Politics and Advertising

Advertising has a huge impact on politics and has consistently grown over the years. “It was the dawn of television that changed the way politicians reached their audiences. Before that, it was all about getting out and about, meeting the voters, holding town-hall debates and shaking hands” (http://advertising.about.com/od/history/a/A-Brief-History-Of-Political-Advertising-In-The-Usa.htm). It wasn't until Dwight D. Eisenhower took advantage of commercials and started to show simple but effective ads. After this, people realized how powerful a thirty second ad could be. Ads have gained so much power that they have the ability to completely change the outcome of an election in a heartbeat. “Both sides are looking for an edge, and more rigorous science leads to more efficient campaigning” (http://www.apa.org/monitor/2012/04/advertising.aspx). This is exactly true. People want to have an ad that is edgy and unlike anything they have seen before. Due to this, parties will use each others ads to point out the bad qualities of their competition. These are known as attack ads. This is the number one type of advertising used in presidential campaigns. The opponents simply “attack” one another. “The theme of a 1952 Democratic attack ad was that the Republicans engaged in double speak—that they would say one thing to one group and another to another group. This is an enduring theme in campaigns: that the opposition cannot be trusted to do what they say” (http://www.press.uchicago.edu/Misc/Chicago/284996.html). Presidential candidates try to point out the flaws of the other party. Overall, advertising has influenced politics in many ways over the years and since the use of social networking and television is become treaters ads will only become more influential.