1. Political advertising

2. “Televised political advertising is now the dominant form of communication between candidates and voters in the presidential elections and in most statewide contests” Kaid, “Political advertising” –Online sources are becoming more important, but TV advertising remains dominant

3. “Political candidates are products, and political advertising is advertising.” Elissa Moses, chief analytics officer for EmSense "Since you're the ones who are selling the soap, I thought you'd like to see the bar," –Ronald Reagan, upon sticking his head into the room where the ad execs were creating the ad known as Morning In America

4. The application of marketing principles to political campaigns is clearly reflected in the nature and volume of political advertising. Traditional product marketing principles and techniques have been adapted to use in political marketing –Political marketing more negative, combative, dishonest, though

5. The cost of campaigning Political strategists have found that for very public races the most effective means of promoting their candidate is televised advertising –Efficient means of reaching widespread audience –Can be effective in education, image-building, emotional bonding, persuasion

6. As a result, the amount of campaign spending has mushroomed

8. Aggregate Operating Expenditures US House Principal Campaign Committees 1998-2008 Source: GAO

10. Ad targeting Campaigns target ads based on likelihood of increase in votes/margin –Get supporters to the polls –Influence undecided voters –In presidential, must consider electoral college http://elections.nytimes.com/2008/president /advertising/index.html?hphttp://elections.nytimes.com/2008/president /advertising/index.html?hp

11. Undecideds The ‘swing vote’ in elections is made up largely of those persons who are relatively ill-informed, have a less-developed ideology and are swayed by late events, advertising and non-policy news They often decide the elections, though, and are a major target of candidates –Going negative can work here

12. The danger of expense Politics could become a ‘rich man’s game’ –Can well-heeled candidates buy elections? Those who cannot afford to run must raise the money –Do large donors gain inordinate influence? –Do candidates prostitute themselves? –Does fund-raising undermine the ability of candidates to speak to the wider public?

13. Campaign strategy development Research –Polling –Opposition research Image (Brand) strategy development Campaign development –Message strategy –Media strategy/targeting Monitoring and adjustment

14. Elements of Campaign Strategy Targeting –Media strategy Branding (Image) –Message strategy

15. Targeting “If you want to get up to 51 percent of the vote, you probably have to assemble a coalition of 20 or 30 or 50 demographic groups. So as a modern candidate, you want a targeted ad on the gun control, on the pro- life, on the military, on the economic issues.” Peter Swire, Ohio State Law Professor, on PBS Frontline, The Persuaders

16. “You're going to want to have a message that's tailored for each one of those groups. If you don't do it, you're putting out broadcast ads in a narrowcast world.”

17. Message strategy

18. Research: Frank Luntz: “The way you communicate an idea is different than the way you communicate a product. However, the way you measure [the response of the public in both instances] is quite similar.” –PBS Frontline: The Persuaders

19. “My job as a pollster is to understand what really matters..... What causes people to buy a product? What causes someone to pull a lever and get them to vote? I need to know the specifics of that. And in politics, more often than not, it's about the personality and the character of the individual rather than where they stand”

20. Incumbent strategies BushKerry Use of symbolic trappings 15%0% Presidency stands for legitimacy 12%0% Competency and the office 25%5% Charisma and the office 5%0% Emphasizing accomplishments 25%12% Above-the-trenches posture 7%0% Depending on surrogates to speak 5%8%

21. Challenger strategies BushKerry Calling for changes 3%59% Speaking to traditional values 31%13% Taking the offensive position 19%16% Emphasizing optimism 31%28% Attacking the record of the opponent 61%54%

22. Simplification To be able to communicate a single idea, whether it be a policy position, personality trait, or critique of opponent performance, the candidate’s views are oversimplified –Remove nuance, detail and exceptions

23. "We're in a sound-bite world, and you have to work to get people's attention.” –Scott Howell, quoted in The Nation

24. Implications of simplification Some scholars point to clear evidence that constituents do learn from political advertising—many studies indicating that they learn more from ads than from news coverage

25. Others argue that simplification leads to sloganeering, demagoguery, and unrealistic expectations among the electorate.

26. Image Tie values, mythic qualities, trappings of the office, cheering crowds, perceptions of success, biography (with military service or business success), personality

27. Issues v. images Most advertising focuses on issues rather than image –78% of 2000 presidential campaign ads (historic high) However, “the percentage of spots with specific policy issue information was much lower than the overall number of issue spots” –Vague, general statements –Claims without context (often misleading or even false)

28. Issues Proportion of ads emphasizing issues Fear appeals Bush85%19% Kerry79%5%

29. 2004 Issue Mentions (source: Kaid)

30. 2004 Candidate character mentions (source: Kaid)

31. Emotion Political consultants and many, perhaps most, scholars have argued that emotional appeals are the most effective—much more so than communication of issue positions

32. Emotional appeals Topical –Kids, elderly –Wedge issues –Patriotic, mythic appeals –Biography –Testimonial –Humor –Fear

33. Appeals in presidential campaign advertising

34. Verbal content 2004

35. Positive v. Negative Challengers are more likely to engage in negative advertising, while incumbents tend to be positive –Challenger criticizing record, incumbent defending it Attack ads are more common in competitive races –Most races against incumbents are long shots –2010 seems to be breaking this rule Negative ads are more likely to be sponsored by parties or advocacy groups Negative ads have more substantive issue information

36. There has been a significant increase in negativity over the last 30 years

37. Ed Rollins “Here’s the ugly truth they never teach you in civics class: Negative ads work. It’s easier to defeat your opponent than to get elected yourself. Not all that long ago campaigns were issue-driven. Now they’re character-driven. Party labels are essentially meaningless. Issues don’t matter as much as the message, and the message doesn’t count anywhere near as much as the messenger.

38. So the campaign trains its sights on the messenger. You go out and tarnish their personality; you run ads that beat the living daylights out of them.” –Ed Rollins (Republican campaign consultant) Bare Knuckles and Back Rooms, 1996.

39. 2000 [all] elections (Wisconsin Ad Project)

40. Overall appeals

42. Attack ads 2004 (source: Kaid) Personally attack opponent Anonymous attack on opponent Attack on issues Bush0%95%92% Kerry30%62%59%

44. Emotion and cultural symbols “more emotional proof than logical or ethical proof” According to Hart “one must never underestimate the importance of that which advertising most reliably delivers—political emotion”

45. Tie opponent to people or policies that are disliked, accuse of dishonesty/illegal activities, show lack of caring, that opponent is from ‘elsewhere’ –Negative or “attack” ads

46. Framing Providing a particular vision of the world and placing the narrative within it –Good guys and bad guys/good v. evil –Presumptions about what is important and what isn’t –Labeling, word use and exemplars –Ignoring of counter-evidence, factors that don’t fit the ideology –Heavy use of metaphor

47. Truth and falsehood Unfounded and misleading projections from opponent’s statements, arguments Misrepresentation of own record, accomplishments

48. "Advertising is essentially truthful, except political advertising, which... gets worse every year... (It's) just the artful assembling of nominal facts into hideous, outrageous lies." (Bob Garfield, AdAge columnist, quoted in PBS' THE PERSUADERS)

49. "The unfortunate thing about political advertising, is that when you tell lies, these lies often stick, and the liars never receive any penalties.” Dr. Carolyn Lin, a communications professor at the University of Connecticut.,

50. Snippets of formally true information can be strung together to create a completely false impression Out-and-out lying is not uncommon in political ads even though it is illegal in product advertising

51. "Political commercials pretend to be like documentaries, but they use all the techniques of fiction filmmaking, including scripts, performances, and music," –David Schwartz, American Museum of the Moving Image

52. Production –Music –Visuals (faces, emotional expressions) –Voiceover –Use of color v. B&W –Slow motion, fast motion

53. Production techniques BushKerry Computer graphics92%80% Slow motion24%41% Fast motion15%1% Freeze frames14% Split screens17%26% Superimpositions20%13% Use of stills7%30% Black and white changes 26%16%

54. Types of commercials Talking heads Cinema verite Documentary spots Man-in-the street spots Testimonials –Devlin; Joslyn: “Benevolent leader” spots