The 2008 American Presidential election is one for the history books. No one can argue that this exciting time brought up numerous issues never witnessed in any previous election. The front-runner of these controversial topics was gender and how it will affect our political culture. Is the United States of America ready for Mrs. President? The idea of a woman becoming the commander of the free world was a transformation. Several voters were apprehensive about, but candidate Hillary Clinton learned to twisted this negative position toward women in politics to her favor using some very clever contrast political advertisements. The controversial advertisement that illustrated Senator Clinton capturing control of her gender role was the “It’s 3am and the White House phone is ringing.” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7yr7odFUARg&feature=PlayList&p=301C61E4EB19FEF5&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=15. This commercial combined the concept of a contrasting political advertising and women’s power in politics.
When the commercial begins we hear a quiet telephone ringing and the picture flashes to a beautiful serene middle-class house. We travel into the house and gaze upon several children sleeping peacefully with a delicate ringing in the darkness. The children seem so innocent and helpless, almost as though they need to be protected. The narrator explains that it is 3am and our American children are safe and asleep, but “there is a phone is ringing in the White House and there is something going on in the world.” This dooming message promotes fear for these defenseless children implying that they might not be safe forever, unless someone powerful answers this fateful call. The speaker encourages viewers to make an important choice that determines who answers this critical phone call by asking who would you want answering this phone call? “Someone who already knows the world’s leaders, who knows the military,” and who most significantly has experience in dangerous leadership situations. The obvious answer to these imperative questions is, yes! Of course we want a leader that is acknowledged and respected throughout the world! We absolutely want someone that can recognize and responsibly manage a political or economic crisis. The audience wishes to defend American children, but in order to shelter them, citizens require a very influential and powerful leader. The phone continues to chime as the listeners feel apprehension about the delicate children security, but suddenly the children’s mother tiptoes into their room with the intention of caring for her young ones. The commercial demonstrates that America needs maternal armor. Finally the light of America comes on and our experienced and brave motherly guardian, Hillary Clinton, answers the call of duty. This ingenious commercial completely flips the gendered hesitation about women in powerful political roles and provides evidence to prove that only an experienced mother could handle the job.
Through out the 2008 campaign the subject of gender was always looming in the backdrops, all voters realized that change was inevitable but no one really knew how exactly the change would effect our culture. A woman commander and chief would revolutionize our whole political structure. It would uproot centuries of masculine leadership image tradition and sincerely put our country’s trust to the test. It’s an age-old question; can a woman encompass all the required skills to command the free world? Can she ever be as good as a man? Most of these reservations, as ridiculous as they are, have been entrenched in our culture ever since our founding fathers wrote the Constitution. Through gender concerns the male candidates have an unspoken advantage over any female candidate, because American voters are uneasy about a woman leader. The 2008 election was a very monumental period for women in politics because it demonstrated that America is growing up and evolving gendered basis of political figures. Even though Hillary Clinton didn’t win a nomination she was nevertheless perceived as a valuable and legitimate candidate and that is an immense stride for women’s political image.
Hillary Clinton was constantly blasted by negative and contrast political ads throughout the campaign not only for being a woman but also for serving as the former First Lady. The 3am ad was a very controversial and effective ad that produced some political turbulence. This advertisement was so shrewd because it captured all these negative connotations about female leadership and completely distorted them into an affirmative representation, along with damaging the creditability of Barack Obama. She progressed away from the concept of a masculine leader and molded the presidential role into a motherly protector that is persistently guarding her children. This gendered maternal initiative is comforting to Americans just as we are reassured by the thought of our own mother watching over us while we sleep; we feel safe and secure. A mother is a model of someone who will always be there for you even at 3am, and this portrayal is precisely what Americans to feel protected. Through this ad Hilary Clinton used social gender positions to her advantage in order to persuade Americans to perceive her as America’s mother, which is a job only an experienced mother could succeed at. She also threw the unique and powerful emotion of a mother’s love into the mix and according to Hollihan, “most consultants believed it was vitally important to reach voters with emotional appeal, and that the appearance and images mattered substantially more did extensive amounts of information.” (Hollihan 154) A mother’s role is usually a caregiver, an individual that permanently acts in their child’s best interest, a mother grizzly that fights fearlessly for her cub. The momma bear image began to influence Americans that perhaps a woman’s touch is exactly what we need in the Oval Office.
The 3am contrast ad also preformed an influential role in questioning Obama’s ability to lead our country. Even though the ad never spoke Barack Obama’s name, it nonetheless shaped an inexperienced and naïve portrait of him as a leader. Hillary Clinton established that she had lived in the White House before, she had encountered and conversed with world leaders and several were familiar with her policies and were in reliance with her. She has already experienced the pressures of existing in the public spotlight while working to promote a positive female political icon. Clinton has previously survived through a presidential campaign and term and with a pro like Bill Clinton at her side she can’t go wrong. Most importantly she slammed Obama’s weakest aspect in his presidential push, experience. The majority of the American voters had never even seen Barack Obama prior to his leap on the scene and promises of political, social, and economic change. We had by no means observed any of his political policies or any governmental achievements. Obama was a self-proclaimed candidate that had a way with words and an unbelievable presence. People were hypnotized by his speech but numerous groups still asked, where did this guy come from? He is younger and certainly does not come from a family of political enforcement; even his personal history as a citizen was questioned. A large fraction of the political community doubted his ability to lead as a consequence of his extreme deficit of political relationships and his scarce familiarity among foreign affairs. The Hillary Clinton 3am contrast political advertisement danced on every one of Americans’ insecurities about Barack Obama and planted a strong seed of doubt.
The 3am ad served as a perfect example of a tremendously effective political contrast ad that flipped negative gender roles into a radical new interpretation of women leaders. This ad shifted Americans’ vision of delicate women directors into a fresh attitude of motherly bravery and attention. The ad encompasses various significant and unspoken political communications into thirty seconds of flashing illustrations and anxious sound that not only presents innovative political gender designs but also simultaneously undercuts the opponent’s ability to adequately compete.
Work Cited
Hollihan, Thomas. Uncivil Wars: Political Campaigns of the Media Age. 2nd. Boston: Bedford/St.Martin's, 2008. Print.
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