Getting Started
This commercial, which serves as Hillary’s announcement to the world of her upcoming candidacy, carries a theme of ‘new beginnings’ and portrays many of her diverse constituents in the beginning stages of something. She highlights two Hispanic brothers starting their own business, a woman reentering the workforce after five years of raising her children and the struggle she’s had in attempting to do so, and a young man starting his job at a fifth-generation family company, which is important to him because, “This country was founded on hard work and it feels good to be a part of that.”
Hillary also employs tried-and-true tactics like adorable children and sentimentality (a pre-schooler says she is excited because she’s going to be ‘in a play in a fish costume’). She showcases a couple who are building a new house, but are mostly struggling to get their wayward puppy under control so it doesn’t eat all of their building supplies. A well-spoken older woman is getting ready to retire and is looking forward to it because “retirement means reinventing yourself in many ways.”
Finally, after everyone else’s announcements and stories of their new journeys, Hillary says, “I’m getting ready to do something too – I’m running for president!” She lays out her initial goals for her campaign and concludes with, “Everyday Americans need a champion, and I want to be that champion.” The word choice here is particularly significant; not only does she take a strong stance as EVERYONE’S supporter, but she uses the word “champion” to imply the winningness and strength of her campaign.
Fighter
Hillary Clinton has had a long, successful career, which makes this video, titled “Fighter,” sound boastful. In fact, “Fighter” serves the dual role of introducing Hillary to her constituents by providing a montage of her life and origins while also giving a “greatest hits” of her professional and political career. Finally, the video shows that she is persistent and tenacious.
This video starts by talking about her work at the Children’s Defense Fund immediately after law school, and a former colleague of hers there says that before holding all her political offices, Hillary was just a “caring, young, bright creative student who cared about children and those left behind.” The video also includes a clip of Clinton speaking at the UN Conference on Women, where she convincingly proclaimed, “Human rights are women’s rights and women’s rights are human rights, once and for all,” which makes for a great soundbite. So too does a short clip of an interview on universal healthcare reform from the 1990s in which an interviewer states, “You want universal healthcare for children…You seem to be swimming against the tide here.” To which Hillary responds, “That’s because I don’t think the tide is moving in the right direction.”
Colleagues of Hillary speak to her “fighter” qualities; a Foreign Service Officer notes, “The fact that she was willing to work for a formal rival, President Obama…restored my faith in the political process.” A rescue worker during 9/11 pledged her loyalty to Hillary because “She has worked day in and day out, fighting for our medical treatment…It has made a huge difference in my life.”
Hillary concludes with the same “champion” rhetoric as in her first campaign advertisement: “Everyday Americans and their families need a champion who will fight for them every single day…I want to be that champion, I want to get up for work every single day and go to work for you, to fight for you, and people know by now that I don’t quit.”
Stand for Reality – Hillary attacks!
“Future generations will look back and wonder, what were we thinking? How could we be so irresponsible?”
This campaign advertisement is much more future-oriented than the other two and serves as Clinton’s “attack ad.” She comes at this issue with a family perspective: “I’m just a grandmother with two eyes and a brain, and I know that what’s happening in the world is going to have a big effect on my daughter and especially on my granddaughter.”
She says, “It’s hard to believe that there are people running for president who still refuse to accept the settled science of climate change”:
“The renewable energy industry has prevented as many as 70,000 asthma attacks and 3,000 premature deaths each year…it created 50,000 jobs and spurred $35B in investment last year alone.”
This video also showcases Hillary’s first advertisement that lays out a White House agenda:
“On day one as president, I will set two ambitious national goals that will test our capacities but that I know are within our reach: First, I will ensure that we hit a target of having more than half a billion solar panels installed across the country by the end of my first term. Second, we’ll send a ten-year goal of generating enough renewable energy to power every single home in America.”
Family Strong
This short advertisement serves to reinforce Clinton’s family stance and reassert her vow to help make America’s families the best that they can be so that America can be the best it can be. Testimonies to her devotion to families include:
“After law school, she could have gone to a big firm, but instead went to the children’s defense fund.”
“In Arkansas, she fought for school reform…as first lady, she helped get healthcare for 8 million kids.”
“She made sure that 9/11 families got the help they needed.”
Clinton also plays up her services as Secretary of State as a means of devotion to the big family that is the United States of America: “[She was] the Secretary of State who joined the cabinet of the man who defeated her. Because when you President calls, you serve.”
Finally, the video concludes by reminding America of her most valued title: Grandmother. While Clinton may be disconnected from her constituents thanks to her privileged background and extensive political experience, invoking her relationship to her grandchild is a means of “getting in” with a demographic of older women.