Medicority Rules the Day in Political Advertisments

An hour before this year's presidential candidates would meet to spar over the issue of political ads, among other things, two pundits met to analyze the surfeit of ads that have bombarded the public in recent months.

"In more than 20 years in this business, I can safely say that these are the most mediocre political ad campaigns I have ever seen," said Ray Strother, president of the American Association of Political Consultants.

Strother, a 1999 Institute of Politics fellow, joined current fellow and former campaign manager for McCain 2000 Rick Davis at the ARCO Forum in the hour before last night's presidential debate to examine the effectiveness of the political advertisements in the campaigns.

The event was moderated by IOP Director and former Arkansas Senator David Pryor.

After reviewing a total of 22 ads that were aired over a two-week period in battleground states such as Michigan, the consultants, who are often diametrically opposed on any political question, agreed that the advertisements were by all standards lacking in emotional appeal to voters.

The other key trend identified was the increasing importance of pollster data in the formulation of ad concepts. More than any other past presidential race, Strother postulated, the demand to gain percentage points with certain demographics has squeezed any kind of creativity out of the candidates' messages.

"Because the race has been boring, has had no energy, enthusiasm, and hasn't excited anyone, it will be the first guy who pops up at the debate with some sense of passion or humor who will end up on top," Davis said.

In lieu of creative ideas, Strother noted, the campaigns have often resorted to airing "pollster ads," which consist mostly of a series of key text phrases flashed across the screen that do not actually tell about the candidate's stance on the issue; rather, they mirror the phrases of policy that voters recognize in the hopes of making them think that they can "identify with" the candidate.

The use of so much, text, however, has led to complications, they said. They cited as a prime example a Republican ad that flashed the word "rats" across the screen when referring to "Democratic bureaucrats." Both Strother and Davis agreed that this was more likely the work of a quick-witted technician than any subliminal advertising on the part of the GOP camp.

Polls, Strother explained, have also allowed the candidates to focus in on the most important audience in this election: women.

"I can't emphasize enough that this entire election is now aimed at women, who tend to make up the majority of swing voters," he said.

Due to the importance of women, the issue platform for most ads has shifted sharply to the democratic issues about which women care, specifically education and health care, the consultants said.

This shift, Davis said, means that the majority of Bush ads, most of which have female voices as narrators, are now trying to actively wrest control of these issues from the traditional Gore territory.

Bush has been most effective, he further noted, in addressing the issue of Gore's character. An ad that features women expressing disdain while viewing clips of the vice president at the famed Buddhist temple fundraiser and making his claim that he had invented the Internet incited the most reaction from the members of the audience, who cheered when the ad was aired at the forum.

Gore, they said, is actively trying to beat the Republicans at their own game too, by stressing his "family values" and his service in Vietnam in his ads, especially in southern states that are now more likely to vote for Bush.

Gore has been less successful, Davis said, at making himself seem less aloof, because his ads often feature him speaking on stages away from the crowds rather than in the midst of the people.

As Strother pointed out, while the Republicans often have higher production quality for their ads, the Democrats usually surpass their opponents in quantity of ads aired.

He further noted that one crucial omission from the ads of either party was college students. No college students were seen in any ad of the candidates, he said, because their low turnout rates have deemed them an inefficient demographic to target.

A new trend, Davis said, is the use of newspaper headlines in commercial spots, which has increased in this particular campaign because polls have indicated that the majority of Americans feel that claims of individual candidates are no longer seen as completely viable without news accounts to corroborate their facts.

The quest for accuracy in examples has also become a concern, Davis said, especially for Gore, who he said has recently misrepresented details when using specific constituents as examples.

"Bush was looking for Gore to cross the line on trust and exaggeration," Davis said. "He handed it to him on a silver platter."

Accuracy has become a particular problem because a disproportionate amount of discourse in this particular campaign has been about complicated fiscal policy. These explanations and conflicting counter-explanations, they said, have left the average voter more bored than inspired.

"Because of the lack of creativity, the results of the election will come out exactly the same as if there had been no money spent on these slots at all," Strother said.