This morning on the news, there was a report of who supposedly first opened the arena for a bloody fight. Truth be told, I didn't pay attention long enough to find out who CNN thought was the guilty party. To me, it doesn't matter and every time I hear, "My name is _______ and I endorse this message." it makes me dislike that candidate and respect them less.
Regarding the political ads that will soon infect every commercial break on most channels, do they make a significant difference? A local talk show host discussed this topic this morning and was unable to find a single listener who would admit to having been swayed by attack ads. Perhaps someone listening had changed their vote based on an ad and was afraid of the backlash they may receive, I can't say for sure. I can say with certainty that most people I know simply turn down the volume or turn the station to avoid hearing the same attacks time and again.
Surely, campaigns and action groups must feel there is some benefit to waging this dirty war, otherwise they wouldn't spend millions of dollars producing them and paying for air time.
I have to wonder how political campaigns were run before there was a television set in every home in America. If you lived in a remote area, would you have known what a candidate looked like? Did candidates smear one another, digging up every morsel of dirt since pre-puberty? If they did, how did they get their messages across? Were families subjected to juicy gossip about the candidates during breaks in radio shows?
I think ads aren't meant to flat out change someone's opinion. They're supposed to instill in the recesses of our mind some little doubt about an opposing candidate or some subtle valiant notion about the candidate it supports. It's very discreet marketing, just the same as, say for example, m&m ads. No one goes out to buy m&ms just because of those bizarre ads, but they instill in our subconscious a bias towards that product. They very subtly program our brains to think about the product being advertised. For example, thanks to these ads, whenever we see a simple printed 'm' we think of their little chocolaty candies. Advertisers can be seen as psychological manipulators. That's why I truly believe "don't believe everything you hear on TV." Chances are your brain is being tricked.
Prior to the advent of television, candidates would sometimes make cross-country treks via train, personally campaigning in every stop along the way. Woodrow Wilson was especially known for this. In a way it was better, because campaigns required personal interaction between the people and the candidate.
I understand what you're saying about placing doubt in the minds of viewers, I just wonder how many viewers listen to them anymore. In this day of multi-tasking, do we pay attention or do we simply get up and do something else?
And in the days of cross-country treks, were the candidates busy informing the public on their own policies or were they belittling the competition? It drives me crazy that more money seems to be spent on negative campaign tactics than on making sure voters know what you stand for.
I agree, negative campaigning simply sends the wrong message, especially if you claim to be a candidate for reform (like McCain) or change (like Obama). Unfortunately, when one candidate sinks to that level, the other is often forced to do the same in their defense. I bet a lot of people's cynicism and apathy towards politics comes from this type of behavior.
I just wonder how many viewers listen to them anymore.
More than you think, actually. Though not necessarily consciously. Just because you aren't consciously paying attention to something, it doesn't mean that your brain isn't processing it.
It's kind of like Free Credit Report. I bet that if you think about it, or if someone starts one, you can remember the words to one of the jingles they use, even if you never really paid attention to the commercial.
I am treated as evil by people who claim that they are being oppressed because they are not allowed to force me to practice what they do. ~D. Dale Gulledge
I would like so much to see someone try the old way of campaigning, which would be so amazing I would probably just vote for them regardless of what their agenda was...K maybe not completely regardless, but pretty close.
I think many would have said the same thing about radio.
You got to love and disregard technology all at once.
~T
A nation of well informed men who have been taught to know and prize the rights which God has given them cannot be enslaved. It is in the region of ignorance that tyranny begins. ~Benjamin Franklin
Look up some of the old political cartoons from pre-TV elections. They were brutal! Way more brutal than anything we have today. But they were also way more witty. The majority of the population wouldn't take the time to get it today, if campaign messages were delivered the same way.
http://www.progressiveu.org/blog/ediblewoman
I've never had a TV my entire life really to speak of. We had a box that looked like a TV, but I don't think I can ever recall it actually being on. As I grew up, I still haven't gotten a TV.
It makes me wonder what I'm missing at times. However, I hear everything via the newspaper or Internet. I am just glad I can ignore the ads very easily. Political ones included.
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You can't ignore me, for I'll not lie down quietly.
http://insanitek.net
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CNN recently ran an article on the campaigns of John Adams and Thomas Jefferson that you might find interesting. It discusses how those campaigns played out and gave rise to negative campaigning as we know, and detest it, today. Some of the insults they threw then would likely make even today's nasties blanch. See here. Radar has posted some of the handbills and broadsides that were passed around during earlier elections as well. They aren't pretty either.
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Like writing? So do we!
~Fallon~
"If I fall asleep with a pen in my hand, don't remove it - I might be writing in my dreams."- Pace
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The CNN article was hilarious, though I'm pretty sure everything on the Radar site is fake...
I probably should have checked that closer before linking. You're probably right about the Radar photos, though they are a rather apt representation of what did get passed around during earlier campaigns.
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Like writing? So do we!
~Fallon~
"If I fall asleep with a pen in my hand, don't remove it - I might be writing in my dreams."- Pace
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