the ads are stark: adolescent girls assessing themselves before a mirror or a cellphone camera, stroking their hair, straightening their clothes and seeking personal reassurance about their appearance. the strained self-assessment is then met with a jarring interruption. <u+201c>i<u+2019>d look her right in that fat, ugly face of hers,<u+201d> says donald j. trump , as he is shown mugging for the camera. <u+201c>she<u+2019>s a slob. she ate like a pig.<u+201d> in a presidential contest marked by ferocious nastiness and record unfavorable ratings of the candidates, hillary clinton <u+2019>s campaign believes it has found an effective messaging vehicle in the final weeks of the race: ads featuring provocative remarks from mr. trump that are layered over camera frames hinting at the hurt they might cause. the campaign is using this tactic in three separate ads, focusing on how three different groups <u+2014> veterans , young children and, most recently, young women <u+2014> might respond when shown some of mr. trump<u+2019>s more caustic comments from his days as a reality television host and personality. they represent a marked departure from the traditional political attack ad, which typically focuses more on a candidate<u+2019>s political or business record while using the menacing voice of a narrator. in the latest clinton ones, the voice is that of the rival candidate himself. it is a tactic that is intended to shock and appeal to raw emotion, said steven passwaiter, a vice president at kantar media, a group that tracks political advertising. <u+201c>those are the kind of things where people will sit down and go, <u+2018>whoa, wait a minute,<u+2019><u+201d> mr. passwaiter said of the ads. he added, <u+201c>it<u+2019>s not the usual just <u+2018>he<u+2019>s weak on this and he<u+2019>s terrible on that.<u+2019> this is taking the most vulnerable people in our society<u+201d> to show the potential effect of mr. trump<u+2019>s words. the clinton campaign felt the different approach was the only way to break through in painting an alarming portrait of mr. trump. <u+201c>we all were trying to pick the lock on how someone who is so outrageous in so much of what they say,<u+201d> said jim margolis of gmmb, one of the firms working on the clinton campaign<u+2019>s advertising. <u+201c>how do you communicate it in a way that feels both different but has the impact that his words should have?<u+201d> the campaign clearly believes the ads are working. it has spent more than $20 million on the three ads and one other, accounting for roughly 20 percent of its total advertising budget to date, according to kantar media/cmag. one ad, <u+201c>role models,<u+201d> featuring young children watching mr. trump<u+2019>s more profane and caustic comments, is the campaign<u+2019>s main spot in republican-leaning states where it believes mr. trump<u+2019>s nontraditional candidacy and unpopularity with some more moderate republicans could put him in danger. the campaign has spent nearly $1 million running the ad in arizona, for example, which has voted for a democratic presidential candidate only once since 1952. the ads, notably, do not feature actors or stock footage <u+2014> except for one or two scenes in <u+201c>role models,<u+201d> mr. margolis said. rather, those appearing in the ads are the children of clinton supporters who wanted to help, or veterans who had reached out to the campaign expressing concern over mr. trump<u+2019>s positions. the genesis of the new commercials was the campaign<u+2019>s desire to try something different after negative advertising blitzes against mr. trump during the primary race seemed to do little damage to his candidacy, aside from lifting his unfavorable numbers. mr. trump<u+2019>s republican rivals and three <u+201c> super pacs <u+201d> created to derail his candidacy spent more than $100 million in a futile effort to knock mr. trump off his perch. the clinton campaign also felt that a traditional attack ad would get lost in the noise of a campaign in which many republicans have stood by mr. trump despite media fact-checking that has consistently shown him taking liberties with the truth. <u+201c>when we sat back and said, <u+2018>o.k., in many respects, if we just asserted this, if we used an announcer to just make the charge even if we sort of backed it up,<u+2019> i don<u+2019>t think a lot of viewers would have believed it,<u+201d> mr. margolis explained. <u+201c>and that it was really important for us to hear from trump directly.<u+201d> many, including mr. trump himself, have questioned the impact of political advertising this election cycle, when two people already well known to the public are the main candidates. even some republican ad makers are praising the clinton commercials for their novel approach. <u+201c>the three clinton <u+2018>mirror<u+2019> ads are effective; they are visually different with very real-looking people staring at their screens,<u+201d> said larry mccarthy, a republican ad maker who worked for right to rise usa, the main super pac that supported jeb bush, and our principles pac, an anti-trump group, during the republican primary. <u+201c>the viewer is able to identify with the impact trump<u+2019>s quotes have on their daughters, veterans, et cetera, in the shots,<u+201d> he added. <u+201c>but for however strong the <u+2018>mirror<u+2019> ads are, the real question is whether they will actually move ballot numbers among swing voters.<u+201d> mr. trump has spent just $15.8 million so far on ads in the general election, according to kantar media/cmag, and polls over the last month showed a tightening race, a situation mrs. clinton has begun to reverse after her debate performance last week. the clinton ads have clearly struck a chord, but not always a positive one. <u+201c>that ad is deplorable,<u+201d> said fran hadjilogiou, 75, unprompted, while talking to a reporter about mr. trump<u+2019>s debate performance at a trump campaign event in melbourne, fla. <u+201c>it<u+2019>s a shame that they do that to little girls, that they see that.<u+201d> find out what you need to know about the 2016 presidential race today, and get politics news updates via facebook , twitter and the first draft newsletter . a version of this article appears in print on october 6, 2016, on page a16 of the new york edition with the headline: in visceral ads on girls and veterans, clinton lets trump do all the talking. order reprints | today's paper | subscribe
in visceral ads for hillary clinton, donald trump does all the talking
nick corasaniti