youtube.com/watch?v=KRY7wBuCcBY

The first thing that went through my head when I watched the "Demon Sheep Ad" by Carly Fiorina was that this ad must be a joke created by a YouTube user. There was no way that this advertisement could actually have been showed on public television and created seriously. Sadly, I realized my inaccurate belief by the end of the ad when I saw the "Paid by Carly for California" writing, and after more research, realized that is was shown on television. The advertisement supports Carly Fiorina in the Republican primary in the race for senator against Tom Cambell. While hilarious, it is outrageous and childish. The advertisement starts off in a mellow field inhabited by multiple sheep with words popping up such as purity and piety to give the audience a peaceful feeling. The tone and the music are both very peaceful and mellow. Then all of a sudden, a sheep who is meant to symbolize Tom Cambell is raised on a pedestal which leads to a change in the tone, mood, and music. The music becomes horrifying and evil and the speaker changes from a high female voice to a low male voice.

The rhetorical intent of changing the music and speaker is to connect Tom Cambell directly to the tone. This makes him seem evil. The tone and music of this advertisement is one of the most potent rhetorical devices. It's point is to make Tom seem evil and Carly the savior from this evil. The evil music continues for the entirety of the video. Throughout the rest of the video, unattractive images of Tom constantly are shown. These images are switched off with what else, but images of pigs. So now Tom Cambell is not only meant to seem evil, but also is related to swine. For basically the whole video, the narrator speaks about all of Tom's attempts to increase taxes. This really appeals to the audience because no one likes taxes. Carly Fiorina is not even mentioned until the very end. It is more of an advertisement slandering Cambell then supporting Fiorina. But the organization of the video makes Fiorina's appearance in the advertisement very effective. It makes her seem like the hero, saving the Californian public from the evil "fake" Republican. The final slandering of Cambell occurs when he is dressed up in a wolf's costume in the herd of sheep. The intent of this is to portray Cambell as a fake Republican. The sheep would represent real Republicans. The wolf's costume is meant to be bad on purpose. This makes it obvious for the audience that Tom Cambell is indeed the wolf among sheep, or the democrat among republicans.

As corny as this video may be, it is a very effective piece of rhetoric. This appeals to its audience more than any political advertisement I have ever seen because of its humor; one of the most potent rhetorical devices ever. The makers of this video knew their audience very well; TV watchers who are most likely simple and are looking for some humor and a change from the regular boring political advertisements that are always shown. Basically just the average person. So in a way, this video is genius. Humorous images of a man in a horrible sheep costume along with catchy music makes this video almost irresistible to watch. Orwell would believe that this is a horrible piece of writing, along with the rest of political writing. Throughout the video the narrator uses all of these long and boring sentences that are almost impossible to understand. He does not even attempt to spice up his writing at all, there are no dead metaphors because he doesn't even use metaphors. He also speaks so fast that it makes it almost incomprehendable. The only reason that I could understand it is because the main points are shown on the screen. Even though this video may seem outrageous and corny, it's humor, music, and tone make it an effective piece of rhetoric.