“Living Room Candidate”

“Living Room Candidate” A Look at some Historical Campaign Ads

Overly Broad Discussion: Types of Ads • Issue-based vs. Character-based • Ads may focus on areas of policy or might focus on personal characteristics of candidates • Positive vs. Negative • Pretty obvious  • Common theme pretty much forever: CHANGE! • Pay attention to these techniques as well as the different imagery and presentation techniques • Often ads only have ~30-60 seconds to get point across, must do it quickly!

Utilizing “The Living Room Candidate” • Here’s a link: http://www.livingroomcandidate.org/ • “The Living Room Candidate” is a website that has collected ads from presidential campaigns for as long as they have been on TV (starting in 1952) and we will presently view a few! • Look for those techniques we talked about

List of “living room candidate” videos • 1952 – Eisenhower – Never Had it So Good • 1952 – Stevenson – Let’s Not Forget the Farmer • 1964 – Johnson – Peace Little Girl • 1972 – Nixon – McGovern Defense • 1984 – Reagan – Bear; Prouder, Stronger, Better • 1984 – Mondale – Rollercoaster • 1988 – Bush – Tank, Revolving Door • 1992 – Clinton – Rebuild America • 1996 – Clinton – Surgeon • 2000 – Bush – Really MD • 2004 – Bush – Windsurfing • 2008 – McCain – Celeb; Original Mavericks; Dangerous; Compare • 2008 – Obama – Fundamentals; Better Off; What Kind; Rearview Mirror

“Living Room Candidate”