In November, we have a general election to elect a new Congress and a host of local and state candidate across the country. One of the reasons I am sure you are all aware of this is because of the radio and television campaign ads as well as social media posts from candidate and about candidates.

Our next unit will be about genre. One of the things we will talk about is how genre is not just a category. That is how we are accustomed to thinking about it — horror, sci-fi, romance, comedy, drama, etc. While these may be valid descriptors of media content, they are nonetheless not really what genre is about. What we will soon find out is that genre governs communication practices in a discourse community. Certain types of genre demands a certain kind of communication. Horror films, for example, are intended to scare you (example of a public goal!!).

I would like to propose that political campaign ads are also a kind of genre. They are intended to persuade a voter to choose a certain candidate. If the candidate wins, the ad did its job.

For this first discussion board, I would like for you to do a bit of research. Go online and find any campaign ad you want — it can be a video, a print ad, a radio ad, or even something on social media — and analyze its general effectiveness. Does it do its job? Would you vote for this candidate? Why or why not? Be creative! Find some really bad examples. By bad….I mean really bad, like this kind of bad:

Find some funny, bad, hilarious, awkward, and downright stupid campaign. Apx. 200 words.