The One--Prophet or President?

Michael Shaw, a clinical psychologist and publisher of BagnewsNotes, analyzes visual media to interpret and understand what subliminal meaning may be found behind the photos and political ads we see each day.

I thought that this posting was pertinent with the discussion on typography last week in class.

Although there are other points made in this analysis of two political ads, one from the Obama campaign and the other from McCain's, the focus on typography relates to McCain's ad, The One. The first part of the video uses a similar font to what is used when printing the Bible. There are plenty of religious connections made between the print shown and the accompanying visuals. Near the end, the font style changes to a contrasting sans serif style when the viewer is asked if Obama is ready to lead.

I think that the Roman serif font really helps make the message of the ad complete. The contrasting sans serif at the end, helps the viewer understand that there is a change in voice from what is purportedly Obama's voice to what is then McCain's voice.

I knew at some level that there is a lot of thought that goes into putting together ads, but I hadn't looked at it at the deeper level of analysis I read on the BagnewsNotes.