the ‘‘story of the case’’ becomes
instructional in helping jurors decide which verdict they will select. Kinder suggests
that ‘‘a good frame instructs citizens as to which policy to support.’’ Splichal (2008)
encourages the application of critical theory to communication research, questioning
that the practice and politics of administrative communication research itself—its
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justify acceptance of the drama, e.g., the threat of terrorism), and master analogue
(archetypal narrative). SCT terminology is similar to the Burkean concepts of scene,
act, agent, agency, and motive. Another theoretical lens, Lakoff ’s (2002) theory of
gendered moral metaphors, is also applied because in U.S. political discourse, con-
servatives and liberals tend to use the paternalistic and nurturing models of morality
to shape their personas and messages.
Scholars have applied FTA to mainstream and independent media texts. Bishop
(2003) determined the rhetorical vision of the ‘‘world’s nicest grown-up’’ that
emerged from news coverage of American TV personality Fred Rogers. Duffy
(1997) examined the strategies of a publicity campaign to influence media coverage
and shape public opinion (see also Bormann et al., 1978; Csapo-Sweet & Shields,
2000; Duffy, 2003; Stone, 2002). The theory and method have also been applied to
images. Dobris and White-Mills (2006) analyzed the voluminous comparative charts
in a printed series on pregnancy and childbearing. Benoit et al. (2001) analyzed the
rhetoric of cartoon imagery in the Clinton–Lewinsky–Starr affair. Like Bormann
et al.’s (1978) earlier study of political cartoons, Benoit et al. found that visual
political communication can deliver important symbolic messages to the public.
These studies point to the usefulness of applying SCT to televised political advertis-
ing to understand and assess the rhetorical visions of the candidates and describe the
social reality the candidates are asking voters to embrace.
Artifacts
This study examines 39 political ads promoting the senatorial candidates in Missou-
ri’s 2006 election. The Republican incumbent, Jim Talent, was challenged by former
state auditor and Democrat Claire McCaskill. The ads were obtained from two
sources: a digital political media resource repository at a southern U.S. university
and from the Jim Talent for Senate Web site, http://www.talentforsenate.
com. Twenty-four ads promote McCaskill’s campaign and 15 promote Talent’s
(see Table 1). McCaskill’s ads are predominantly assertive and aggressive. Nine
ads attack her opponent’s policies and character; eight ads in a series called ‘‘Missouri
Voices’’ each features a Missourian negatively affected by Talent’s policies; seven ads
bolster her image. Talent’s ads are predominantly pragmatic, protective, and defen-
sive. Five ads attack his opponent; only two ads showcase Missourians; three ads are
devoted to the issues of veterans’ benefits, drug crime, the price of gas, and national
security; three ads stress Talent’s service and achievements for the good of all. Guided
by SCT’s dramatization-based interpretive framework, a multistep analysis was con-
ducted on all 39 ads by both authors with the assistance of a student.
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(continued)
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Table 1 Continued
McCaskill ads
Title Attack messages
‘‘Seniors’’ Will lower drug costs, protect nursing home patients,
stop Medicaid cuts, save Social Security.
‘‘Family Style’’ McCaskill’s mother and daughter vouch for her strong
Missouri values.
‘‘Believe’’ Promotes her roots; promises rural citizens she will
secure their well-being.
‘‘Divide-Stem’’ Sits at kitchen table talking of change. Has no agenda—just
what is best for Missouri.
Talent ads
Title Attack messages
‘‘Missouri Values #1’’ and Ads compare both candidates: Talent’s tough on crime
‘‘Missouri Values #2’’ and immorality, supports citizens’ financial well-being;
McCaskill’s a Howard Dean liberal soft on meth addicts
and immorality, against citizens’ financial well-being.
‘‘Untruths’’ McCaskill has been an ineffective, untruthful, and
corrupt civil servant.
Untitled Dismisses McCaskill as publicly and personally dishonest.
‘‘Plain Wrong’’ Counters attack ads; argues he fulfills promises to
protect veterans.
Title Missourians’ messages
‘‘Halbert Sullivan’’ Praises Talent’s community relations with Negro League
and sickle cell anemia research.
‘‘Caroline’’ Lifelong Democrat says Talent’s principles won her vote.
Title Issue messages
‘‘Veteran’s Benefits’’ Talent always believed in and supported strong
healthcare for veterans.
‘‘Combat Meth’’ Praises Talent for crossing party lines to fight drug
threat and win antidrug legislation.
‘‘Energy’’ Alternative fuels will discourage price gouging by big oil;
most important job: keep people safe from terrorists.
Title Image messages
‘‘Jim Talent Works’’ A responsible civil servant, Talent listens to and works
for all people.
‘‘Senator Talent Asks Does not see red and blue but right and wrong. It is
for Your Vote’’ a tough job, but the people are worth it.
‘‘Working’’ A ‘‘lone ranger’’ far from Washington, out in Missouri
rescuing seniors from harm, helping troops, securing
borders from illegal immigrants and foreign oil.
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visuals. The researchers were guided by FTA’s key elements that demonstrate imag-
inative language and imagery: characters, plot, scene, sanctioning agent, and master
analogue. Careful scrutiny of the ads in digitized versions, allowing for constant
replaying of minute portions, permitted the researchers to identify significant recur-
ring characterizations in content (spoken words and pictorial images) and in form
(production values). The researchers individually recorded their observations, which
were then compared, evaluated, and categorized.
For example, words and phrases that communicated ‘‘integrity,’’ ‘‘righteous-
ness,’’ and ‘‘straight record’’ and visual images and form conventions—such as the
candidate featured intimately in a kitchen setting or victims of budget cuts directly
addressing the camera—helped to shape the fantasy theme ‘‘trustworthy and hon-
est.’’ As another example, words and phrases such as ‘‘security,’’ ‘‘patriotic,’’ and
‘‘keeps Missouri families safe’’ and visual images and form conventions such as
a candidate juxtaposed with a law enforcement officer or with an American flag
helped to shape the fantasy theme ‘‘people’s protector’’ (see Tables 1–3).
We identified 14 fantasy themes running through all 39 ads; some themes were
stronger than others because they were constructed by more characterizations. Next,
we determined that certain fantasy themes logically fit together to create a broader
characterization, a fantasy type. For example, we found that the three fantasy themes
‘‘people’s protector,’’ ‘‘tough and hard working,’’ and ‘‘battling enemies’’ formed the
fantasy type we called ‘‘candidate as heroic.’’
We identified five fantasy types in all; here, too, some were stronger than others
due to the strength of their composition. The strongest, constructed by four fantasy
themes, is ‘‘immorality of opponent’’ (enemy of the people). The next two types
followed closely, each constructed by three themes. We named these types ‘‘candidate
as populist’’ (who sees no red and blue) and ‘‘candidate as heroic’’ (who will secure
the nation). The remaining two types were both built from two themes each. The
type ‘‘candidate as strategic’’ is a little stronger than the final type, ‘‘candidate as
victim.’’ For the complete schema, refer to Table 3.
Regarding each candidate’s stable of ads, the strongest fantasy type found in the
24 McCaskill ads is ‘‘immorality of opponent,’’ followed by ‘‘candidate as heroic.’’
In the 15 Talent ads, ‘‘candidate as populist’’ is strongest with ‘‘candidate as heroic’’
closely following.
To reach the final and highest level of analysis in SCT—the broader view that
reveals an overall interpretive framework—we synthesized each candidate’s themes
and types into what Bormann calls a ‘‘rhetorical vision.’’ We determined that the
McCaskill ads articulated the rhetorical vision, ‘‘I am impassioned to right the
wrongs; all Missourians deserve empathy and respect,’’ and the Talent ads, ‘‘My
mission is simple and direct: I am working very hard to protect good Missourians
from the dangers threatening them.’’ SCT, like other rhetorical theories of narrative,
metaphor, and drama, recognizes that its visions draw from one or a combination of
three archetypal structures: righteous, social, and pragmatic. Interestingly, both can-
didates’ rhetorical visions draw from a blend of righteous (correct, proper, and
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moral) and social (relationships between people and groups) master analogues. Yet
Lakoff ’s (2002) theory of gendered moral metaphors helps to differentiate the two:
the liberal McCaskill demonstrates the nurturing parent model of morality in her
righteous/social approach, whereas the conservative Talent embodies the paternal-
istic model of morality in his.
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Table 3 Fantasy Theme Analysis Schema (Constructed from Analysis of All Ads)
Fantasy type: ‘‘Immorality of opponent’’ (righteous master analogue):
Fantasy theme: Proven fraud
Characterizations: hypocritical, deceitful, sells out, untrustworthy, deceives
constituents, lies about allegiances, brazen, untrustworthy, deceptive, dishonest,
sly, corrupt.
Fantasy theme: Causes harm
Characterizations: immoral, actions disregard, actions harm, neglectful of Missourians
who are suffering, scorns suffering victims, heartless, ignores Missourians, condemns people to
misery, prolongs victims’ suffering, increases hardships, denies healthcare,
withholds help, lacks empathy, unsympathetic to Missourians hardships, impedes
peoples’ survival.
Fantasy theme: Enemy of the people
Characterizations: the ‘‘other side,’’ member of elite, friend of peoples’ enemies, cruel,
privileges self-interest over constituents’ interests, votes against peoples’ protection,
provokes outrage and anger, provokes desire for vengeance, scorned.
Fantasy theme: Failed leadership
Characterizations: has not earned your vote, abused authority, failed as a public
servant, not working right, weak, a follower.
Fantasy type: ‘‘Candidate as populist’’ (righteous master analogue):
Fantasy theme: Trustworthy and honest
Characterizations: integrity, honor, humility, morality, righteous, honest,
straight record.
Fantasy theme: Independent and fair
Characterizations: compromising, fairness, equality, promotes everyone’s interests,
unbiased, leader for all Missourians, independent, benefits all Missourians.
Fantasy theme: Shares Missouri values
Characterizations: shared values, what is right for Missouri, Missouri-bred values,
your values, peoples’ values, daughter of Missouri, godliness of ordinary people,
family values.
Fantasy type: ‘‘Candidate as heroic’’ (social master analogue):
Fantasy theme: Battling enemies
Characterizations: unite to fight, fights for Missouri, proven hero of people, valiant,
crime fighter, battling those who harm people, battling Washington, conquering
evil, attacking problems.
Fantasy theme: People’s protector
Characterizations: protect Missourians, responds to safety threats, guardianship,
protects Missouri and America, patriotic, rescuer, protecting seniors’ well-being,
helping sick and needy, security, flag.
Fantasy theme: Tough and hard working
Characterizations: tough on critical issues, no nonsense, hard work, guts.
Fantasy type: ‘‘Candidate as strategic’’ (pragmatic master analogue):
Fantasy theme: Progressive
Characterizations: progressive, for changes, fresh change, research.
Fantasy theme: Pragmatic
Characterizations: strategic, decisive, focused, diligent, pragmatic.
Fantasy type: ‘‘Candidate as victim’’ (righteous master analogue):
Fantasy theme: Wrongly accused
Characterizations: wrongly accused by opponent and corporate interests, victimized.
Fantasy theme: Reputation damaged
Characterizations: questioned ethics and morals.
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McCaskill ‘‘Gas’’
Heroic and Immorality fantasy types
Righteous and Social master analogues
Nurturing parent model of morality
Verbal transcription
Rising gas prices have put record profits in the pockets of big oil, and Jim Talent
has voted to give the oil and gas companies billions of dollars in tax breaks.
Claire McCaskill says there’s something wrong in Washington. In the Senate she
voted to get rid of these billion dollar tax breaks, and use the savings to invest
in alternative fuels like ethanol instead. Isn’t that the change we need?
The Democratic senatorial campaign committee is responsible for the content
of this advertising.
Analysis
The messages in this ad are presented in two distinct parts: Part 1 tells of Talent’s
harmful collusion with ‘‘big oil’’ and Part 2 of McCaskill’s indignation and commit-
ment to right this wrong. In the drama about Jim Talent, the time frame is both the
past and the threatening present, as indicated by black and white footage. The setting
is Anytown, Missouri, which has been invaded by heavy, industrial Blade Runner-
esque oil refineries that send billows of menacing steam over the land. Gas pumps are
demanding sky-high prices for a fill-up, making the gas companies, ‘‘big oil,’’ and
politicians richer. The early image of Talent (Figure 1) ties him to these oppressive
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forces, their plundering, and profit gouging. The dominant characters are Washing-
ton, DC, and ‘‘big oil’’ (surrogates for Jim Talent) as villains, and the Missouri town
as victim. The justification for this situation is that big business should receive priv-
ileges, motivated by personal and corporate greed. The story indicates Talent values
conformity, collusion, and self-gratification.
Black and white images change to full color to connote the present (and
approaching future)—to suggest that ‘‘big oil’’ will continue to make profits. But
color also is a positive harbinger of change, as it becomes Claire McCaskill’s story
that promises to lift the Talent fog. In the context of this ad, the absence of any color
images of Talent suggests he is inactive and avoiding his civic duty for the continued
benefit of oil companies.
McCaskill constructs her heroic storyline by bravely standing up to the Goliaths
of society. In Burkean terms, the emphasis is on McCaskill as agent. Motivated by
fairness and foresight, she verbally attacks her opponent and denounces big business
interests in order to rescue the public, relieve its suffering, and invest in its future.
Shots of McCaskill speaking with citizens and standing next to a U.S. flag (Figure 2)
frame her as an American patriot who is in touch with the people of Missouri.
The strategic color choice of red for some of the on screen captions makes the
words angry and excited, shouting out important messages. The editing employs
quick cuts to convey the urgency of the crises (oil profits, gas prices, and dirty air):
print captions loudly shouting danger, plus dollar amounts rolling higher on a gas
pump, plus the suggested reality of oil refineries blackening the sky, all equal the
source: Jim Talent. When the viewer glimpses him, he makes no direct eye contact,
conveying evasiveness, guilt.
The justifications for this drama are that citizens’ rights should be privileged over
personal and corporate profit. McCaskill wants to lower gas prices, conserve natural
resources, and work for alternative fuels. She is motivated by idealism and a com-
mitment to economic justice. Both the linguistic and the visual narrative reinforce
McCaskill as a heroic persona, a person full of righteous indignation who is ready to
slay dragons. In this sense, her idealism permeates the ad. McCaskill engages as
a rescuer and collaborator, constructing a nurturing parent model of morality.
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Verbal transcription
Most people don’t care if you are red or blue, Republican or Democrat. They
don’t use words like partisan or obstructionist. They care about getting things
done, knowing the difference between what’s right and what’s wrong. That’s
why Jim Talent reaches out, why he listens. Because it’s not what you promise
that matters, it’s what you do.
Analysis
The ad evokes Reagan’s 1984 ‘‘Morning in America’’ ad, considered one of the most
effective political campaign ads ever because of its simple and optimistic message.
Both feature a montage of images of Americans going to work and a calm narration
that suggests the United States (and Missouri) is on the right track—thanks to the
incumbent’s hard work. This spot depicts a Missouri united with placid laborers,
healthy seniors, and supportive families in secure homes. There is a strong work
ethic, fertile fields, and equal opportunity for all. The scene is characterized with
iconic visual references to the American value of hard work and the nobility of the
good citizen: tractors, trade shops, public war memorials, a diner (Figure 5), and
a barbershop—it is an idealized diorama of life in Missouri.
Its characters include laborers, seniors, families, and a single image of Talent. The
visual and verbal elements downplay politics, parties, and red and blue factions.
Visuals with voice-overs depict the Missouri voter as apolitical, pragmatic, and rock
steady. By association—as we see Talent only at the very beginning of the ad—he
embodies these characteristics. There are no messages on the candidate’s own char-
acter or affiliations. Burkean rhetorical theory would suggest that the focus on act
suggests a concomitant focus on the philosophical approach of realism. The drama
emphasizes Talent’s actions (as seen through those of his surrogates) as honest work.
It implies that he shows his values through his actions and that those actions link him
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J. T. Page & M. E. Duffy A Battle of Visions
with publics. Their good work, as sanctioning agent, justifies this story whose motive
is to celebrate the moral value of Missourians’ and Jim Talent’s work. Yet he remains
visually remote in this ad, as if watching over a docile flock. Through his physical
absence yet his watchful eye, he asserts a distanced, protective role, suggesting
a paternalistic model of morality.
Varying camera shots and editing techniques function as signs, or cues, to view-
ers—cues that suggest what to think and feel and cues that are based on both
aesthetic codes viewers learn while watching TV and by enculturation. Multiple
medium shots (waist up) of White men, young, middle aged, and elderly, posing
together in pairs (Figure 3), suggest there is a comfortable and personal relationship
between Talent and these blocks of voters.
When the camera looks up at a Black man walking in an office setting, the camera
bestows power and authority on its subject (Figure 4) . . . a tacit tribute (or promise)
due to the work of Jim Talent. Long shots typically establish settings, contexts, and
scope of message.
Noticeable long shots focus on steadfast citizens at work: a barber trims a young
boy’s hair as another customer walks in; a uniformed waitress in the dark early
morning hours turns on a diner’s pink neon ‘‘OPEN’’ sign. Civil society is secure
in Talent’s world.
As Reagan’s earlier ad ended with the tagline, ‘‘Ronald Reagan. Leadership That’s
Working,’’ at the end of this ad, ‘‘Jim Talent Works’’ reverses out of a black screen. Yet
despite the archetypal story that goodwill and hard work—Talent’s very hard work—
bring rewards, the rhetorical impact of this ad is not particularly strong because it fails
to acknowledge the reality of 2006 Missouri; its substance is not only clichéd but also
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misrepresentative; the candidate lacks any convincing agency in moving the plot. From
farmers to trade laborers, from those who serve our country to those who serve us
coffee and eggs, fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, and neighbors and cousins,
all are the folks that Jim Talent works for. Jim Talent works—and in that he is like
them. Yet his ads show that he is only performing the senatorial version of serving
coffee and eggs. In Talent’s efforts to identify with the audiences shown, he is revealing
a worldview and he is revealing his concern with the problems facing Republicans in
this election. This ad is a rhetorical effort to dodge the Democratic bullet.
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gender-neutral candidates (Carli & Eagly, 2001; Nesbitt & Penn, 2000). The Missouri
ads studied here do deliver gender-balanced depictions of the candidates with a blend
of traditionally masculine and feminine issues, images, and appeals. Yet more sig-
nificant to this analysis—and to our assertion that FTA is a highly useful method to
understand competing and converging messages in political campaign ads—are the
gendered metaphors embraced by the candidates’ conservative and liberal ideologies.
According to Lakoff (2002), in the conservative paternalistic model of morality, the
strict father figure projects authority (Figure 12), boundary setting, and moral order,
whereas the liberal nurturing model of morality is characterized by empathy, fair-
ness, compassion, happiness, and self- and social nurturing (Figure 8). Our analysis
supports Lakoff ’s (2002) conservative and liberal models.
We also asked how nonlinguistic elements of content and form work to help
create the fantasies portrayed. Talent relied on a visual narrative that excluded him, a
distanced yet controlling father. His attempt to use ordinary people (Figures 3 and 5)
to construct his populist persona through profiling his constituents’ everyday lives
yields tepid results within the dramas. He also is absent when the public confronts
danger and the criminals are punished (Figure 6), signaling it is not his vision or
agency but perhaps a neutral eyewitness and agent. It is the threatening aspect of
Talent’s heroic ad that served as context for his strong and no-nonsense leadership—
not his presence and actions. It is the scenic aspect of Talent’s populist fantasy theme
ad that serves as context for his hard-work ethos. He relies on surrogates to charac-
terize him; he chooses to omit politics and policy and, ultimately, this formula fails to
suggest much command or authenticity. In fact, this constant absence of candidate
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Talent’s image was strategically filled in McCaskill ads that presented his image with
powerful politicians (Figure 9) or corporations.
McCaskill’s strategy significantly departs from Talent’s. Her approach is impas-
sioned and assertive while his is tentative and defensive. McCaskill’s narratives embody
her involvement, literally, through her persistent presence (Figures 10 and 11).
There is no question whose vision and agency are driving her messages. From the
standpoint of rhetorical skill, McCaskill’s ads are more focused, pointed, and hard
hitting. She is physically present and performing in her ads, adding authenticity to her
messages.
The omission of Talent’s image from the ads, his lone portrayals, and the pairing
of his image with ‘‘villains’’ (Figure 7) all work to minimize his agency and empathy.
To conclude, these TV spots reveal not only vastly differing worldviews of the
two candidates—that of a stern paternal social analogue and that of an empathetic,
nurturing social analogue—but also, as strategic marketing communications, they
suggest the worldviews of the candidates’ supporters or their perceptions of their
supporters. Although our rhetorical analysis did not seek to identify the creators’
intent or the viewers’ experiences (collective intent and experience are not necessary
to reading and understanding the rhetorical composition of these texts), its goals
were to understand and assess the rhetorical visions of the candidates and describe
the social reality the candidates are asking voters to embrace. If a viewer does accept
a symbolic construction of a politician as the ‘‘people’s protector,’’ this theme influ-
ences how the viewer may understand the world and shapes her or his reactions to
people and events. If symbolic convergence occurs within viewers’ experiences, it
means consensus or general agreement on not only subjective meanings but also
shared emotions, attitudes, emotional responses, and interpretations (Foss, 2004,
p. 110).
Often, conflicting narratives and ideologies are not easily evident within highly
visual mass-mediated texts, in this case, political ads. The seemingly superficial
verbal and visual messages of these texts require a distinct theoretical perspective
and analytical tool to delve into their deep rhetorical structure. Bormann’s symbolic
convergence is an appropriate theory to help the critic unearth and examine the
complex and competing messages of political campaign advertisements, to recognize
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their rhetorical strength, to discover how they converge to create unified visions of
reality, and to determine the social reality the candidates are asking voters to
embrace. The results of FTA may provide crucial insights regarding the policies
and positions political candidates themselves are likely to embrace, and the results
certainly offer direction for further study of the viewers’ experiences of symbolic
convergence.
We encourage more application of this theory and method to mass-mediated
political communication and both its linguistic and visual signs and symbols. The
Internet is fast becoming a common platform for candidates to reach the public.
Because of its multimodal capacity to deliver messages, scholars should particularly
consider the utility of SCT and FTA to facilitate interrogation of its often dissonant
hypervisual and on-demand content to determine the rhetorical force of its mes-
sages. This approach also should be useful in examining online threads of public
(customer, stakeholder, etc.) discourse to discover their unified visions. Bormann
(2001) himself invited scholars to use the theory and method in new ways and to
refine and reinvigorate it: ‘‘The symbolic convergence theory seems to have been
serendipitously designed for the World Wide Web, the Internet, satellites, cyber-
space, the digital world, virtual reality, and whatever new purveyors of fantasy
themes are on the horizon’’ (p. ix).
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