Famous Campaign Ads

Hey all!  I thought since we went over the "Willie Horton" ad that played a role in Bush's campaign, I would try to find some other well known campaign ads.  A collection of campaign ads put together by Time Magazine does just that.  Unfortunately many of the videos posted on the article "don't exist" according to YouTube, but I'm sure other people have put the same videos online.  Some of the ads you may recognize from some of the documentaries.

• "Daisy Girl":  The most famous campaign ad ever ran, the Daisy Girl is a creation of Lyndon B. Johnson's campaign against Barry Goldwater in 1964.  If you remember from class, this ad features a young girl picking off the petals of a daisy and counting them.  After she repeats her counting, a voice comes on overhead counting down, and the girl freezes until the countdown reaches zero and it shows a nuclear explosion.  Classic Johnson.
• "Any Questions?":  This ad was featured in the Bush and Kerry election in 2004.  Although not created by the Republican Party, this ad was created to hurt the credibility of John Kerry.  Funded by Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, the ad showed 13 different people who claimed to have served and seen the dishonesty of John Kerry while in Vietnam.  However, only one of those 13 actually served with him.
• "Morning in America":  Another ad we've seen before in class is Reagan's ad that highlighted patriotism and inspiration.  The ad itself is just a bunch of people looking happy and american.
• "Willie Horton":  Yes, here it is.  The famous Willie Horton ad took advantage of Michael Dukakis' support of the prison furlough program.  The ad accuses Dukakis of letting the murderer, Willie Horton, leave prison for weekends.
• "3 A.M.":  A fairly recent ad for Hilary Clinton in the primary election in 2008.  The ad shows babies sleeping in the night with a phone (supposed to be the president's phone) ringing in the background.  It was supposed to convince people to vote for Clinton because of her experience with important foreign affairs.  That way, we can sleep peacefully at night.
• "Rock":  I have come to the conclusion, while sitting here giggling on my couch at 11:00, that this is my favorite on the list.  Mike Gravel, for his presidential bid, made an ad of him staring silently staring into the camera for over a minute just so he could silently turn around and throw a rock into the pond behind him.  He says that it is a "metaphor of an ordinary citizen who acts in an unusual and extraordinary way."  Okay Gravel.
• "Laughter":  My second favorite ad.  It is a commercial showing a t.v. with a commercial on it promoting Nixon's running Vice President, Spiro Agnew.  The commercial plays hysterical laughter pointed at the ad for Agnew for Vice President, since many people believed him to be inexperienced.
• "I Like Ike":   A cartoon with a song about everyone voting for Eisenhower.
• "The McGovern Defense":  McGovern was going to get rid of a lot of the military, so Nixon made him regret it.  The commercial had toy soldiers and vehicles that represented the reductions of  the military.  Pretty creative.
• "Kennedy for Me":  Similar to "I Like Ike," this ad takes the bandwagon and song approach.

(http://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/completelist/0,29569,1842516,00.html)