Political Commercial Project
Political advertisements can communicate, persuade, and even entertain. A thirty-second or one minute
long advertisement can be an effective tool for convincing voters to support a candidate. Ads can target
general or specific audiences, and they can be effective or ineffective in different ways and for different
reasons. They use emotion, persuasion, factual claims, and cinematic style to influence voters.
Because of this, advertisements are heavily used prior to major elections in order to help guide voters
to support a certain candidate.
Today, it is your job to persuade others to vote for a certain candidate. You will have an opportunity to
pick a group of three people. As a group, you will be responsible for writing a script, filming, and editing
a commercial for a political candidate (Trump or Biden). Your goal is to persuade your audience to vote
for your candidate. Your overall score will be reflected upon your ability to be both convincing and
credible to your audience (the class and your teacher), your ability to utilize a type of propaganda with
an analysis as to why you used it, use of creativity throughout the commercial, clarity in both speaking
and presentation, and the inclusion of a group evaluation grade.
Below is the expected timeline of events.
Day 1: Brainstorm ideas of whom or what you want to support and begin writing the script or storyboard
Day 2: Continue/finish writing the script or storyboard and begin filming/creating
Day 3: All class: continue/finish filming and upload FlipGrid
Day 4: Present
It is expected that during these four days, that you treat your groups and other groups with both respect
and professionalism.
Rubric:
Use at least 2 types of Propaganda ______/10 points
(Testimonials, Bandwagon, Name-calling, Glittering Generalities,
Card Stacking, Plain Folks, and Transfer)
Music that fits the theme of the commercial ______/5 points
Storyboard/Script ______/10 points
Individual Group Evaluation ______/5 points
Within Timeframe (thirty seconds to one minute) ______/5 points
Analysis of type of Propaganda used (minimum six to ten sentences as to how and why you used the
sort of propaganda utilized in the commercial.) ______/10 points
Overall Grade: ______/45 points
You will need to turn in your commercial and a Google Doc with the script and analysis.