Presidential Persuasion
1 Every four years, the American public is subjected to a special kind of advertising annoyance: political ads on television and radio repetitively promoting the presidential candidates. And it's not just the American public that grows weary and disgruntled by this onslaught. The candidates themselves often despair over the idea of being sold “like breakfast cereal,” as presidential candidate Adlai Stevenson quipped after losing the 1956 election. Still, it seems unlikely that anything is going to change. A quick look back at some highlights in the history of presidential campaigning shows that advertising has always played a heavy role in the presidential race.
Early Presidential Advertising
2 Before TV and radio, getting the message out about a president was largely the work of newspaper articles. In the early 1790s, each presidential campaign would even publish its own newspaper to get more information out to the public. Different advertising techniques, such as slogans, played a significant role in early American presidential campaigns. In addition, simple, catchy sayings had perhaps even more importance in the era before mass media than they have now. But slogans and other catchy phrases weren't the only techniques. In 1880, one presidential candidate, James Garfield, had a song sung to the refrain of “Yankee Doodle” with the traditional lyrics replaced with inspiring campaign language:
Garfield leads to victory,
At home or on the far field.
Give a rousing three times three;
Hurrah for General Garfield!
A photo shows an old presidential campaign ad showing an American flag with Abraham Lincoln's picture in the blue field where the stars are
An early example of presidential advertising
Presidential Advertising Meets Television
3 The 1952 presidential campaign was the first to use television advertising. Dwight D. Eisenhower's campaign used three main ads to sway his audience: ads about the high cost of living; ads about the Korean War that was going on at the time; and ads about corruption in government. These categories, broadly renamed as the economy, foreign affairs, and problems of government, would eventually become the three main types of political ads, and are still common today.
A photo shows an old television set from the 1950's with a man on the screen reading from a script
4 Some ads from Eisenhower's campaign were just reminders of the candidate's name; these ads often built on his enormous popularity as a war hero. In another example, a one-minute animation for television pictured people marching in a parade led by an elephant—the Republican party symbol—as the soundtrack repeats again and again: “You like Ike, I like Ike, everybody likes Ike.” Eisenhower's campaign team was able to successfully meld the use of slogans and catchy phrases from past campaign techniques with the visual techniques in the burgeoning television advertising market. But TV advertising's sophistication would soon grow quickly—and by leaps and bounds.
Presidential Advertising in the Age of the Internet and Social Media
5 The advertising for a presidential candidate is a far more complex and fragmented undertaking today than it was long ago. In part, this is because people get their news and information in so many different ways today—television, radio, websites, and social media.
6 Voters can now “like” a candidate on his or her campaign page, or follow him or her on social media and listen to his or her every speech. Consequently, when voters do this, the candidate can tailor his or her campaign to those voters. Emails, texts, letters . . . all this information, electronic or otherwise, is sent to the voters. And all this is modern day advertising.
7 Because there is an abundance of money available for advertising, ads are a constant today, saturating the traditional media and capitalizing on traditional methods. But many other methods of advertising are being used that don't involve the traditional media or methods. Canvassers go door-to-door, relentlessly introducing, explaining, and selling their candidate; telephones ring off the hook with recorded ads, attacks on the opposition, and reminders to vote; direct mail pinpoints its audience and then woos it. Each campaign uses its war chest to buy up domain names, and create a variety of websites dedicated to its candidate.
A photo shows a woman with a clipboard asking a man survey questions about his political views
The More Things Change . . .
8 What hasn't changed in the history of presidential ad campaigns? It seems that attack ads, also known as mudslinging, have always been with us. For example, name-calling in 1800 featured John Adams's opponents branding him a “monarchist” (a nasty insult at the time, seeing as our nation had so recently freed itself from King George's rule). Thomas Jefferson's opponents had many negative labels for him too. So, while it may be true that advertising during a presidential campaign is not a modern idea, it has become a technologically enhanced, complex, and evolving game.
Which sentence from the passage is in the present tense?
“But TV advertising's sophistication would soon grow quickly . . .” (paragraph 4)
“Some ads from Eisenhower's campaign were just reminders of the candidate's name . . .” (paragraph 4)
“Thomas Jefferson's opponents had many negative labels for him too.” (paragraph 7)
“Each campaign uses its war chest to buy up domain names . . .” (paragraph 7)