Political Adverts

As Election Day approaches, especially during presidential campaigns, critics of politics decry low voter turnout. Advertising can be

The “Daisy” ad was a political ad that aired during the 1964 presidential race between Lyndon B. Johnson and Barry Goldwater. The “Daisy” ad was produced by Johnson’s campaign and showed a young girl in a field with a daisy and then a nuclear explosion. After airing only once, it was pulled off the air due to it being viewed as very controversial. This ad was the first that played on fear and never even mentioned Goldwater’s name. Although it was pulled off the air the ad experienced ad amplification as news stations produced multiple stories on it causing it to play repeatedly when they showed

These types of ads, also known as attack ads, target the opponent's flaws and weakness in an unethical manner. As shown in Document D, negative ads only include the negative points about a candidate’s opponent. One example of this is in George Bush’s attack ad, “Tank Ride”. “[Michael Dukakis] has opposed virtually every defense system we developed...And now he wants to be our Commander-in-Chief. America can’t afford that risk.” While most people would think that these negatively-skewed ads would turn away voters, according to data, this has actually proved to be an extremely effective strategy. Although attack ads have proved their effectiveness, they are not particularly informative or even ethical, as they are disrespectful to the

     When candidates develop a plan of attack for campaign advertising, they tend to aim for at least four types of commercials. One form or type of commercial is those which play on the fears of countrymen. Fear

Over the years Campaigning in the U.S. has changed drastically because of technological advances, the internet, social media, and the real-time information sharing across the globe. One study suggest that over the years, examining 2000, 2004, 2008, and 2012, political advertising has become more negative. The Wesleyan Media Project’s charts states and 2004 election 45 percent of the ads were negative, where in 2012 about 65 percent of the ads were negative.1 There are many speculations on why these negative ads are increasing with every election, but one fact is that campaigns can use negativity to bring attention to a certain topic and sometimes benefit from the free media coverage if the controversy is popular enough.

It is very common among the United States’ political sphere to rely heavily on T.V. commercials during election season; this is after all the most effective way to spread a message to millions of voters in order to gain their support. The presidential election of 2008 was not the exception; candidates and interest groups spent 2.6 billion dollars on advertising that year from which 2 billion were used exclusively for broadcast television (Seelye 2008.) Although the effectiveness of these advertisements is relatively small compared to the money spent on them (Liasson 2012), it is important for American voters to think critically about the information and arguments presented by these ads. An analysis of the rhetoric in four of the political

In this day and age, political advertisements are stretched to the limits of toleration. Many of them focus more on the shortcomings of their opponents rather than the ideas and plans they have for the country. Often, the ads are nothing more than superficial smears aiming to tarnish the image of the target nominee. If the ads where kept cleaner and were more focused on important

In the 2012 Presidential election, the majority of outside spending was a result of the Citizens United decision1. The unique increase of money translated into an increase in television ads, radio ads, and direct mailings. Unfortunately, the large increase in political rhetoric caused a move to political extremes rivaling those at the end of the Civil War2. It explains that micro-targeting of advertising allowed corporations and Super PACS to create echo chambers, where only points of view in agreement with the audience were expressed. Polarization was an issue before the Citizens United ruling, but the unique increase in rhetoric caused the “worst polarization in 120 years.

Due to the fact that these political advertisements and the media manipulate political perspectives, this truly is an insult to the idea of free elections because as the government through advertising is now shaping Americans’ beliefs there are no longer unaltered political views. The people are no longer making their own decisions but rather having choices placed in front of them. The system of democracy is substantially degraded when citizens’ outlook on politics

In many ways, political advertising does the same thing but advertisers employ heavy use of weasel words and other types of ad-like

In “Propaganda Techniques in Today 's Advertising” by Ann McClintock, the author discusses how Americans are being brainwashed by advertisements and the different techniques they use to catch our attention. Ads are simply everywhere we look, it is impossible to get through the day without seeing one. All advertising companies put tons of research into how consumers spend money or even vote. Once these companies finish their research, they create advertisements that appeal to the masses. The basic propaganda techniques that McClintock writes about are Name Calling, Glittering Generalities, Transfer, Testimonial, Plain Folks, Card Stacking, and Bandwagon. Each one of these propaganda techniques is used in specific ways by advertisers to sell their product or service to consumers. I have selected a political ad which uses the Glittering Generalities technique, a coffee ad that uses Transfer technique, a soda ad that uses the Testimonial technique, and a soup ad that uses the Name Calling technique.

Every day, companies present the people with advertisements everywhere they go. Advertisements have become very prevalent in today’s society nowadays focusing in on a negative connotation. Advertisement has become an effective way for producers to display their new products. In present day, they come in forms of billboards, flyers, e-mails, and even text messages. It is widely known that companies create advertisements to persuade people to buy specific products or goods; however, it is not widely known that advertisements can make a negative impact on today’s society. The companies manipulate people’s mind and emotions, swaying people by new promotions and therefore generating a strong desire to fit into the society, that causes them to make inessential expenditures. Advertisements pose a critical impact on the American culture.

In campaigning, media coverage plays a large role for candidates. They use the media to make their name heard and image seen. “Nearly everything a candidate does is geared toward the media, especially television” (Stuckey, 1999, p. 99) Candidates make appearances on talk shows,

In short, Political Consultant has become very important member of the campaign team as they’re responsible for following the ethical guidelines in public advertising for their client. For the most part, with the increased in mass media and marketing techniques the incarnation of political consultants has become popular (Neher, W., & Sandin, P. J, 2007, p. 237). Furthermore, campaign has PACs to use political ads to help their client campaign. According to Neher & Sandlin (2007), “ Tthe increasingly central role of media marketing and the rapid growth of the PACs and their growing reliance on Internet communication are the sources for major concerns about communication ethics” (236). Therefore, the two media organizations such as the American Association of Political Consultants and the Radio and Television News Directors Association are the two media organization I chose to examine.

In sharp contrast to past elections when candidates campaigned in-person, the 2016 election has been significantly mediated through mass media. With such a large influence on voters, the media not only determines which issues and events are salient in voters’ minds, but also how voters evaluate candidates. Moreover, media coverage, depending on its content, can influence whether voters think about candidates in terms of campaign issues or candidate attributes.