I watched the John F. Kennedy jingle from 1960 and an add for Barack Obama from 2012. Both adds put the candidate in the positive spotlight and both candidates ended up winning their particular election.
As far as ethos goes, I do not think either add used much of it. Kennedy's ad was catchy and exciting, but it made many claims that were not backed up and that were not easily credible. Saying that Kennedy is, "willing to try new things," and, "Old enough to know but young enough to do," sounds nice but how does anyone really know that it is true? It is hard to tell who someone is when the only glimpse you get of a person is through media so we have to relay on media to inform us with the truth. That doesn't however make it credible. Obama's add started off by saying that a previous add created against Obama by his opponent, Mitt Romney, was false. While it is easy to believe that Romney really did create a false add against Obama, it is difficult to find ethos in Obama's add because I had no knowledge of Romney's add. Obama then went on to talk about how he has small business owners' backs. This is slightly more credible only because Obama was running for reelection in this particular campaign so the people had already seen what he could and did do.
What both adds had in common was their use of pathos and logos. Due to the, in my opinion, lack of ethos, it was necessary for the candidates to use pathos and logos because without it there would be no connect to the voters. People are warmed by knowing that their leader is kind, educated, and willing to do what is best for them and so that's what Obama and Kennedy said they would be and do.
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