Political Communication 2020 Campaign Analysis Blog: Advertising

Wednesday, October 7, 2020

Advertising – Tuesday, October 13th (Blog #7)

What types of ads are we seeing this year? Are they more positive or negative in tone, and how do they compare to ads in previous campaigns? Based on the categories outlined by Denton readings and Campaigns Ch. 3, offer examples of at least three different types of ads from the 2020 campaign and compare them to three similar historical ads that can be found on the website “The Living Room Candidate”: http://www.livingroomcandidate.org/

52 comments:

AnonymousOctober 12, 2020 at 4:18 PM
Nicholas Ciampanelli (1/2)

Throughout the 2020 Presidential election, Americans are swamped by a wave of political advertisements when they turn on their television. Although this televised toxicity seems commonplace today, political ads originated alongside the birth of television in 1952. Sophie Gilbert writes in her article “The Year Political Advertising Turned Positive” that while campaign firms focus upon “bolstering a politician’s image while also tearing down the character and record of his or her opponents.” However, in 1976, “both campaigns went to great lengths to stress simplicity” and not have “concrete attacks” on the other’s record (Gilbert). Although this civility is now mirrored by the Biden campaign after ceasing their “negative advertising the day President Donald Trump announced that he tested positive for Covid-19,” according to “Super PACs continue pummeling Trump, even as Biden swears off negative ads” by Holly Otterbein and Zach Montellaro. Despite this messaging shift, the Trump campaign “flatly rejected taking its own negative ads off the air,” stating Biden’s move is “insincere… [and] negative ads were still airing” (Montellaro & Otterbein). Despite this unilateral shift in televised advertising and its similarity to the election of 1976, televised ads continue to be predominately negative. This is evident from the website The Living Room Candidate, where 55% of the campaign’s listed ads bear negative tones while the remainder are split between being comparative or positive ads.

Of these advertisements, three bore a strong similarity to those used in previous elections. The most prominent type of television ad during this election are negative ads; according to Political Campaign Communication: Principles and Practices by Robert Denton, Judith Trent, and Robert Friedenberg, these are “specifically designed to attack the opponent. They may focus on the personal weaknesses, voting record, or prior public behavior of the candidate” (125). The Biden campaign released a powerful negative ad, “It Is What It Is,” which looped Trump’s statement “It is what it is” over photos of hospitalized and/or dying Americans following his response (or lack thereof) to the ongoing pandemic (“2020 Biden vs. Trump”). This echoes the impact of Johnson’s “Daisy Girl” ad in 1964, which implies a nuclear blast killed a girl. The blast was followed by a narrator stating “We must either love each other or we must die. Vote President Johnson on November 3rd. The stakes are too high for you to stay home” (“1964 Johnson vs. Goldwater”). These ads share an extreme message as to what the drastic consequences are if their opponent were to be elected.
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Brianna MejiaOctober 12, 2020 at 7:26 PM
Brianna Mejia 1/2

The political advertisements that we see this year are vastly different than what we have seen in previous years. As we see with the candidates themselves, the ads make personal as well as political attacks on the other candidate. However, what we see now that we have never seen before, are attacks that include unedited video clips from rallies, previous tweets and social media posts that can be used against the candidate. According to the article “This 10-second Trump Clip is the Best Biden Ad of the 2020 Presidential Campaign”, this is a tactic being used a lot by the Biden campaign and they are capitalizing off the fact that they can use their words against him. Most of the advertisements we see are negative in tone, however due to Trump’s recent COVID-19 diagnosis, Biden decided to pull his negative ads out of respect for the sick president. The article “Super PACs Continue Pummeling Trump, Even as Biden Swears Off Negative Ads” says that even though Biden has sworn off these ads for the time being, super PACS and other groups have not.

Another difference we see is that Biden is making important decisions to run ads in states which have never be seen as winnable for the democratic party. For example, according to the article “A Bullish Biden Campaign Invades Trump Territory”, Biden is running ads in Texas which is a tactic that has never really been seen before. Trump is also having money problems and only has the funds to focus on some swing states, which is hurting his ability to sway voters in all swing states. Not only have the ads themselves changed, but the location we find them have also changed. According to the article “Why are you seeing this digital political ad? No one knows!” by Sara Morrison, we are seeing more political ads in our timelines than ever before. The article mentions how social media ads have been utilized before, but have exploded in the 2020 election.

According to “Political Campaign Communication” By Denton Et. Al, one ad technique is Ads that condemn attack, and question the opponent. One ad by Donald Trump entitled “Joe & Kamala Will Cancel You” connects Biden and Harris to cancel culture and pins them against America by attacking what they stand for. This is almost exactly like what Donald Trump did last election against Hillary Clinton. In a 2016 ad, he attacked the Clinton family for being money hungry and used #DeadBrokeHillary. These ads both make no mention of the candidate’s campaign and sole purpose is to attack.
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Mariam ShawishOctober 12, 2020 at 9:24 PM
Mariam Shawish (1/2)

This year’s presidential advertisements have been interesting to say the least. Whether it is a Trump advertisement or a Biden one, it seems that neither side know how to be civil. Because of these tactics used by the campaigns and the increasing hostility coming from this election, Facebook has announced that it “plans to prohibit all political and issue-based advertising after the polls close on Nov. 3 for an undetermined length of time” (Isaac).

Biden employs the style of attacking the record if the incumbent throughout his advertisements. One of Biden’s most powerful advertisement is attacking President Trump’s handling of the ongoing pandemic; the advertisement plays the clip of Trump saying “it is what is” when asked about the thousands of Americans who are dying due to COVID-19. The phrase is played over and over in the background while showing grim pictures of people suffering from the pandemic (“2020 Biden vs. Trump”). This advertisement follows the strategy of attacking the incumbent’s record; “the ability to criticize freely (and often in exaggerated terms) may well be one of the most important benefits a challenger possesses” (Denton 78). This same strategy can be seen in 1972 by the McGovern campaign against incumbent President Nixon. This is seen in an advertisement that showed Governor McGovern talking to a group of injured soldiers from the Vietnam war talking about their war experiences (“1972 NIXON VS. MCGOVERN”). This employs the strategy of attacking the incumbency because McGovern is attacking President Nixon for failing to end the Vietnam war like he promised he would. This is similar to how Biden attacks President Trump over his handling of the pandemic.

Although most of this year’s advertisements are the campaigns attacking each other, not all are. As President Trump is recovering from the novel coronavirus, he shows that his is still fighting for the American people in his new “Carefully” advertisement. The ad focuses on how “he continues to fight for the American people, with a strong focus on our nation's seniors and rebuilding our economy. President Trump is safely re-opening the country and leading the Great American Comeback” (Mike). This advertisement follows a positive message in which it “promotes the positive attributes of the candidate and to link the candidate to voters in a positive way” (Denton 125). Through this advertisement, President is turning his experience with COVID-19, as well as the countries experience, as a positive one by making it seem like just like he is, the whole country is recovering. The same thing can be seen in during Nixon’s 1968 campaign. President Nixon was running during the peak of the Vietnam war, in which he promised that during his presidency he will end the war. His advertisements during this time period reflected this, in an advertisement a montage of pictures of happy Americans is shown, which Nixon in the background talking about uniting the country and getting back to this happy mantra (“1968 NIXON VS. HUMPHREY VS. WALLACE”). This was President Nixon’s way of trying to promote positivity through an advertisement.
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UnknownOctober 12, 2020 at 9:43 PM
Lille Gaeta
The first use of televised political advertising for a presidential campaign was in the 1952 election of Eisenhower v. Stevenson. Political advertising dominates the media during election season, and “whether attacking a political opponent, outlining a vision for leadership or celebrating a candidate’s achievements, political advertising seeps into email inboxes, news feeds and television screens” (Brownell). The ads we are seeing this year are more negative in tone compared to positive in tone. Both candidates have been on the giving and receiving end of negative advertising. However, this election is unlike any other this country has seen (except 2016) and the ads fit that pattern.
Trump utilizes Attack Spots- ads that are direct, personal attacks aimed to reduce the competition’s credibility and create doubt or fear- more than the Biden campaign does (Denton et. Al. 125). The Trump campaign released an ad showing Biden’s failures, highlighting that during his 47 years in office, he’s failed at more than he’s accomplished. This ad directly attacks Biden and tries to show that they believe his doesn’t have a good track record in public office, and attempts to create doubt towards Biden This is similar to an ad from the 2016 election from the Clinton campaign where she attempted to create the same doubt and attack Trump’s credibility by highlighting his temperament. The ad featured political experts stating they did not believe Trump had the capabilities to handle the nuclear codes nor have access to them. This ad, and the one from the Trump campaign, both aimed to attack the candidate’s capabilities and create doubt about voting for them.
The Biden campaign produced a nearly 4-minute video that could be categorized as an argument spot (Denton et. Al. 125)- it introduces Biden’s, causes, ideas and concerns, while also highlighting some of the ways Trump has failed America just this year, and how Biden believes he will do better. It’s showing what he stands for while simultaneously explaining his ideas. This is similar to an ad from the 1992 Clinton campaign. While the ad only covers one specific issue Clinton wanted to tackle (welfare), it introduces one of his main concerns and shows exactly what Clinton stood for.
With the election drawing closer and closer, the use of Visionary Spots, or “ads that are used as the campaign draws to a close to provide a reflective/thoughtful/dignified view of the candidate…” are coming more into play (Denton et. Al. 125). Trump in particular has been utilizing these. His campaign released an ad that made Trump look extremely dignified. It used a lot of “we” statements, which makes the viewers feel very unified and makes his campaign appear thoughtful, like the average American citizen was in the back of their mind when it was made. It provided Trump’s vision for his next term and made him look very presentable. This type of ad was also utilized by the Reagan campaign in 1984. It presented a positive view of America from Reagan’s previous term, at the ending stating “why would we ever want to return to where we were, less than four short years ago?” (1984 Reagan vs. Mondale). This demonstrates Reagan’s vision for his next term, while he reflects on his previous one, just like Trump did in the ad from this election.
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Sam MesbahOctober 12, 2020 at 10:58 PM
Samantha Mesbah
Blog #7- Political Advertising

As discussed, 2020 is an election year that is different from all past election cycles. Due to the current pandemic, we are seeing changes in all aspects of the election from mail-in voting, to debate setups and even the candidate’s way of communicating and advertising their platforms. An article from NBC states, “The spread of the coronavirus has halted live campaign rallies, door-to-door organizing and traditional sit-down interviews with candidates. But it hasn’t stopped TV, radio, and digital advertising. Far from it. Advertising Analytics projects $6.7 billion will be spent on advertising in the 2020 election cycle.” (Murray) Both the Trump and Biden campaigns are using a variety of advertisements to attract and connect with all different groups of voters.
One tactic that is quite obvious when analyzing the products of both candidates, is the method of, “Negative messages that are specifically designed to attack the opponent but tend to focus on issue positions. The most effective comparison ads give the appearance of providing a two-sided argument, but the presentation is always slanted to favor the candidate sponsoring the ad.” (Denton et al. 125) Trump and Biden tend to differ on major issues, especially the way to handle the current pandemic we are experiencing. Their ads are a clear representation of their ability to disagree on these issues and attack the other's campaign for the “incorrect response”. For example, Joe Biden’s campaign released an ad called “It is what it is.” This was Trump's response to the COVID19 outbreak when an interviewee asked his opinion on the deaths of Americans. The lack of care from the Trump administration while displaying an array of packed hospitals and sick Americans, was Biden’s was of coping with the American people and ensuring a more compassionate and efficient approach if elected. (“2020 Biden vs. Trump”) A comparable ad from a previous election would be the Benghazi ad from Trump’s campaign in 2016. This advertisement shows footage of the terror of Benghazi and how Clinton’s efforts in office have installed this destruction as well as the deaths of U.S veterans. (“2016 Trump vs. Clinton) Both of these advertisements are displaying prior political events that can be viewed as the consequences of the opponent’s efforts in office.
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Sam MesbahOctober 12, 2020 at 10:59 PM
Another successful tactic that candidates have used in the past is the ability to tie different policies and ideas under one common theme. In the 1996 election, democratic nominees Bill Clinton and Al Gore were able to tie their ideas under the expression, “When it comes to America’s Future… which drummer do you want to march to?” (“1996 Clinton vs. Dole”) This advertisement was their way to appeal to the voter by tying them polices around the idea of a successful American future. Similarly, this year in 2020 Trump used the “Great American comeback” and his “Better America under the theme of Keep America Great.” (“2020 Trump vs. Biden”) Both of these ads had similar ideas of a “Better America” persuading the voter that their campaign would produce a stronger nation.
In the last 20 years, the main issue in politics has been the rise of terrorism and illegal immigrants. Following the events of 9/11 in 2001, presidential candidate John Kerry came out with an ad expressing the rise of terrorism and Bush’s inability to act efficiently on the 9/11 attacks. (“2004 Bush vs. Kerry”) While this advertisement was more issue-based than strategy, this issue is one Americans care deeply about. Ever since the brutal attacks on 9/11 America is still dealing with the fight on terrorism. President Trump has come out with a similar advertisement this year expressing his devotion to fighting terrorists and having strong border control. (“2020 Trump vs. Biden) The advertisements on terrorism always a strong message of American patriotism and the anger that Americans should feel towards these extreme radical groups. Both Kerry ad Trump used these ads to unite the American people in a common fight against terrorists.
Ultimately, the advertisements seen in the 2020 election are similar to those we have seen in past elections. I noticed a stronger use of advertisements specifically attacking one’s opponent, rather than emphasizing their message. Being that both Trump and Biden have severed in office, the candidates are both using the other's misfortunes and mistakes in the office to strengthen their campaign. Both candidates are actively using a range of advertisements to educate the American people and create a platform to which the average voter can relate too.

Denton, Robert E., et al. Political Campaign Communication: Principles and Practices. 9th ed., Rowman & Littlefield, 2020.

“2016 TRUMP vs CLINTON.” The Living Room Candidate, www.livingroomcandidate.org/commercials/2016.

“2020 BIDEN vs TRUMP.” The Living Room Candidate, www.livingroomcandidate.org/commercials/2020.

“2004 BUSH vs KERRY.” The Living Room Candidate,
www.livingroomcandidate.org/commercials/2004.

“1996 CLINTON vs DOYLE.” The Living Room Candidate,
www.livingroomcandidate.org/commercials/1996.

Murray, Mike. “Projection: $6.7 billion could be spent on advertising in 2020 election,” 15 May 2020 https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/meet-the-press/blog/meet-press-blog-latest-news-analysis-data-driving-political-discussion-n988541/ncrd1207951#blogHeader.
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UnknownOctober 13, 2020 at 1:00 AM
Matt Gallo 1

With just about everything else in the world, the pandemic has changed the way presidential candidates advertise. Some changes we have seen has been using their ads on social media. Everyone loves to share their views on virtually any social media platform, and the two candidates have taken notice. So far, we have even seen Trump live tweet sound bites from their debate, along with the two constantly portraying their brand primarily on Twitter. In an article on FiveThirtyEight, the author explains the decrease in TV ads when he mentions, “The Trump campaign also didn’t air a single commercial in a Michigan-based media market from July 23 through Sept. 7… Michiganders saw 38,261 pro-Biden ads from early May through Sept. 14 and only 15,866 pro-Trump ads” (Rakich). It seems as a risky play to decrease ads in Michigan, and also other crucial states such as Pennsylvania and Arizona. Come election time, we will see if the strategy to emphasize social media was a smart one. Overall, the approach we have seen from Trump has been the incumbency style campaigning. As described in Political Campaign Communication Principles & Practices the incumbency style is “… a blend of both symbolic and pragmatic communication strategies designed to make any candidate appear both as good enough for the office sought and as possessing the office…This is not an easy task. We know that image creation and maintenance take significant amounts of skill, time, and money” (Denton et Al. 63). When looking as the two candidates as a whole, at times it is frightening to think one of them will run our beloved country, however with that being said Trump definitely has an advantage being an incumbent. Trump has already clearly solidified his image throughout his term while Biden was seen as the askew VP for Obama. Conversely, Biden is taking the challenger style. In Denton’s textbook he explains the challenger style as, “The style can be defined as a series of communication strategies designed to persuade voters that change is needed and that the challenger is the best person to bring about the change” (Denton, 77). It is abundantly clear that Biden has fulfilled this definition of the textbook. Just from looking at Twitter you can tell Trump is spending his time attacking what the Democrats plan to do, while Biden is spreading inclusive positive messages to the people of America. The theme throughout both of their advertisements have been completely negative. It seems as if each candidate is more interested in attacking the other than spreading information and positive reinforcement of their platforms. For example, Biden’s ad “It Is What It Is” uses Trump’s clip from an interview saying that people dying from COVID-19 simply “is what it is”. Although an extremely effective tactic the majority of his ads consistently rip Trump apart. As a challenger party, the main focus should be on why your platform is better than the one that is already in place, not why the man in office seems foolish. Similarly, Trump’s ad “Meet Phony Kamala Harris!” achieves the same thing. In the ad, they reference how Biden is a transition candidate for Kamala and how “Slow Joe and Phony Kamala” are a duo destined for disaster. The two parties’ advertisements have been meant to destroy the other side.
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Summer PerrattiOctober 13, 2020 at 1:01 AM
Summer Perratti (Part 1)
During this year’s election cycle, we have seen an influx of political campaign advertisements that fit any of four categories: negative attack ads, positive ads that highlight a candidate’s “causes, ideas, and concerns”, identifying, “biographical” ads, and personalized, visionary ads that appeal to specific voter bases (Denton et al. 125). It is worth noting, however, that Joe Biden and Donald Trump did not create these themes for political advertisements. During every election cycle since 1952, political ads have infiltrated television networks, setting the foundation for how both Biden’s and Trump’s presidential campaigns navigate the world of advertising today.
With a rapid advancement of technological capabilities, contemporary campaign ads are able to send clearer, faster messages to a larger population. This year, President Trump’s reelection campaign has placed a heavy emphasis on attack ads to scare voters away from both Joe Biden and the “radical left” that has become the forefront of conversation revolving around the Democratic Party. The vast majority of the Trump campaign’s political advertisements compiled by The Living Room Candidate were centered around attacking Biden’s 47-year-long political record, his alliance with the radical left, and the controversial history of both Biden and his running mate, Kamala Harris (2020 Biden Vs. Trump). However, a Bloomberg article titled “Trump’s Attack Ads Won’t Amount to Much” by Jonathan Bernstein suggests that this negative advertising strategy will not help Trump secure his re-election. The article states that campaigns often believe that “incumbents can solidify their position by blasting the challenger with ads in the spring. That belief evolved after Bill Clinton tried the strategy during his re-election campaign in 1996, and was likely reinforced when George W. Bush ran early ads in 2004 and Barack Obama did the same in 2012. In all likelihood, though, those presidents won second terms because of sufficient peace and prosperity” (Bernstein). If this reigns to be true, then it is likely that Trump’s attack ads will not provide him any favors, as the current state of the nation and political climate virtually suggests the exact opposite of peace and prosperity. It is apparent, however, that Trump’s campaign has been attempting to follow historical strategies of re-election campaigns; viewing advertisements from the election years like 1996 further solidifies this pattern. One negative advertisement ran by Bill Clinton’s campaign in particular closely resembles one of Trump’s, centered around the topic of immigration. Clinton’s ad focuses on his progress to secure national borders and deport illegal immigrants, while highlighting Republican nominee Bob Dole’s opposition to strict border security—stating that Dole has been “wrong in the past and is wrong for our future” (1996 Clinton Vs. Dole). In 2020, President Trump put out an almost identical ad, where his strict immigration policy is highlighted, while stating that the “Democrats must stop playing politics and support real border security now” (2020 Biden Vs. Trump). By addressing the differences in policy on a specific issue between the two candidates, both President Trump and Clinton were able to paint a picture that anti-immigration voters will eat right up.
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Jaime PietrosimoneOctober 13, 2020 at 1:15 AM
It is hard to turn on the television without seeing a political advertisement the closer we get to the November election. President Donald Trump and challenger Joe Biden have each played their part in spreading toxicity and creating negative ads, attacking each other’s weaknesses, and contaminating their opponents’ position, a tactic that has been seen throughout history. However, social media has left little room for error in each candidate’s delivery as their words can be taken out of context and skew voter’s perception which could influence the way a voter decides. “Political advertising reinforces attitudes of base voters and may well sway low information voters”, (Denton, 379) emphasizing the influence ads have over the common population.

Money spent on ads can also impact the lingering thoughts of voters, especially in the crucial swing states. Currently, the Democratic party is choosing to allocate funds towards states that typically lean towards the Republican party, a strategy different from the norm. As stated in the article, “Trump has Lost his Edge in TV Advertising” by Nathaniel Rakich, the Democratic party has out spent the Republican party on the amount of advertising in key states such as Arizona, Michigan, Florida, North Carolina, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania which “should be especially alarming to Republicans, since the FiveThirtyEight model believes that Pennsylvania is the likeliest state to decide the 2020 election”.

Notoriously known for his nice guy image, Joe Biden used his Keep Up advertisement to amplify this message and emphasize optimism for the future. Through a captivating narrative and specific imagery, he was able to capture his story as a blue collar born family man, or a “product of the American Dream”, (Denton, 125), who was able to find purpose while enduring life’s obstacles and prosper. Similar to George Bush in 1988 who’s advertisements portrayed him as a family oriented patriot, rising to any challenge America asked of him, (1988 Bush vs. Dukakis), Biden is connecting with his voters through positive messaging “designed to promote the positive attributes of the candidate and link the candidate to voters in a positive way”. (Denton, 125).
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Matthew BruinOctober 13, 2020 at 2:15 AM
Matthew Bruin
PART ONE

As the 2020 election fast approaches and as the presidential candidates make their final push to win over voters prior to the election, political advertising is currently dominating the media. And… with this massive presence of political ads along with the hostile political climate that exists, political advertisements that both Donald Trump and Joe Biden are running seem to be more divisive than ever and, in a way, seem to focus on dividing America even more than it currently is or has been. In other words, the political advertisements and the messages that both the Biden and Trump campaign have been running have been very negative and have primarily focused on attacking each other both politically and personally instead of promoting each candidates’ agendas and visions for America. For example, after watching many of the political ads from both Biden and Trump’s campaigns, it is evidently clear that one candidate cannot run an ad without throwing the other candidate under the bus or trashing their opponents track record. In my eyes, by doing this, both candidates are forgetting about the true meaning of running for public office and instead focusing on hate and emphasizing division. This kind of campaign strategy / style for both candidates in many ways has been worse and more extreme than ever seen before.

Starting off, it is clear that political ads seems as if each candidate is manipulating each other’s words and using certain soundbites from others to promote their message and image. For example, just over the past few days, the Trump campaign has been under fire for running an ad that features comments from Dr. Anthony Fauci saying, “I can’t imagine that anybody could be doing more,” when referring to Trump’s efforts with COVID-19. After the ad ran, Dr. Fauci said “he didn’t give consent to the GOP to use his comments from a March interview,” saying that his words were “taken out of context,” (Karl, Jonathan). By showing this, it clearly represents how political campaign teasms can take one’s words and use it to advance a message regardless of its context. In this case, Trump used Dr. Fauci’s words to promote his own track record with COVID-19 in the form of a political stunt. Although using these tactics may be seem like normal campaign practices today, this example helps expose the storytelling techniques that politicians use in order promote and create an image for voters to see and believe. Clearly, these images and visions the candidates want to promote can in many cases be manipulative and deceiving. Due to this new false seeming reality, change in some cases is on the horizon. For example, in a New York Times article it says that “Facebook said it would take more preventative measures to keep political candidates from using it (Facebook) to manipulate the election’s outcome and it’s aftermath” (Isaac). By saying this, due to the agenda-setting and manipulation that has been seen in more recent politics, change may be something that may be necessary in protecting the true meaning behind democracy and elections in the Untied States.

On the other hand, although political ads may seem divisive and political at times, they are all apart of each candidate’s communication style and strategy which in many ways may help reveal important things about the candidates. In other words, “political advertising is a candidate-controlled medium that allows campaigns to present positive messages about their candidates, to attack issue stances and opponent images, or respond to the attacks made by the opposition,” (Denton 379). More specifically, this means that when candidates are campaigning, there are three kinds of advertisements that are historically used. These kinds of advertisements include positive ads, negative ads, and/or comparative ads.
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Matthew BruinOctober 13, 2020 at 2:16 AM
Matthew Bruin
PART TWO

First, positive political advertisements focus on a candidate’s accomplishments thus far throughout their lifetime while pointing out and showing voters what THEY can do if they get elected while leaving out any criticism or negative comment from the ad. For example, this year the Trump campaign released a positive campaign ad named “Record Smashing” in which the ad focuses on Trump’s overall accomplishments over the past four years while pointing out the “great American comeback” that has come from Trump being president (2020 Trump vs. Biden). This ad is considered a positive political advertisement because it points out a candidate’s accomplishments and vision for America while not bringing up or calling out his opponent in a negative manor. Additionally, this ad motivates and inspires voters in a patriotic way overall leaving voters with positive message saying that “the best is yet to come.” When looking back in history, one positive advertisement that is just like Trump’s ad was seen in the 1984 election between Ronald Reagan and Walter Mondale. For example, the ad titled “Prouder, Stronger, Better” was used by the Reagan campaign to promote a similar positive message. For example, the ad promoted Reagan’s accomplishments following his first term in office while simultaneously promoting a patriotic message focusing on America’s future instead of pointing out Mondale’s faults (1984 Reagan vs. Mondale). In this case, both ads were used by incumbent candidates for President where both focused on promoting a positive message leaving out any negative message or criticism of their candidates.

Next, a negative political advertisement instead focuses on attacking a candidate’s opponent by pointing out the opponent’s overall flaws. This for example includes pointing out anything from that candidate’s past regarding previous comments, track record, or even weaknesses and inconsistencies with that candidate’s behavior. One of the ads that stood out for me was an ad created by the Lincoln Project titled, “Mourning in America.” This pro-Trump ad pointed out and emphasized Biden’s 47 years in office as “47 years of failure” while listing some examples. These examples in the ad included calling attention to Biden’s “disastrous trade deals,” and also calling out how Biden had “jobs shipped to China and Mexico.” The ad also listed out Biden’s support of the “radical left” explaining Biden’s so called “Anti American” agenda, while in the end hitting home the message that Biden is a “failure” (2020 Trump vs. Biden). This pro-Trump ad clearly is a good example of a negative political ad because it focuses on all of Biden’s faults by insulting his years in public office in a way to make voters believe Biden is the wrong choice. This ad also does not mention anything positive in regard to Trump, however it instead acts as a call to action. One ad in history that compares to this negative ad is one that was seen during the election between George Bush and Michael Dukakis in 1988. For example, in an ad used by the Bush campaign titled “Credibility,” the message displayed in this ad called out Dukakis’s track record of releasing and pardoning killers, drug dealers, and offenders by using his own words against him from a debate. In the clip, Dukakis says “I am opposed to the death penalty,” followed up with him saying “I am also very tough on violent crime,” while he seemingly made a face. The ad then follows up saying “even Michael Dukakis can’t say he’s tough on crime” (1988 Bush vs. Dukakis). In this ad, just like Trump’s ad discussed above, the Bush campaign focuses on showing viewers all the negatives about his opponent while also proving to voters that Dukakis is not the right choice for president. The Bush campaign promoted this by only showing negatives of Dukakis while simultaneously leaving out any promotion or positive message regarding Bush himself.
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Matthew BruinOctober 13, 2020 at 2:17 AM
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Matthew BruinOctober 13, 2020 at 2:18 AM
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Matthew BruinOctober 13, 2020 at 2:19 AM
Matthew Bruin
PART THREE

Lastly, comparative ads focus on pointing out a candidate’s opponents flaws while simultaneously countering with a promotion of themselves with proof that they would be the better choice. In other words, here candidates use their opponents’ weaknesses to make themselves seem stronger. One of these ads that stood out the most was an ad used by the Biden campaign titled “Donald Trump Failed to Protect Us From COVID-19.” This ad starts out by taking Trump’s comment saying, “nobody knew there would be a pandemic or epidemic of this proportion,” followed by showing Obama and Biden’s track record of pandemic planning efforts that they put together before Trump was elected. (2020 Trump vs. Biden). Through this ad, the Biden campaign criticized and called out Trump while hitting home the idea that the Obama-Biden Administration knew and prepared, while Trump ignored those plans saying that he “tore it apart.” This advertisement is a comparative ad because it uses Trump’s words to compare and build an argument that promotes Biden. One comparative ad in history that compared to this ad was an ad used during the election between Bill Clinton and Bob Dole in 1996. The ad titled “Signed,” was a pro-Clinton ad that pointed out Clinton’s accomplishments regarding immigration and increasing border patrol while comparing with Dole’s efforts of doing the opposite. (1996 Clinton vs. Dole). This ad used numbers to build this argument in the end stating that Dole is “wrong for a future” and that Clinton I the better option. Again, this is a comparative ad because it uses a candidate’s opponents’ words and track record to build an argument in favor of themselves.

Work Cited:

"1984 Reagan vs. Mondale," The Living Room Candidate, http://www.livingroomcandidate.org/commercials/1956. Accessed 12 Oct. 2020.

"1988 Bush vs. Dukakis," The Living Room Candidate, http://www.livingroomcandidate.org/commercials/1956. Accessed 12 Oct. 2020.

"1996 Clinton vs. Dole ," The Living Room Candidate, http://www.livingroomcandidate.org/commercials/1956. Accessed 12 Oct. 2020.

"2020 Trump vs. Biden," The Living Room Candidate, http://www.livingroomcandidate.org/commercials/1956. Accessed 12 Oct. 2020.

Denton, Robert E., et al. Political Campaign Communication: Principles and Practices. 9th ed., Rowman & Littlefield, 2020.

Isaac, Mike. “Facebook Widens Ban on Political Ads as Alarm Rises Over Election.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 7 Oct. 2020, www.nytimes.com/2020/10/07/technology/facebook-political-ads-ban.html.

Karl, Jonathan. “Fauci Says He Didn't Give Permission to Be Used in Trump Campaign Ad.” ABC News, ABC News Network, 11 Oct. 2020, abcnews.go.com/Politics/fauci-give-permission-trump-campaign-ad/story?id=73553484.

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UnknownOctober 13, 2020 at 2:31 AM
Jessica Bischer

Over the past few decades, political advertising has had an overwhelming increase in attack ads (Denton 130). However, it is pleasantly surprising to see a variation of ads coming from both parties.

The modern dominant political ad strategy is condemning and questioning the opponent. Both Biden and Trump have made use of negative ads in this election year. President Trump has released multiple ads attacking Biden, Harris, and their associations with the "radical left" ("2020 Biden vs. Trump). These are very harsh, utilize fear tactics, and "guilt by association" (Denton 129). Bernie Sanders and "AOC+3" carry a negative reputation with conservative voters because of their progressive ideas, and the President continues to imply Biden is a part of the progressive radical left. These types of ads will keep conservative voters on Trump's side of the fence with guilt by association. The Obama campaign ran similar ads in 2008 against John McCain and his strong ties with George W. Bush, who had a low approval rating at the time ("2008 Obama vs. McCain").

Biden has also implemented numerous attack strategies, but one tactic seems to be more popular than the rest: using Trump's words against him. Joe Biden tweeted on September 19, "I'm Joe Biden, and I approve this message." followed by a 10-second unedited video of President Trump. In this clip, he states if he loses to Biden, he "will never speak to [the American people] again, you'll never see me again." According to Jeff Beer at Fast Company, the "Shooter McGavin Advertising tactic" can turn a candidate's original intentions into a bad soundbite (Beer). This "Shooter McGavin" technique dominated the 2016 Clinton campaign advertisements (Denton 379). Nearly all of the 2016 Clinton ads provided by LivingRoomCandidate.org contain clips of Donald Trump speaking and acting unpresidential ("2016 Trump vs. Clinton").

A less aggressive advertising technique used by candidates is positive content, expressing their virtues and values, and ignoring the opponent. These ads were popularly used in the 80s before the modern skyrocket of attack ads. Two ads provided by LivingRoomCandidate.org stood out as "extolling virtue" (Denton 127). One captures Biden in his office Zoom chatting Kamala Harris, asking her to be his VP nominee. Harris then tells her background story, how she came to be, and her goals as Vice President. In the second ad, Biden addresses the American people about the continuing COVID crisis ("2020 Biden vs. Trump). Biden wants voters to know that the lives of everyday Americans are his priority. As COVID cases begin rising for the third time in the United States, voters may be looking for the candidate willing to put their foot down and get the virus under control. Ronald Reagan abundantly utilized the documentary-style expression of virtue in 1980 (Denton 127). Unlike 2020, most of these ads did not have Reagan himself speaking to the people, instead replaced by a narrator or a close colleague or family member ("1980 Reagan vs. Carter vs. Anderson").
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UnknownOctober 13, 2020 at 8:02 AM
Tim Powers
The advertising during this election has been very interesting from both campaigns. The ads released by the Biden campaign and the Trump campaign have largely been focused around the competence of their opponent. Biden says the Trump has not handled the job of President well in regard to the COVID-19 pandemic and other tensions. While Trump says that Biden is mentally unfit for office. In addition, as the incumbent, Trump is campaigning on his accomplishments in office. The ads for each campaign have been interesting because of new developments. Since, Trump has been diagnosed with COVID-19, Biden had pulled all negative ads against Trump. While, Trump has always remained negative. So, I would say the advertising this presidential election has been positive and negative.

In a rally in North Caroline, Trump declared that Biden is “the worst candidate in the history of presidential politics.” He went on to declare, “If I lose to him, I don’t know what I’m going to do. I will never speak to you again.... You’ll never see me again” (Beer). The Biden campaign then turned this into an ad for Biden supporters. In other words, Biden was using Trump’s own words against him. Biden supporters never want to see Trump again, so it works. For Biden, this is using the strategy of emphasizing optimism for the future. In other words, “the task of the challenger (Biden) is not only to attack but to hold out the promise of a better tomorrow—a day when wrongs will be righted, when justice will prevail and when health, wellness and happiness will be more than just vague illusions.” (Denton, 81). This is very similar to advertising done during the 2008 Obama campaign. The campaign ran an ad with many musicians singing a song about hope (2008 Obama vs. McCain). In other words, they were singing about having optimism or hope for the future.

A few days ago, Biden posted an ad to his Twitter account that interviewed a woman whose mother had died from COVID-19. She then went on to discuss the President’s response to the pandemic and his own diagnosis, which she found to be offensive and horrible (Biden). This ad is a clear example of the competency and the office strategy, “the presidency stands for competency; therefore, the person who holds the office can easily convey that impression” (Denton, 65). But also, cannot portray that position and that is what Biden is getting at with this advertisement. This is very similar to an ad during the 2016 presidential election. Hillary Clinton ran an ad that included children watching the harsh, crude and offensive words that have been spoken by Trump (2016 Trump vs. Clinton). Clinton was attempting to use the strategy of competency and the office. You want the person in the oval office to be competent.

Biden has been releasing numerous ads that highlight the power of the people, “Let’s go vote, America” (Biden). He is urging citizens to vote, no matter their political party or whoever they want to vote for. He has made numerous statements saying that he would be a president for all Americans, whether Democrat, Republican or Independent, “we’re Americans. We can’t forget that.” (Biden). The Biden campaign is using the Legitimacy of the Office strategy, which is “the use of specific tangible symbols to remind voters of their power” (Denton, 65). Biden is reminding Americans that they have the power to vote and choose how they want the country run. This is similar to an ad run by Mitt Romney in the 2012 presidential election, in which Romney talks about American accomplishments. Romney says, “this isn’t a campaign about me. And it’s not even about a campaign about conservatives versus liberals” (2012 Obama vs. Romney). Romney was using the legitimacy of the office to remind voters of their power. The election is about you, everyday Americans.
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Harriet RiceOctober 13, 2020 at 9:12 AM
Harriet Rice

Advertisements are crucial for each candidate in hopes of reaching inactive voters who passively consume the ads in contrast to active voters who will volunteer and hopefully donate. (Semiatin 48). Therefore, creative and interactive methods are effective in creating a positive tone for each candidate. For example, a great method was used by President Obama as he targeted younger voters by buying video games ads on NBA live (Semiatin 48). Looking at this year we see a contrast in ad spending between Trump and Biden. Trump with an estimated 80.1 million to air 161,744 on local broadcast while Joe Biden with an estimate of 44.2 million and aired only 66,875 ads (Rakich). However, since late July it is evident that democrats have “out aired” republicans (Rakich) as Trump’s campaign manager cut back on tv ads in several states (Rakich).

Looking at Obama's campaign advertisements I noticed the personal connection he tries to create. Obama includes pictures and stories about his family, and his struggle growing up. He connects with low income and working families and wounded troops and reiterates he will never forget his values (2008 Obama vs. McCain). Comparing this to Biden’s “Build Back Better” advertisements I noticed similarities in the American promise and standing by one another. Despite the difference in growing up between Biden and Obama, you can see the efforts that Biden has been making in neighborhoods of poverty and struggle (2020 Biden vs Trump).

It is evident that Trump’s advertisements heavily focus on negatively portraying Biden. As he points out Biden has been in Washington 47 years and has all lead to failure (2020 Biden vs Trump). A similarity can be seen in the 1996 Clinton Vs Dole ads in particular to a Dole campaign which includes clips of Clinton speaking all lies with the actual truth portrayed after. It asks viewers if the truth matters to them just as similar to Trump telling people in his advertisements the future is better with him and Biden has done nothing for the people (2020 Biden vs Trump).

Faced with a global pandemic this year Trump has made it evident in his campaigns that he has created the “American comeback” as he has produced 3 months of record-setting job growth with additions to women and minorities going to work in record numbers (2020 Biden vs Trump). I see a similarity in the 2004 President Bush vs Kerry campaigns. Bush released a campaign that highlights him overcoming the challenges presented to him during his term. He highlights himself as rising to the challenge and American’s turning a corner similar to Trump with the pandemic. Overall campaign advertisements are a huge part of creating perspectives. 30-second videos may be all it takes to gain or lose a voter. Therefore, the strategy is crucial regarding when and where to air these ads and make sure they are representing the candidate appropriately in everyone’s eyes.

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Claire FaulknerOctober 13, 2020 at 9:34 AM
The current presidential election has inspired some interesting advertisements from Biden and Trump. Ads have been an important component of political campaigns for decades, but they could be increasingly impactful this year. With so many swing states up for grabs, ads could be the push either candidate needs to win significant battlegrounds. Attack ads have dominated this election. Both Biden and Trump have used at least half of their commercial advertisements to attack their opponent. While a few uplifting, virtue-focused ads have been released by each candidate, a negative tone has dominated this year’s ads. It is clear that the priority of the presidential nominees is to discredit their competition and prove that they are the better option through highlighting the other’s faults.

Many of Biden’s ads attacking Trump have been centered around the president’s inability to contain the COVID-19 crisis. Issues addressed also include police brutality, racism, cruel detainment of immigrants, the struggling economy, and Trump’s call to boycott Goodyear tires. His positive ads, on the other hand, focus on the strength and resilience of Americans, tell the story of Kamala Harris, and encourage unity in this time of hardship. Trump’s ads criticize Biden on his “47 years of failure” as a politician, his “radical left” policies, past disrespectful remarks about Black people, and his mental acuity. His positive ads boast his success in handling the pandemic, building the economy, and creating jobs. This leads to the question, is it more effective to take a positive or negative tone in advertisements? “Research suggests that negative ads increase cognitive understanding of issues and influence evaluations of opponents,” however, “Attacks on an opponent’s issue positions are more effective than personal attacks” (Denton 134). It is likely that the effectiveness of an ad depends on the viewer’s preferences of tone. Nevertheless, research shows that personal attacks, of which this election has seen an abundance of, are not as impactful.

The three main types of advertisements, according to Denton, are ads that emphasize the virtue of the candidate, criticize the opponent, and respond to attacks (127-132). These three styles have been used for decades. In 1988, George H.W. Bush displayed his virtue with a touching commercial about his family. This year, Biden released a feel-good ad that showed the moment Harris agreed to be his running mate, followed by a montage of the issues she has fought for. In 1964, Lyndon B. Johnson used the now infamous “Daisy Girl” commercial to question his opponent’s ability to keep peace without once saying his name. Today, attack ads are more direct, as seen in a recent Trump commercial that doubts Biden’s mental clarity and ability to hold office. In 2012, Barack Obama responded to a commercial by Romney that “took [his] words out of context” and stated his support for small businesses. This is a good example of a response to an opponent’s attack. This year, candidates have done little to address claims made against them; However, Biden recently responded to Trump’s false statement that Fauci approved of his actions against the pandemic. As shown, candidates and their tactics may change, but their go-to advertising strategies have remained over the years.

In a tight race, advertising could make a significant difference. And while Biden is currently releasing more ads than Trump, “Countless political candidates have won races despite being out-advertised, including Trump in the last presidential election. But 2020 is a different race” (Bland and Schneider). Advertising is just one of the many components of a winning presidential campaign. It is yet to be seen which components will make the biggest difference this year.
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McKayla Norris pt 1October 13, 2020 at 10:32 AM
This election year has been a year where advertising is vital to the success of each candidate. Without the ability to travel state to state through campaigning, gaining the attention of the people through advertising is vital. According to Denton, campaign advertising is really just “a system of communication with rhetorical influence on others” (Denton, 2020). Denton focuses on the idea and importance of “image” through these ad campaigns when he says “The creation and maintenance of image plays a dominant role because voters have impressions regarding the behavior of those who seek elective office that they compare with a personal vision of an ideal candidate” (Denton, 2020). Through these advertisements, it is clear to see candidates fighting to persevere their image while tarnishing the image of their opposer. After viewing several different campaign ads from both Trump and Biden, I found that a lot of the advertisements attacked their opposing candidates and directed the advertisement to be about the reasons why they would be a better choice. Another overarching theme in these advertisements is the attempt at being relatable to the American people. Generally, the ads appear to have more negative tones than positive ones but there were positive ads as well that focused on a hopeful future for the country. According to Politico “Biden is out-advertising Trump in 72 out of 83 media markets where the campaigns are spending this week”(Bland & Schneider, 2020).

Donald Trump’s campaign team has followed pretty much the same criteria in all of his advertisements where he sets out to attack Joe Biden’s plans for presidency and his ability to lead. Trump’s campaign ads focus predominantly on Biden’s stance on immigration, defunding of police, raised taxes, and health care. Specifically, President Trump saw major backlash after airing a campaign ad that showed an elderly woman’s house getting broken into with no luck reaching 911 as a result of defunding the police (2020 Trump vs. Biden). In an advertisement called “You Won’t Be Safe In Joe Biden’s America”, Joe Biden is referred to several times as a product of the “radical left” and the advertisement shows the country practically up in flames along with the presence of AOC and Bernie Sanders (2020 Trump vs. Biden). Comparable to this, in the 2012 election, Mitt Romney released an advertisement during his campaign that attacked Obama for a comment he made about the making of small businesses (2012 Obama vs. Romney). This is similar because the ad focused on the attack method to show the weaknesses or wrongdoings of their opposers.

Aside from this approach, Donald Trump uses his ad space to hit home his “Make America Great Again” slogan and become relatable to the people. In an advertisement President Trump recently put out, they talk about his Covid-19 diagnosis and speedy recovery (2020 Trump vs. Biden). According to FiveThirtyEight, “Democrats have been airing more ads than Republicans since late July” and they are beginning to see “shifts in each major swing state”(Rakich, 2020). This is seen after Trump’s campaign cancels spending in certain states and says that “the canceled reservations were a result of its confidence he'll win those states” (Badner, 2020).
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McKayla Norris pt. 2October 13, 2020 at 10:32 AM
Joe Biden’s campaign team has focused heavily on the approach that makes Biden appear relatable to the “regular people” through ads that talk about the struggles he faced in his life. In an advertisement, what stood out to me particularly was a line that said “Joe Biden knows that America was not built on Wall Street, but built by the American people”(2020 Trump vs. Biden). This is a similar tactic to an advertisement from Carter in the 1980 election where Carter’s strategy was to talk about his experience in the military and on ground as an American protecting the country (1980 Carter vs. Reagan). The strategy to make the candidate relatable is effective to a lot of people viewing these ads because it feels like the candidate has been in their shoes.

Along with this, Joe Biden does have his fair share of attack ads towards President Trump but often in a more subtle way. This includes an advertisement where a retired couple says “I don’t blame Donald Trump for the virus, but I blame him for his lack of action”(2020 Trump vs. Biden). Joe Biden put an emphasis on this subtle attack throughout his advertisement campaign titled “Heal America”, that highlights all of the issues America is currently facing and how Biden/Harris will solve these issues (2020 Trump vs. Biden). Similarly, in the 2000 election, Bush released an advertisement that began with how prescription drug prices have “skyrocketed” under Clinton/Gore and then goes on to say how his presidency will make changes in that department immediately (2000 Bush vs. Gore).

Works Cited
Bland, S., & Schneider, E. (2020, October 07). A bullish Biden campaign invades Trump territory. Retrieved October 13, 2020, from https://www.politico.com/news/2020/10/07/joe-biden-trump-territory-426802
Bradner, E., Wright, D., & Judd, D. (2020, October 05). Trump off the air in Ohio and Iowa as polls show tight races in both states. Retrieved October 13, 2020, from https://www.cnn.com/2020/10/05/politics/trump-ads-ohio-iowa/index.html
Rakich. (2020, September 16). Trump Has Lost His Edge In TV Advertising. Retrieved October 13, 2020, from https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/trump-has-lost-his-edge-in-tv-advertising/
Denton, Robert E., et al. Political Campaign Communication: Principles and Practices. 9th ed., Rowman & Littlefield, 2020

“2000 Bush v. Gore,”(n.d.). Retrieved October 13, 2020, from http://www.livingroomcandidate.org/commercials/2000

“2012 Obama v. Romney,”(n.d.). Retrieved October 13, 2020, from http://www.livingroomcandidate.org/commercials/2012

“2020 Trump v. Biden ,”(n.d.). Retrieved October 13, 2020, from http://www.livingroomcandidate.org/commercials/2020

“1980 Carter v. Reagan,”(n.d.). Retrieved October 13, 2020, from http://www.livingroomcandidate.org/commercials/2000

Donald J. Trump for President | Campaign 2020. (n.d.). Retrieved October 13, 2020, from https://www.washingtonpost.com/video/video/politics/campaign-ads-2020/donald-j-trump-for-president-break-in--campaign-2020/2020/07/21/42e4f41a-4fca-4668-b9e9-82381f9a8a3a_video.html
Joe Biden For President| Campaign 2020. (n.d.). Retrieved October 13, 2020, from https://www.washingtonpost.com/video/video/politics/campaign-ads-2020/joe-biden-for-president-donna--campaign-2020/2020/08/04/ac333539-f4dc-42fe-9f00-987e0005ebe5_video.html
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UnknownOctober 13, 2020 at 11:08 AM
Erin Fennell

During this year's election there have been a multitude of advertisements put out by each side. Both Trump and Biden have shown their fair share of negative ads this election cycle. In an article by Shawn Langlois, he looks at Trump advertisements against Biden and how his campaign attempts to display Biden's mental state as being unfit for the presidency. The article says, “it’s the harshest president campaign attack in what is shaping up to be an even uglier messaging year than 2016” (Langlois). Biden’s campaign has also has been more focused on negative ads as well. He stopped airing them when Trump was admitted to the hospital with Covid, but according to a New York Times article, Biden will begin airing again because “with Mr. Trump now out of the hospital and tweeting attacks against Democrats including Mr. Biden, Mr. Biden’s team signaled in a statement that the campaign intended to both push an affirmative case for Mr. Biden and highlight the sharp differences between the two candidates” (Ember and Glueck). Both candidates have focused on showing the other in a negative light and using ads to do so is the most effective way, especially when it comes to influencing the public.

Advertisements, especially during election campaigns, are created by the idea of the Hypodermic Effect, which is “the assumption that the press is a powerful force in shaping public opinion has been around for centuries” (Denton Et al 96). Candidates use negative ads in hopes to undermine their opponent in the public eye. Other examples of negative ads from the Democratic side was a ten second ad using Trump's own quote ‘“If I lose to him, I don’t know what I’m going to do. I will never speak to you again . . .. You’ll never see me again” (Trump), and then Biden says “I am Joe Biden and I approve this message” (Beer). This was a very clever play by Biden's team to use Trump's own words then make a meme out of it. It is a great use of digital platforms, such as twitter. Other ads are simply saying “Donald Trump is failing America” and others along that topic (Yglesias). One advertisement from the Trump campaign against Biden is made to make Biden seem if he is anti-law enforcement. A part of the ad consists of “A woman’s call is then answered by a voice recording: “You have reached 911. I’m sorry that there is no one here to answer your emergency call. Leave a message and we’ll get back to you as soon as we can”’ (Qui). Another ad is about Biden “[supporting] massive taxes on working families” (Qui). Many of these ads against Biden and Trump take conversations and quotes out of context to harm the image of their opponent.

These ads nowadays are different from ones seen in the past, but not as different as you might think. In the 1988 election “the stage was set for one of the most bitter presidential campaigns in recent history…” (Museum of Moving Image). Negative ads filled the 1988 election news cycle, with each side trying to control the other's image. During the 1992 election it was the same. Clinton focused on one aspect that his opponent had a different opinion and made ads centered around that; “prominently [placing a] sign in Clinton’s campaign headquarters [reading] "It’s the economy, stupid!" (Museum of Moving Image). In the 2012 election it was no surprise that the ads became more negative as the years went on. In this election “well more than 75% of all presidential campaign ads in 2012 were negative” (Museum of Moving Image). Negative ads have been utilized for years, but they are much more prominent in modern elections like this year. I personally believe this election would have been much more efficient if the candidates were less worried about destroying each other's images and focused more on rebuilding their own. I think positive, informative ads, stating their goals would have been a better use of money and better for the country during this chaotic election.
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Jailynn CaraballoOctober 13, 2020 at 11:14 AM
Jailynn Caraballo

There have been a lot of advertisements set up by each presidential campaign. I’ve seen a wide variety anywhere from email promotions to 30 second ads on YouTube. A lot of the ads I have seen are in fact in a negative in tone, but not all. They usually start with some sort of positive attribute that the creating campaign has and then they find a way to use that attribute to undercut something that has been done by the other campaign or candidate.

The book explains a lot of different types of advertisements, I remember seeing 3 of them throughout this presidential campaign. The first is Ads Extolling the Candidate’s Virtues. “The communicative functions performed by ads of this nature are as varied as the video styles… Moreover, they are critical for both incumbents and challengers, although the extent to which they are used may vary in relationship to other conditions” (Denton et. al, 127). This type of ad I have seen mostly on YouTube. It usually is a video that lasts about a minute long and has many pictures of the candidate set up in favorable positions. I remember one that I saw that was before a YouTube video I wanted to watch. It showed President Trump standing on a balcony clearly at the White House. This reminded me of an ad I had seen when President Obama was running for his second term. They seemed to have similar visual elements and style. This ad style is very similar to an ad seen by Reagan the 1980 presidential campaign (“1980 Reagan vs. Carter vs. Anderson”).

The next type of advertisements is Ads Condemning / Attacking / Questioning the Opponent. These types of ads are more negative in tone. They are meant to exert strength as a candidate and make the opponent seem week. “In most national and state campaigns, especially now with outside and special interest groups generating ads, the vast majority of the ads are “attack” or “negative” in nature”. Most voters are fine with negative or attack ads as long as the attacks seem fair and legitimate” (Denton el. al, 129). These types of ads are meant to show the other opponent in a bad light. I have seen these ads on each of the presidential candidates’ websites. They have a few videos that you can click into, and they also have a few half page or quarter page ads that can be found all around. Biden does this often, his catch phrase for this election is “Lets Vote Trump Out of Office”. This is very similar to an Obama ad seen in 2012. (“2012 Obama vs. Romney”).

The last type of advertisement that I can connect to the book is Ads Responding to Attacks or Innuendoes. These were seen a lot after the first presidential debate. “While a response commercial may take a variety of forms, the most frequently
used are those that employ a refutation strategy (a direct rebuttal to the attack), a counterattack strategy (instead of refuting the charge, the candidate launches an attack on the character/issue positions/motives/actions of the attacker), or a humor/ridicule/absurdity strategy” (Denton et. al, 132). I remember Trump putting several new ads on different streaming platforms after the presidential debate. All of them seem to be responding to what Biden’s campaign had said about him. This is exactly like an ad that can be seen by the Biden campaign on the Living Room Candidate website (“2020 Biden vs. Trump”).

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UnknownOctober 13, 2020 at 11:17 AM
Shannon Flaherty
Both candidates have mastered the art of their display graphics. This has helped both candidates in “name recognition...a very quick impression of the candidate...a reminder medium when other campaign activity is limited...and reach markets that other media cannot reach” (Denton). The Trump campaign is utilizing the same font and structure of their display graphics with their Trump/Pence 2020 signs in the classic red and white colors. While Biden’s team has used their Biden logo with the E resembling the red stripes on the flag and now added Harris since the VP announcement and their primary color graphic is blue and white with occasional red. Since “political advertising remains the most powerful tool in a campaigns arsenal”, television was primarily used for the visual medium for advertising , we are in an age of advertisements taking over social media platforms and “as technology changes the way we communicate, political advertising is changing too” (Semiatin). Trump’s recent ad, which is believed to be already taken down, included Dr. Fauci saying “I can’t imagine that anybody could be doing more” in regards to Trump’s handling of the Coronavirus pandemic- however Fauci went on CNN to discuss how this ad was taken out of context completely, and that he in the past 5 decades of public service has never endorsed a candidate (Dr.). In comparison to ads in previous campaigns, in 2008 a McCain ad included Winston Churchill’s famous speech “We shall fight on the beaches”- while this speech is well-known and famous, Churchill was not alive to consent to being in McCain’s advertisement, and therefore McCain’s team went forward with implicit consent about including Churchill- much like Trump’s team did with Dr. Fauci (2008).
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Johnny MarquardtOctober 13, 2020 at 11:27 AM
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Johnny MarquardtOctober 13, 2020 at 11:29 AM
pt 1
Advertising is one of the most important parts of campaigning for presidential candidates. Using Ads helps reach audiences that may be inactive and may not pay attention to big events such as the debates and the rallies. According to the text it states, “Political advertising is a candidate-controlled medium that allows campaigns to present positive messages about their candidates, to attack issue stances and opponent images, or to respond to the attacks made by the opposition” (Denton 379). Democrats alone use up a good chunk of funds to make sure their ads are heard across the states, According to NBC reporter Mark Murray, “Advertising Analytics projects $6.7 billion will be spent on advertising in the 2020 election cycle…$443 million has already been reserved for the Fall of 2020” (Murray). To me that’s an insane amount of money spent only being used for the last few months of election. Biden and his advertising team is planning on taking on the states that Trump won back in the 2016 election. While Trump is slowing down on advertisements compared to Boden who have raised mass amounts of money compared to Trump, Biden is chugging along. According to Scott Bland and Elena Schneider, “in addition to Texas, the Biden campaign is also investing in earnest this week in Ohio, the perennial battleground state that Trump won by 8 points in 2016. In a statement, the Trump campaign said it wasn't concerned with Biden's spending in those and other states. ‘President Trump and our campaign are extremely confident about states like Texas, Ohio, and Iowa” (Bland Schneider). It seems that Trump is trying to hide the fact that funds are low for advertising compared to Biden and covering it up with “confidence” to make it seem they aren’t worried that Biden is attempting to take over states such as Texas and Iowa in which Trump had won over in 2016 against Clinton.

Trump is consistent with attacking his candidates. He makes sure to find any rumors or dirt on his candidates and instantly blow it up and use it against them. This method has always been used, but Trump really capitalizes off this method. According to “The Living Room Candidate”, in the 2020 campaign run, Trump calls out Biden and Harris for being “Radical lefts” and “Creating trillions of dollars’ worth of taxes” (Biden Trump 2020). His point is to tell the middle class that Biden isn’t the man you want in office, which Biden’s whole plan is to a president for the working man. This was similar in the 2016 election against Hillary where one ad straight out starts with, “In Hillary Clinton’s America, the middle class gets crushed” (Trump Clinton 2016). Middle class makes up a majority of America so that is a big demographic to win over, so Trump makes sure to make the democrats look bad in their eyes to make himself look better.
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UnknownOctober 13, 2020 at 11:29 AM
Xavier Cullen
It seems that there is a lot more negative and attack ads this election cycle this year than in years past. Most of Trump’s ads are calling Biden and Harris part of the “radical left” that want to destroy America, and a lot of Biden’s ads are attacking Trump for his horrible leadership and poor management of the COVID-19 pandemic. While it might seem that there has been a sharp uptick in negative ads, this isn’t a new phenomenon at all. Most notoriously, in the 1988 presidential election between former VP George H.W. Bush and Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis, Bush aired an attack ad against Dukakis that called him out for his prison furlough program which allowed convicted felons to leave the jail for a weekend. Bush attacked Dukakis for his “weekend passes” that let Willie Horton escape and eventually let him commit assault, robbery and rape. “Weekend prison passes,” the ad said. “Dukakis on crime” (Museum of the Moving Image, Willie Horton). This ad is very similar to a Trump ad that called the Democrats weak on crime and called them the “radical left” (Museum of the Moving Image, Border) These types of ads try to stoke racial fear in voters by showing pictures of Black and Hispanic criminals.

Trump’s campaign strategy has actually reflected that of a challenger, and not an incumbent. He repeatedly calls into question Biden’s history with his “47 Years of Failure” ad that highlights Biden’s supposed failures as a Senator and a Vice President, and makes it seem that Biden is running for re-election, not Trump (Museum of the Moving Image, 47 Years of Failure). Author Robert Denton says that this style is “attacking the record”, and says that “the ability to criticize freely (and often in exaggerated terms) may well be one of the most important benefits the challenger” (Campaigns, 78). That ad is very similar to when Massachusetts Senator John Kerry challenged then President George W. Bush about his costly wars that he got the United States into, and how it was based in a lie (Museum of the Moving Image, Mistakes Were Made). “Credibility is on the ballot this November,” the ad said.

Another challenger-like campaign strategy that Trump uses is “emphasizing optimism for the future” with his “Make America Great Again” slogan that he has used since 2016. In his “Record Smashing” ad, he highlights the jobs that have been created under his presidency, and he ends the advertisement by saying “the best is yet to come.” Denton says that this strategy puts “reliance on the positive—emphasizing hope and faith in the future, an optimism that the nation’s tomorrow will, in fact, be better than today” (Campaigns, 82). This strategy is similar to the ads from both parties in the 2008 election. For Barack Obama, his main slogan, “Yes We Can,” sparked hope and optimism in many people, even having an ad with several celebrities such as John Legend, Will.i.am and Common that sang an original acoustic song that outlined the hope and optimism that an Obama presidency promised (Museum of the Moving Image, Yes We Can). Even John McCain, who called himself the “Original Maverick,” used phrases such as “make America prosper again” and that he is “ready to lead” in his “Broken” ad (Museum of the Moving Image, Broken).

While it might seem like this election is unique in its attack ads and rhetoric, much of what is happening right now has happened plenty of times in the past.
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Johnny MarquardtOctober 13, 2020 at 11:30 AM
When looking at Biden and his ad campaign, he uses Trump’s mistakes as president to his advantage and to tell the American Citizens how he could be a better president. A big topic is of course, Covid-19. On one ad campaign, Biden states that America is in health crisis and it’s “Worsened by Trump’s failure to act” as well as claiming a economic crisis due to “Deepened by Trump’s failure to keep the Virus under control” (Biden Trump 2020). This is similar to in the 2004 election run when John Kerry was trying to use how Bush handled Iraq in his previous presidency against him and tell Citizens how he would have dealt with it. In one ad a lady talks about the fact that Bush is spending billions to liberate others in other countries (this example Iraq) when people at home need “Healthcare and food on their table” (Bush Kerry 2004). This is similar to both campaigns because of the use of the current presidents’ mistakes towards the opposing candidate’s advantage in their campaign.

Another Trump ad tactic was the use of prescription drug prices. In one ad he calls out Biden for being in office for 47 years and being a failure in that 47 years. Trump brings up because of Biden there has been “Skyrocketing healthcare and drug prices” (Biden Trump 2020). This is like Bush’s tactic in the 2000 election against Al Gore. In an ad Bush explains “Under Clinton Gore, drug prices have skyrocketed” and that he plans on giving America a “Affordable Rx plan” (Bush Gore 2000). Health care is a big issue in America and how it should be handled so both Republican candidates called out the opposing side on Drug prices and healthcare. So many Americans need medicine remain healthy such as citizens who require insulin and both candidates want to help Americans with the issue by dropping prices to show that they care about the health and wellbeing of Americans.

“2016 TRUMP vs CLINTON.” The Living Room Candidate, www.livingroomcandidate.org/commercials/2016.

“2020 BIDEN vs TRUMP.” The Living Room Candidate, www.livingroomcandidate.org/commercials/2020.

“2004 BUSH vs KERRY.” The Living Room Candidate,
www.livingroomcandidate.org/commercials/2004.

“2000 BUSH vs GORE.” The Living Room Candidate,
www.livingroomcandidate.org/commercials/2000.

Bland, Scott, and Elena Schneider. “A Bullish Biden Campaign Invades Trump Territory.” POLITICO, POLITICO, 7 Oct. 2020, www.politico.com/news/2020/10/07/joe-biden-trump-territory-426802.

Denton, Robert E., et al. Political Campaign Communication: Principles and Practices. Rowman & Littlefield, 2020.

Murray, Mark. “Meet the Press Blog: Latest News, Analysis and Data Driving the Political Discussion.” NBCNews.com, NBCUniversal News Group, 15 Apr. 2020, www.nbcnews.com/politics/meet-the-press/blog/meet-press-blog-latest-news-analysis-data-driving-political-discussion-n988541/ncrd1207951.

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Ryan MillerOctober 13, 2020 at 11:59 AM
Ryan Miller pt 1

Young voters are a key demographic. Campaigns target them knowing the difference they make when turning out to vote. Being used to this also means reminding ourselves that not everything is targeted towards us, and campaign ads are in that category.
Television ads are geared towards undecided and baby boomer voters. As our nation feels so starkly divided, it’s interesting to be reminded in Political Campaign Communication that, “in many instances, ads were targeted to appeal to voters in the opposition political party” upon their rise in the 1960s. One example I examined on The Living Room Candidate is a questionable ad run by the Johnson team depicting a girl picking peddles of a flower before quickly cutting to a nuclear explosion. Supposedly, that’s what’s at stake if Barry Goldwater is elected.
Smear ads undermining the opposition campaign still exist today, but the impact is the opposite, further polarizing long decided voters.
A recent ad I examined came from the Biden campaign. It focused on the pandemic and what the Obama/Biden administration put in place such as pre-pandemic plans and research only to be removed by Trump. The ad uses Trump’s words against him such as when he claims that no one could’ve foreseen a pandemic. It also features Trump’s back turned, a metaphor for the president turning his back on American people.
A notable Trump ad compared past Biden’s past speaking engagements to his 2020 campaign. It showed stark differences in sharpness, which didn’t paint Biden in a great light. As Biden’s images fade out in grey, we’re hit with a burst of colors including the American flag and a list of Trump’s accomplishments is rattled off. Most of the achievements are centered around the armed forces or even the killing of Iranian leader Qasem Soleimani in an effort to compare Biden’s lack of “strength” with the brute forces of Trump’s military.
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Hannah TeboOctober 13, 2020 at 12:43 PM
This pandemic has influenced the 2020 election in so many ways. There are so many things to consider when analyzing both candidates. Stylistically, Biden and Trump seem to be pushing a similar rhetoric on opposite sides of the spectrum. The first two videos I watched were ads for the Biden campaign and Trump campaign in 2020. The Biden campaign opened with a video of an interview with Trump where he said “It is what it is” about people dying from COVID. These words rang throughout the entire short ad as different images of healthcare workers and distressed families flashed across the screen. In the Trump campaign video, a narrator voiced how corrupt Joe Biden was over 47 years of politics and made vague statements about what Joe Biden has done to hurt this country. The ad even included popular left leaning politicians in one shot like Bernie Sanders and Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Both ads, while very different, were promoting the rhetoric that the other guy is the bad guy. This type of language style as defined by Denton as “a complex system of actions, objects and behaviors that is used to form messages that announce who we are, who we want to be and who want to be considered akin to. It is therefore also a system of communication with rhetorical influence on others”(52-53). These types of ads don’t explain much of what each candidate hopes to accomplish in his time as president but it uses a rhetoric that is meant to sway middle leaning voters towards one side or the other. The Biden campaign is using the current pandemic and, in their opinion, the poor handling by president Trump. They manipulate his words by using pictures to illicit an emotional response by viewers. Trump also employs a similar tactics. Instead of using Biden’s words against him, they talk about how he plans on taxing working families, outsource jobs to China and couldn’t accomplish anything good in the 47 years he’s been in politics. Both sides are attacking one another in these campaign videos and the most viewers can take away from the ads is the other candidate is the bad guy. This also shows that each campaign is trying to ruin the other’s image.
I think it’s interesting that the Trump campaign appointed a new campaign manager in July because they were having problems with cash flow and fundraising according to the article written by Rakich. The Trump campaign had been comfortably outraising the Biden campaign and airing more ads in swing states but due to the lack of funding for these ads, the Trump campaign had to majorly cut back in the months leading up the election. This could really hurt Trump as the election gets tighter because he doesn’t have as much airtime in key states. This could also explain the slightly aggressive approach he is taking with his ads. In another one of Trump’s ads, he focuses more on the American people and how politicians have been corrupted. He plays on the idea that past politicians like Obama, Clinton, Pelosi and Biden have been exploiting the people for their own good. He makes radical promises to eliminate Islamic terrorists, bring back all jobs and fix the border in the short minute and 47 second video. In Trump’s campaign video in 2016, he focused on the working class and how “American steel” will rebuild this country. It had a slightly less aggressive approach and didn’t focus on attacking any side, it was only focused on making America great for the American people.
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Christyna StaggOctober 13, 2020 at 3:01 PM
Christyna Stagg (1/3)

Both Trump and Biden have been raising and spending money on their campaigns. President Trump has been pulling millions of dollars in TV from Midwestern states that voted red in 2016 (Cassady). Trump pulled 2.5 million dollars in ads from Ohio and 820,000 thousand dollars in Iowa. Trump’s campaign cancelled 2 million dollars in ad buys in Michigan and Wisconsin and shaved 5 million dollars from its projected fall TV budget in Minnesota (Cassady). According to the Quinnipiac University Poll, Trump is trailing Biden by 11 percentage points, in states like Florida, Georgia, Nevada and Arizona (Cassady). This is extremely different than the 2016 election because for instance, in the 2016 election, Trump won Florida (Cassady). Compared to Trump, Biden has raised a huge amount of money. Biden has raised 150 million more dollars than Trump from the Biden Campaign and the Democratic National Committee in August than the Trump Campaign (Cassady). Observers believe that Biden has a significant advantage because Biden’s campaign raised 10 million dollars in three hours on the night of the first presidential debate (Cassady). Using this money raised from both campaigns, both candidates should be using this money raised to prioritize advertising in states where it would be most effective (Cassady).

Trump’s Campaign are using Trump having corona to stating that America and Trump will get through the Corona Virus together, considering Trump already had it and is recovering like America is. This ad is an example of a “Traditional” Online media in campaigns. A “Traditional” online media ad is a commercial filmed and produced for television that is often revised and placed as a digital ad on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and countless websites (Semiatin 46). One of the main platforms Trump uses for campaigning is YouTube. Trump’s reelection campaign bought out YouTube’s masthead ad space for “early November” including election day on November 3rd (Kelly). By purchasing this ad space during this crucial time in the election, Trump’s campaign is hoping that this visibility could help his candidacy leading up to the election and hopefully help him win the election (Kelly). It is unclear how much Trump spent on these ad spaces but during these crucial times, it can be estimated that it cost more than 1 million dollars a day.
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Christyna StaggOctober 13, 2020 at 3:03 PM
Christyna Stagg (2/3)

The tone in the ads this election term is much like other elections, where the tone is negative. Just like the first debate, the types of ads being creating by each of the campaign teams are pointing out the other opponents flaws and attacking the other to show their weaknesses. An example of this is when Trump’s campaign team created an advertisement that bashed Biden’s reputation. In 1987, when Biden was running for a previous campaign, Biden made an exaggeration about his past at college in a clip from this year (Kessler). In this clip that Trump used in the advertisement, Biden stated “I think I have a much higher IQ than you, I suspect. I went to law school on a full academic scholarship — the only one in my class to have full academic scholarship. The first year in law school, I decided I didn’t want to be in law school and ended up in the bottom two-thirds of my class. And then decided I wanted to stay and went back to law school and, in fact, ended up in the top half of my class. I won the international moot court competition. I was the outstanding student in the political science department at the end of my year. I graduated with three degrees from undergraduate school and 165 credits; you only needed 123 credits. I would be delighted to sit down and compare my IQ to yours, Frank” (Kessler). Further on in the advertisement, a news source fact-checked what he stated and clarified that many of the statements that Biden was stating were false (Kessler). Because of this “exaggerated shadow” of his mistakes, Biden dropped out of this race in 1987 (Kessler). This advertisement compares to an advertisement that Biden created in the 2020 campaign election about Trump. In this advertisement, Trump responds to a reporter discussing all the lives being lost because of Corona Virus by stating “It is what it is” (“2020 Trump vs. Biden”). When Trump is stating this in the advertisement, there are images of health care workers trying to save the dying patients with Trump stating in the background “It is what it is” (“2020 Trump vs. Biden”).

Another example of an ad is a 10-second Trump Clip from Biden’s campaign. The Biden Campaign used Trump’s own words to turn into an advertisement. In the 10 second clip, Trump states “If I lose to him, I don’t know what I’m going to do. I will never speak to you again… You’ll never see me again” (Beer). Biden’s campaign team took the Shooter McGavin advertising tactic, which is taking a statement made with bold confidence and flipping it in order to make an opposing point and make Trump look stupid (Beer). A similar tactic was used in the 2008 Obama and McCain election (“2008 Obama vs. McCain”). McCain’s ads were mainly about Barack Obama and bashing him. These ads portrayed Obama as a liberal Democrat who wanted to raise increases and as a celebrity who wasn’t ready to lead (“2008 Obama vs. McCain”). They further on stated that Obama was a dangerous choice because the country does not know enough about him (“2008 Obama vs. McCain”).

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Camryn NewcombOctober 15, 2020 at 1:09 AM
Newcomb – Blog 7

The beginning of political advertisements was in 1952 when Dwight D. Eisenhower wanted to win political power by using his military fame. Televisions were new, and in the height of ownership, so Eisenhower released a thirty-second advertisement in support of his presidential campaign. In 1952, the same question we ask today regarding political advertisements was asked: “Was it a tool for manipulation or an opportunity for civic engagement?” (Brownell). With super PAC’s getting involved to release one sided ads and campaigns using several techniques and strategies to endorse the candidate, this controversial election between Donald Trump and Joe Biden is only getting more controversial. This year there is more negative ads than ever. These ads are found on television, social media and news outlets. It is almost inevitable to not be scrolling on Facebook or Twitter and come across a candidate being shown in a negative light.

One strategy that President Trump’s campaign uses is developing a credible incumbency style and showcasing everything accomplished thus far in office. This is effective because “the results of countless elections indicate that incumbents tend to win” (Denton 63). In a short, thirty second advertisement, it talks about how Trump built up the American economy, and even in a global pandemic, he is continuing to rebuild what he built starting in 2016. The ad emphasizes that he is “renewing, restoring, and rebuilding our economy.” They talk about statistics of jobs added, women and minorities going back to work, and unemployment dropping under his presidency (“2020 Biden vs. Trump). In 2012, Barack Obama released a similar advertisement highlighting his accomplishments in his first term in two minutes and twenty-seconds. He discusses how he saved the auto industry, passed healthcare reform, making sure that student loan rates did not double, etc. He appeals to the middle class and tells people that is work is not done. This ad highlights what he planned to continue to do if re-elected (“2012 Obama vs. Romney).

Another strategy used by the Trump campaign is challenging the competency of the opposing candidate, specifically Joe Biden. During this campaign, it has come up numerous times. Trump will call Biden “sleepy joe,” for example. One advertisement released by a PAC highlights Joe Biden not making sense or speaking truth throughout the years throughout sixty seconds. It starts off with the powerful message the “Joe Biden has never been president for some very good reasons.” It continues to show how he lies about how he did throughout law school. He claims to have been at the top of his class, but in reality, he was in the bottom percentage of his class. In addition, he claims to have been the outstanding student in the political science department during his undergrad at University of Delaware, that was fact checked and not true (Kessler). Another time that the competency of a challenger was brought into question was an ad run in 2004 by Senator Kerry against former President Bush. When Bush was asked about what he thought his biggest mistake was, he responds “I wish you would have given me this written question ahead of time so I could plan for it.” He continues to stumble in thought, and he admits that he is not quick on his feet in coming up with answers (2004 Bush v. Kerry). Both President Trump and Senator Kerry did a good job in following this strategy in order to make themselves seem more competent than their opposers.

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Political Communication 2020 Campaign Analysis Blog

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