Language & Communication 37 (2014) 100–119 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Language & Communication journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/langcom The clichéd juxtapositions and pleasing patterns of political advertising ⇑ Rowan R. Mackay Linguistics & English Language, The University of Edinburgh, Dugald Stewart Building, 3 Charles Street, Edinburgh EH8 9AD, UK article info abstract Article history: This paper addresses the following problem: advertising generally – and recent U.S. political Available online 6 March 2014 campaign ads specifically – use juxtaposition that is simultaneously effective and clichéd. We can identify the stereotypes employed, the structural components put together in a Keywords: formulaic manner, and the stock images, key changes, and colour coordination which form Political advertising such components. We are so aware of this make-up that a successful spoof ad makes its point Cliché simply through the use of an exaggerated application of just such a formula. Our casual Juxtaposition understanding of cliché, therefore, is inadequate if we wish to shed light upon political Legitimation advertising. Social semiotics Discourse analysis Ó 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Calling something clichéd is a negative critical judgement on its style or structure, and on the limited imagination of its creator. On the other hand, to be told that we have made an effective juxtaposition is a compliment, and indeed cliché would seem to be antithetical to effectiveness. This paper addresses the following problem: advertising generally – and recent U.S. political campaign ads specifically – use juxtaposition that is simultaneously effective and clichéd. As viewers, we have little trouble identifying the stereotypes employed, the structural components put together in a formulaic manner, and the stock images, key changes, and colour coordination which form such components. Such is the audience’s awareness of this make- up that a successful spoof ad makes its point simply through the exaggerated application of the formula. To understand how cliché works as a purposive stylistic and compositional element, we need to investigate its complexity of meaning, and as- sess its multifarious realisations. The most common usage of the word cliché falls squarely into Orwell’s ‘catalogue of swindles and perversions’ (Orwell, 1962, p. 149), where it retains its negative connotation of being, at best, the result of slovenly composition, and at worst, a tool used in ‘the defence of the indefensible’ (Orwell, 1962, p. 153). Yet there is also a widespread view that a cliché has come into being be- cause it expresses something universal and eternal. This aphoristic quality, in particular, informs the use of cliché in advertising. McLuhan and Watson (1970) outline the many overlaps and connections between cliché and archetype, recalling the central place of archetype in Jungian philosophy, and the centrality of the ‘symbol’ to cliché, archetype, and juxtaposition. Zijderveld (1979) brings together many of these concerns within an argument which connects the ubiquitous cliché with modernity. Running in parallel with the expectation of cliché in political ads is an expectation of juxtaposition. Defined as the ‘action of placing two or more things close together or side by side, or one thing with or beside another; the condition of being so placed’ (OED Online), juxtaposition also brings with it suggestions of contrast, surprise, antithesis and synthesis. The Dada ⇑ Tel.: +44 (0)131 651 3083 E-mail address: [email protected] http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.langcom.2014.02.001 0271-5309/Ó 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. R.R. Mackay / Language & Communication 37 (2014) 100–119 101 and Surrealist schools focussed on juxtaposition, as did the filmmaker Sergei Eisenstein. For all three, juxtaposition was a method by which complacency and the status quo could be challenged, a new way forward presented, and the first step to the change taken. The effect of the juxtaposition upon the psyche was both illuminating and transforming. This suited the radical politics of Eisenstein but could hardly suit the ‘more of the same’ message (Silverstein, 2011a) an incumbent pres- idential nominee might hope to convey. Yet conservatism can use shocking juxtaposition in negative campaigning: ‘‘woe unto us if they get in...’’. The infamous ‘Daisy’ anti-Goldwater ad of the 1964 US presidential campaign (the ‘Jaws’ of political ads) juxtaposed the image of an innocent little girl picking and counting petals of a flower with the ominous countdown to a nuclear bomb; the mushroom cloud reflected in the pupil of the girl’s eye. Regardless of political stance, juxtaposition as a means of scaremongering will always be effective. Yet how can a juxtaposition be both effective and clichéd? How is it that audiences still find the shark in the water, the tense music, and the fate of the oblivious bathers nerve-racking, alarming even? How can an ad still create even a slight frisson by presenting a mother kissing a cute child, a panoramic shot of an open, ‘natural’ landscape, and a politician framed against a blue sky? 2. Methodology The methodology employed in this paper draws from critical discourse studies, and in particular the discourse historical approach (DHA). The DHA focuses upon the evolution of ideas and states of affairs for the purposes of illuminating the pres- ent. The two conjoined ideas under investigation here are cliché and juxtaposition, against a backdrop of political advertising (and specifically, the spot ad); the ultimate aim of the paper being to persuade the reader that the ubiquity of what is called the ‘clichéd juxtaposition’ ought not blind us to its subtle and significant function in political discourse. The DHA ‘explicitly tries to establish a theory of discourse by establishing the connection between fields of action (Girnth, 1996), genres, discourses and texts’(Wodak and Meyer, 2009, p. 26). In relation to the political spot ad, the field of action (if it is to be called one field) is that of mainstream Politics (using the capital to limit the sprawling term ‘politics’ to just what concerns the polity). Within this field, the sub-genre of Political advertising is influenced by a plethora of contemporaneous, societally significant discourses. In recent times for example: the economic discourses of austerity, unemployment, regeneration and regulation, and the moral discourses of prudence, societal progress, and responsibility. These discourses are brought into the Political arena from their own fields (both eco- nomic and moral), thereby creating loops of influence. Such discursive interaction thus influences the texts produced in the relevant fields. My contention is that the use of clichés as vehicles for the easy communication of (purposefully) un(der)stud- ied value statements results in their being endemic to Political advertising (and advertising more generally). Simultaneously, despite this intentional lack of focus on values (through cliché), as advertising, the texts must be notice- able: they are not produced (as many institutional texts seem to be) as part of a bureaucratic demand for recording an official version of what has transpired. An advertisement aims to influence people’s action (see Mackay, 2013b). To gain attention, and to differentiate themselves from the competition – both in terms of holding the attention of an audience that may other- wise turn to another media, or outlet; and also in the more prescribed sense of competing against the other Political actors engaged in the same game. As these Political ads are multimodal texts, I shall also use the framework of social semiotics which, like the DHA, places the social as both the primary motivation and the pivot around which analysis is conducted. Similarly arising out of critical linguistics – and in particular Halliday’s systemic functional linguistics, with its metafunctions – social semiotics has wid- ened its remit to include ‘semiotic devices in discourse other than [but not excluding] the linguistic ones’ (Wodak and Meyer, 2009, p. 15). This allows for the communicative potential of non-linguistic (or not solely linguistic) modes to be taken into account, not as an afterthought, but with equivalent attention. The social aspect of social semiotics enables the analyst to consider the motivations, values, attitudes, ideologies, power-wielding potential, and historical ‘baggage’ which underwrites the affordances of each mode (as well as the limitations to the actual uptake of these affordances). It is beyond the scope of this paper to give anything approaching an exhaustive social semiotic analysis and, as such, I focus mainly, but not exclu- sively, on the visual mode. I use examples from two advertisements from the 2012 US presidential election – the first from the Republican primaries, and the second from the post-nomination presidential campaign. The selection of these two ads comes after a much larger systematic study of the political ad in the U.S. (Mackay, 2013a), in which I surveyed the ads from every U.S. presidential cam- paign in which the television spot was used (1952 onwards). I shall also refer to the spoof ads run as part of the satirical commentary initiated and headed by Stephen Colbert, a well known public figure in the U.S. These four ads are available online and, with the possible exception of the Colbert spoofs, are held in reliable, long-term collections. The addresses for these ads are the following: ‘‘ConservativeLeadership’’ Perry, 2011, Original air date: 31/10/11, From the Political Communication Lab, Stanford. http://pcl.stanford.edu/campaigns/2012/primary/?ad=Conservative+Leadership+-+Rick+Perry+%28SPAC%29+-+Oct+31. ‘‘The Moment’’ Romney, 2012, Original air date: 11/06/12, From Museum of the Moving Image, The Living Room Candi- date: Presidential Campaign Commercials 1952–2012. www.livingroomcandidate.org/commercials/2012/the-moment. Colbert SuperPac Commercial #1 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qulpucVacM8. Colbert SuperPac Commercial #2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5m9QZWwIgQ. 102 R.R. Mackay / Language & Communication 37 (2014) 100–119 3. Literature review 3.1.