Short civic videos

Choose two short civic videos using any combination of public service announcements such as those produced by the ad council; political interest group ads such as those produced by the NRA, Planned Parenthood, PETA, Everytown.org, MADD, etc.; or ads for recent political candidates. Do not use clips from TV shows, news shows, music videos, spoofs/parodies, or amateur video.

How to find videos:

• Public Service Announcements: See PSA Central, Ad Council, Plowshare, or search for Public Service Announcement on Google Video or Youtube. You might also look at recent campaign ads (though we’re in an off year).
• Special Interest Groups: Google special interests or go to the web sites (or youtube channels) for the National Rifle Association, Everytown.org, American Civil Liberties Union, Right to Life, Planned Parenthood, National Organization for Women, UnionFacts.com, etc. Pure Michigan ads are ok, but not their spoofs, Not so Pure Michigan.
• Campaign Ads: Google 2018 political campaign ads for collections of ads such the collection of ads on The Washington Post for the 2018 cycle. However, be sure to track down the ads on the campaign websites or on their Youtube channel rather than linking to them on a collection site. For example, check out these ad campaigns for governor (
• general — Tom Leonard (embedded video) and  and others. Or even a local election where the candidates have created campaign videos.

How to write about videos:

Remember to maintain a neutral but judicious point of view. You should construct your analysis so that both allies and opponents would find the analysis fair, even though it may include criticism. Be sure to research the ads and/or people/organizations and/or issues. You might also use one of those articles from the New York Times — Welcome to the Post-Text Future — for rhetorical and theoretical context, if not in this forum then in Project 2 itself.

In (500 word) explanation of which videos you chose with links to those videos. The explanation should clarify why you chose these videos rather than being actual descriptions and analyses of the videos. Be sure to include as much information about each video as you can find: the title of each video that you chose, who created/produced the video, when and where it was published or ran, what organization the video is for, what themes the videos address, and how the videos relate to each other thematically, rhetorically, and/or ideologically. You might briefly provide context for each video and any chatter that those videos created (news items, controversies, twitter trends, etc).

Don’t forget to put the link for the two videos that you will choose them.