Ad War

With all of this hoopla about the president’s ad campaign, I am grateful that Matt Stoller at BOP news, found this great resource at the Museum of the Moving Image called The Living Room Candidate, which shows political TV ads going back to 1952. If you have time, you should look at all of them.

I was particularly fascinated by the

1992 Election Page which showed a Bush Sr ad campaign that was almost entirely based on character assassination. Trust, trust, trust. Character, character, character. Lots of “man on the street” interviews with average Americans saying “there’s just something about him I don’t trust.”

I wouldn’t be surprised to see a reprise of this campaign. It’s what these guys do. Just check out 1988, if you want to see more (and also dispell the idea that Dukakis never fought back. He did, but he didn’t attack back, he defended. That’s the difference.)

Anyway, thanks to Matt for the link. It’s a fascinating site.