Jarrod Cook

Professor Liliana Naydan

English 15, Section 15

29 September 2004

Clinton’s Coalition

In March of 1997 the Coalition for America’s Children released an ad using President Clinton to support the cause. This is a wise choice for adding credibility to the ad because many people recognize and have a great deal of respect for the president of their homeland. Unfortunately, this respect and credibility would be short lived because of a scandal that would soon go public. The ordeal with Monica Lewinsky and President cause this ad to be discredited shortly after its release. The ad uses many patriotic references and symbols to effectively connect with all Americans. The cause of this organization stirs emotions in readers, allowing pathos to play a key role in the scheme of the ad. Programs for children can easily and effectively apply emotion because of the connection common people have with children and/or childhood. These methods have the ability to appeal to an extremely wide audience, which is exactly the aim of this corporation.

This government campaign aims to recruit people of all ages to assist and help younger children through hardships. They exclusively state, “Whether you’re a young adult…or retired person who can supervise an after-school program the Coalition can get you involved” (Coalition for America’s Children). When they target an audience this large they must be sure to use common examples that people of all ages can relate to. This is the reason why the president was used as the main focus as the ad, because everyone respects and admires the president of the United States of America. For this reason patriotic colors and references are also used to gain credibility throughout the ad. Using children as the main emotional appeal is also very effective in this example because everyone can relate to them.

The main focus of this ad is actually achieving a means to help children, which gives it emotional value without even trying. This angle becomes the main source of ethos throughout the scope of the advertisement. They tell us that our children must deal “with drugs, crime and other problems” these days and it is growing more difficult to be a good parent (Coalition for America’s Children). They use this strategy to convince readers that parents need a little extra help and raising their children these days. They force the audience to feel sorry for the children and parents and make them more inclined to provide assistance to the families. They continue building this guilt by telling you of all the ways you can help, leaving you with no excuse as to why you cannot. This makes it hard to just brush this information aside without feeling pangs of guilt.

At the bottom of the ad they hit the reader with the slogan of their company, which instills the greatest feeling of pathos onto the reader. The slogan states, “We’re fighting for the children. Whose side are you on” (Coalition for America’s Children)? They center this slogan on the paper and put it in capital bold font so that it is impossible for it to got unnoticed. This slogan stirs a great amount of guilt and a feeling of emotional distress in the audience of the article. It makes you feel that if you do not assist them in their cause you are the enemy, and are staged against the welfare of the children themselves. They even include the word “kids” in their phone number and web address, which makes it hard for the reader to forget. It demonstrates the Coalition to be a strong, caring, and charitable force, and causes the reader to think that if they chose to ignore this offer to join they will be harming the kids. They also back up their reputation by using people and phrases that add credibility to the company itself.

The Coalition uses many methods to back up their story and add credibility to their arguments. They claim their cause was formed by “350 wonderful organizations,” forcing the reader into believing the genuine goodness of there cause (Coalition for America’s Children). 350 organizations could not possibly all be wrong, so the reader is convinced of the credibility of cause. They also have symbols on their ad from the ad council verifying the ad as being from an honest organization. The biggest influence on this ad is provided by a very well respected figure of society. This is very effective because it causes all doubt the readers once had to fade away.

Former President Bill Clinton forms the main strategy, presented in this advertisement, in convincing the readers to join the cause. The President of the United States is always very well respected by all citizens of America and by citizens of many other countries. His sponsorship of this cause gives an astronomical amount of credibility to the ad because of his importance in our society. The ad quotes the President in saying, “The toughest job in the world isn’t being President. It’s being a parent” (Clinton). This shows that Clinton himself thinks raising children is harder than raising a country, and if anyone would know it would be him. Clinton already has one presidential term under his belt and was working on the second at the time of the ad’s release, giving him the experience necessary to credibly make this statement. The audience is know convinced that the children do need help since the President himself has endorsed the cause.

They even take it a step further by providing a picture of the President with his own family. The picture of Clinton and his family shows the three happy smiling faces of him, his wife, and his teenage daughter. They are standing in a field on a nice summer’s day, which creates an atmosphere of joy for the audience. The audience now feels connected with Clinton on a more common basis because they realize that he, just like them, has a family of his own to care for. He recognizes the difficulty and is able to persevere and raise a happy child and family. In looking at this ad though we must remember that it was released in March of 1997 and soon after this time a great secret about Clinton went public. This secret changed the way people would think of Bill Clinton from this day forward. It also has a great impact on this ad and its very credibility, since its main focus was President Clinton.

On January 12, 1998 the case exploded when Linda Tripp released 20 hours of taped conversations with Miss Monica Lewinsky. This situation greatly discredits this advertisement and the ethos once added to it by the appearance of Bill Clinton in his family. He is accused of having relations with an intern of the white house, Monica Lewinsky, which eventually results in his impeachment. Not only is he guilty of having affair during his marriage he initially denies it by stating, “I did not have sexual relations with that woman” (Jones vs. Clinton Deposition). Now Clinton is has not only been categorized as an adulterer but as a liar. How can Clinton possibly endorse an ad claiming to protect the sanctity of families when he cheats on his own wife? He is also now thought of as a liar completely taking away the credibility he once added to this ad, because he is no longer an honest man.

Although this situation was made public after the publication of this ad, it still delivered a hit to the organization’s credibility. By this time the ad had been run in many publications without the option of removing them. These forms of media are still in circulation to this day on the web and in older publications. Every time it is seen it discredits this group and their cause making it hard for the reader to focus on the actual aim because of the underlying scandal of Clinton’s Presidency. The picture itself appears as lie to the audience because the family appears happy but the reader knows that the president had cheated on his family before this picture had been taken. Clinton’s quote is not seen as honest either because he has obviously not taken on the job of being a parent like he is asking the audience to do. This ad may have once been an effective marketing tool, but today it just discredits this group more every time it is read.

Works Cited

Coalition for America’s Children. (March 1997): http://www.pewtrusts.com/

Time. “The President on Trial Timeline.” http://www.time.com

Washington Post. “Jones vs. Clinton Deposition.” Washington Post Company (13

March 1998): http://www.washingtonpost.com