Candidate Ad Overview
Tiffany Smiley is a military spouse, advocate, nurse, and political outsider who was a candidate for the U.S. Senate to represent Washington (Bendt, 2022). Before choosing a political career, she was a vocal advocate for injured warriors, focusing on issues such as healthcare, caregiver support, and job opportunities for disabled veterans. Smiley has a YouTube channel, “Smiley for Washington,” where she mainly opposes Patty Murray and discusses various topics related to public life in the city (Smiley, 2022).
Informational Evaluation
The advertisement I chose to examine is “They Should Be,” which describes the benefits of Smiley winning the elections. I would treat it as a primary campaign advertisement with elements of a general one. Smiley addresses problems that can foster the wish to vote for her among the supporters of the Republican party that she represents.
Nevertheless, she tends to mention actions and their consequences of Patty Murray, who represents the Democratic Party, encouraging even Democrats to vote. I would regard this advertisement as episodic, as Smiley’s channel has many similar videos. However, episodicity can also be advantageous, as it allows Smiley to discuss common worrisome topics one by one.
Persuasive Evaluation
The advertisement provides the information to voters right away without diverging from the essence of her promotion. Smiley’s arguments are short but strong in meaning, which makes voters focus on only them. I suppose that it can count as an example of a thematic advertisement.
Tiffany tries to express that her lack of a connection with politics in the past does not mean she is an inappropriate candidate. Smiley uses this stance as a contention against long-term politicians who have been in the scene for a while, which might explain the name of the video. Additionally, it may connect to civilians due to evoking truly familiar feelings about everyday life. People often prefer to have someone in command who is close to them personally.
Reference
Bendt, K. (2022). Opinion: Tiffany Smiley: wife, nurse, con artist. Mast Media. Web.
Smiley, T. (2022). They Should Be [Video]. Youtube. Web.