Post by LWPD on Nov 4, 2012 9:15:51 GMT -5
Since the dawn of the television age, American politics and professional wrestling have shown some stark similarities. Each election cycle, parties spend vast sums of money trying to create 'stars', 'villains', 'emotional angles' and ultimately 'work the marks' into voting a certain way. The Museum of the Moving Image has put together a site called the The Living Room Candidate, which features Presidential Campaign Commercials from 1952-2012.
Topics can be vetted by 'Type of Commercial' (ie. Backfire, Fear Tactics, Biography), 'Issue' (ie. Corruption, Taxes, War) or by Election Year. If you are looking for potential angles/narratives for use in your Fed, there are few greater sources than what some of the smartest minds behind the scenes have been coming up with to influence American voters.
Courtesy of The Museum of the Moving Image
The Living Room Candidate
"In a media-saturated environment in which news, opinions, and entertainment surround us all day on our television sets, computers, and cell phones, the television commercial remains the one area where presidential candidates have complete control over their images. Television commercials use all the tools of fiction filmmaking, including script, visuals, editing, and performance, to distill a candidate's major campaign themes into a few powerful images. Ads elicit emotional reactions, inspiring support for a candidate or raising doubts about his opponent. While commercials reflect the styles and techniques of the times in which they were made, the fundamental strategies and messages have tended to remain the same over the years.
The Living Room Candidate contains more than 300 commercials, from every presidential election since 1952, when Madison Avenue advertising executive Rosser Reeves convinced Dwight Eisenhower that short ads played during such popular TV programs as I Love Lucy would reach more voters than any other form of advertising. This innovation had a permanent effect on the way presidential campaigns are run."
Topics can be vetted by 'Type of Commercial' (ie. Backfire, Fear Tactics, Biography), 'Issue' (ie. Corruption, Taxes, War) or by Election Year. If you are looking for potential angles/narratives for use in your Fed, there are few greater sources than what some of the smartest minds behind the scenes have been coming up with to influence American voters.
Courtesy of The Museum of the Moving Image
The Living Room Candidate
"In a media-saturated environment in which news, opinions, and entertainment surround us all day on our television sets, computers, and cell phones, the television commercial remains the one area where presidential candidates have complete control over their images. Television commercials use all the tools of fiction filmmaking, including script, visuals, editing, and performance, to distill a candidate's major campaign themes into a few powerful images. Ads elicit emotional reactions, inspiring support for a candidate or raising doubts about his opponent. While commercials reflect the styles and techniques of the times in which they were made, the fundamental strategies and messages have tended to remain the same over the years.
The Living Room Candidate contains more than 300 commercials, from every presidential election since 1952, when Madison Avenue advertising executive Rosser Reeves convinced Dwight Eisenhower that short ads played during such popular TV programs as I Love Lucy would reach more voters than any other form of advertising. This innovation had a permanent effect on the way presidential campaigns are run."
