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Grace Park
Anya Connelly
English 2
17 October 2016
Analysis of Mirrors Advertisement
As the political debates continue and election day is drawing nearer, the presidential
candidates seem to be desperate to degrade one another in order to appear more competent
themselves. As Donald Trump has a wide array of male republic supporters, Hillary seems to be
lacking in this category, as she could be the first female president. Many have seen the recent
commercial by Hillary Clinton called Mirrors as a tactic to draw in more male supporters, as it
is targeted towards protective parents of daughters. Using rhetorical devices and fallacies such as
pathos, Appeal to Authority, Straw Man, and Ad Hominem, this advertisement strives
persuade viewers to agree with Clintons views and therefore vote in her favor.
Within the first few seconds of the commercial, the audience is persuaded by the use of
pathos due to the depressing music and emotional facial expressions shown by young female
actresses looking into a mirror and seemingly evaluating themselves to represent the daughters
of our country. While the screen is visually putting the viewers in a sensitive area, the audio
plays clips of an old video where Trump talks disrespectfully towards women, showing he judges
them merely by appearance and sex appeal, which may greatly offend the audience and trigger
another emotion such as anger. Because the audience may have a similar reaction to the vulgar
words spoken by Donald Trump, this creates a common bond between Hillary and her audience,
which shows it is an example of pathos. Due to the extent of the offensive and crude remarks

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made towards women, voters may now be overcome with a feeling of guilt if they still support or
vote for Trump despite the infamous comments he had made.
At the end of the commercial, Hillary asks, Is this the president we want for our
daughters? This rhetorical question insinuates that a man who clearly does not value women or
their rights should not be voted to take care of their needs. It also reveals that her intended
audience is the male population where she may be lacking support. Because most fathers care for
the wellbeing of their daughters, she wants the men to vote for her in concern for their daughters
and the changes which may be made with a female president. Dan Merica from CNN states,
Throughout her campaign, Clinton has argued that Trump would be ill-equipped president to
handle issues that matter to women and girls. In a way, she proves this statement with this
advertisement because it gives another reason for his incapability to look at their perspective.
Also, this video shows that Trump would not treat men and women equally, as his comments
downgrading women shows he believes men are superior.
Explicitly, this advertisement is giving an insight on Trumps character, and it seems like
Hillary is exposing him for the greater good of not having a president who mistreats women.
Contrastingly, because this is part of a campaign, the implicit message is telling the voters to vote
for Hillary instead of Trump, and it achieves this by showing Trump in a poor light.
Although there are two powerful people shown in this advertisement, it utilizes the
appeal to authority fallacy in favor of Hillary Clinton who is the supported one. In this case,
Clinton is shown to be the more trustworthy authority, as Trump is being exposed for
unprofessional behavior not suited for his job, validating Hillarys point. Because Clinton is an
authority who seems knowledgeable due to her background education and place in the
presidential election, it gives her audience a reason to believe her thoughts and ideas to be

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reasonable.
Also, the Straw Man fallacy is a prominent fallacy throughout this whole commercial
because Hillary is misrepresenting her opponents position by only showing one mistake on
Donald Trumps part rather than his whole political stance (Logic and Contemporary Rhetoric
58). Although this advertisement does show Trump being vulgar towards the female population,
those words alone do not determine his capability to lead the United States as president. This
commerical itself suppresses evidence regarding a relation to Trumps political stance or ways he
plans to change America; it simply points out a flaw which may lead the population to believe it
suggests his inability to be president (Logic and Contemporary Rhetoric 63). Closely related is
the Ad Hominem fallacy which is the most strongly presented fallacy in this advertisement.
Because Hillary Clinton bases her argument solely on Trumps character rather than his stance or
plans for the country, she clearly using the Ad Hominem fallacy to her advantage (Logic and
Contemporary Rhetoric 75).
Mirrors by Hillary Clinton suggests Trump is unsuited to care for the wellbeing of
Americas daughters by giving a visual aid of the expressional faces which may turn to reality if
Trump is voted president. While exposing Trump brings attention to his incompetence as a
presidential candidate, in reality, Hillarys main motive with this commercial is to steer Trumps
supporters as well as an unpopular demographic of men to her side. She achieves this by utilizing
several fallacies proving unreasonable justifications and suppressed evidence, as well as
rhetorical devices such as ethos to manipulate her audiences emotions in her favor.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vHGPbl-werw

Works Cited

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Kahane, Howard, and Nancy Cavender. Logic and Contemporary Rhetoric: The Use of Reason
in Everyday Life. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, 2002. Print.
Merica, Dan. "New Clinton Ad Shows Girls Looking in Mirror as Trump Insults Women." CNN.
Cable News Network, n.d. Web. 17 Oct. 2016.
<http://www.cnn.com/2016/09/23/politics/hillary-clinton-donald-trump-women-ad/>.

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