I sat down a week ago to write this post but I got so riled up and excited by the campaign ads (yes, I watched all of them) that I became distracted and started texting friends to talk about politics. The Blogger tab on my browser was left lonely and abandoned for the past 7 days but now that my excitement has subsided I have returned. It may surprise you that I have never been one for politics (I'm not even registered to vote.) I didn't grow up following presidential races. I guess I always had the mind set that it didn't apply to me since I was a kid, but I guess I'm an adult now....
So, politics. Watching these campaign ads with a critical eye was very interesting. There were some obvious trends that caught my eye. There was the use of scare tactics, especially using phrasing like 'Imperialist Presidency.' To me it seemed as though the ads in support of a candidate focused on broad topics that benefit society, while the attack ads focus on a very specific thing their opponent has done. A perfect example of this is the ad that talks about Mary Landrieu, who used tax dollars to fly private over 40 times. I think it's safe to say that the ads made in favor of candidates rely on fact, while the ads opposing on candidates rely mostly on fear. Many of the ads were funded by interest groups rather than the candidate themselves, which sometimes results in disinformation and lies. Ads created by unions carry different weight to those who understand the world of politics, but the average voter may not know the difference. The question is, which one works better, the positive or the negative? In the past we've seen that negative political ads a have proven to be effective. However, the problem with campaign ads is, unless you have absolutely no idea who the candidate is, you will already have some sort of preconceived notion about them. Campaign ads may not do anything for those who strongly lean one way of the other, but for those somewhere in the middle of the pack, it could be the deciding factor. Media has the unique ability to affecting the opinions of the masses. For someone who is Independent or has no political affiliation, seeing Obama's moving LGBT rights ad may be what gives Obama their vote. That's why campaign ads play an important role in our Democracy. They allow the opposing parties to represent themselves to the public in a a certain way, as well as expose the less than desirable things about their opponents. The downside to this is that for many voters, these ad campaigns that they see on TV are the only knowledge they have of a candidate because they don't take the time to do research or watch the debates. Having a full understanding of candidates and their policies is really important before going out to vote. You shouldn't base your opinion solely off of a commercial you saw on TV.
