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By Shlomo Sand
$23.07
$21
$35
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The Obama campaign will begin airing its first commercial Thursday, and the first words on screen are “Secretive oil billionaires attacking President Obama.” The ad responds to charges leveled by Americans for Prosperity, a front group for the conservative Koch brothers.
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Newt Gingrich isn’t giving up his fight for the presidency. The kamikaze candidate has released a new ad attacking Mitt Romney as someone from Massachusetts, the hippie gay rainbow brown people state, or something.
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Gage Skidmore (CC-BY-SA)
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Joe Klein points out that the newfound anonymity of attack ads, made possible by the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision, which allows faceless money conglomerates to run ads on a candidate’s behalf without the usual “I approved this message,” makes for much “more effective and brutal” adverts.
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This commercial from the BBC, narrated by Sir David Attenborough, reminds us in this new year how special—and fragile—our planet is.
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From “Saturday Night Live” comes this … what’s that? This unbelievably bizarre Herman Cain campaign ad is real? The Baltimore Sun calls it “unorthodox,” which is an understatement considering this is from the Republicans’ leading contender for the presidency.
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On Thursday former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney told the crowd at the Iowa State Fair that “corporations are people, my friend.” The Democratic National Committee took those words and turned them into advertising gold.
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Given the outsourcing, the massive bailout, the abandoned houses and the rest of the city’s emotional baggage, it was sort of inevitable that Chrysler’s “Imported from Detroit” ad, featuring Eminem and spanning roughly $12 million worth of airtime, would elicit cheers and jeers from Congress.
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A spokesman for the shock jock’s syndicate says a Tucson, Ariz., billboard featuring Limbaugh’s name, the phrase “straight shooter” and bullet hole imagery was designed by a local station and removed after the shooting massacre that took place in that city.
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The founder and publisher of the Political Wire, Taegan Goddard, wonders if this attack ad isn’t the best of all time, and it may be, but it also feels like something that aired between segments of “Saturday Night Live.” Only this is funny.
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What exactly was the Delaware tea partyer going for with this commercial that references the bedroom intruder song?
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Al-Qaida is to Bill O’Reilly what Nazis are to Glenn Beck. That is to say it’s his favorite smear for things he doesn’t like. In this instance, a heartwarming (warning) commercial for McDonald’s in France (danger) aimed at gays (RED ALERT!).
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Last week Nike launched a controversial new ad featuring Tiger Woods and the voice of his deceased father. The Internet has responded.
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In hopes of ensuring that Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley is the winner in Tuesday’s special election for the U.S. Senate seat once occupied by the late Ted Kennedy, President Barack Obama has taken to the airwaves in a TV ad supporting Coakley’s bid for office in a tight race against Republican challenger Scott Brown.
Posted on Jan 18, 2010
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Michael Snider, a small business owner from Nebraska, stars in a pro-public option ad currently running in opposition to the stand of “conservaDem” Sen. Ben Nelson on health care reform. Snider tells Rachel Maddow that Nelson called him about the ad, but didn’t change his mind.
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Truthdig columnists Chris Hedges and Robert Scheer are among the notable writers who have signed this appeal urging President Obama to rethink Afghanistan. The ad, appearing in The Nation and The New York Review of Books, warns that “a new beginning will not be possible as long as we continue to spill the blood of the men, women, and children of Afghanistan.”
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Two of Britain’s biggest networks, Sky and the BBC, have refused to air a two-minute fundraising appeal on behalf of Gaza. The decision not to broadcast the spot, produced by a committee made up of Britain’s biggest aid agencies, has triggered public outcry, condemnation from politicians and a formal investigation by the BBC Trust.
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In a last-ditch attempt to derail Latino support for Obama, an anti-abortion crusader and an activist against illegal immigration have teamed up to send a retired Texas bishop’s message to nearly 3 million Latino voters by e-mail and to even more by radio.
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Reagan Library
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OK, so Ronald Reagan isn’t around to actually endorse anyone. But that doesn’t stop political operatives from invoking his presidency to boost their candidate. A new, liberal Colorado-based group called Progressive Future is bringing back the Gipper to put in a plug for Barack Obama, while the conservative Let Freedom Ring calls Obama the “anti-Reagan.”
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Every election season, some independent groups sizzle with controversy and impact, and others fizzle. We couldn’t tell at first, but the National Republican Trust PAC appears to be of the sizzling variety.
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ourgreatestfear.org
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If you don’t know Danny Elfman, you know his music. Better known for his unique film scores and “The Simpsons” theme than his political views, the composer is running an ad in battleground states with a simple message: “President Sarah Palin—think about it.”
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The actors from arguably the most annoying commercial ever have reprised their roles for a more constructive purpose than selling beer. Now if only the Verizon guy would come out against warrantless wiretapping.
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npr.org / youtube
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The one form of political advertising that’s completely unregulated and free is the speech of an individual citizen, even when money amplifies that speech by putting it on the airwaves. Tim D’Annunzio, who describes himself as a “concerned North Carolina businessman,” is doing just that.
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Sarah Palin was supposed to attract women to the GOP ticket, but her charm hasn’t worked with the Feminist Majority, which is running this ad to tell voters that “a McCain and Palin win hurts women.”
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collage: Flickr / videocrab / transplanted mountaineer
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Flush with cash, Barack Obama has purchased air time on at least two networks for a half-hour special to air a week before the election. No word yet on how much a half-hour of prime-time sweeps air costs, but it’s certainly more than Ross Perot paid back in ‘92.
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During the first presidential debate, John McCain gave a high-profile shout-out: “I suggest that people go up on the Web site of Citizens Against Government Waste, and they’ll look at those projects.” The group quickly returned the favor—its political action committee is calling McCain a “taxpayer hero” in TV ads airing over the next two weeks in Virginia, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Florida.
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First John McCain hopped on the change bandwagon, and now he sounds like he gave the keynote speech at the 2004 Democratic convention. The money quote in this new ad is better in the original Barack Obama.
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Comedian Sarah Silverman has released a video urging young Jews to schlep to Florida to get their grandparents to vote for Barack Obama. Seriously. We’ll let her explain.
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In his third consecutive presidential campaign, Ralph Nader still believes the similarities between the major-party candidates outweigh the differences, a sentiment captured in this Nader campaign Web ad.
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The Obama campaign promised to toughen up in the face of John McCain’s notoriously dishonest attack ads, and has since fired off a salvo of negative spots.
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Robert Greenwald and Co. have collected some of the worst examples of John McCain’s deceptive campaign ads. Straight talk indeed.
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There were probably some really scintillating attack ads about Barack Obama’s other rumored vice presidential candidates ready to launch, but alas, they’ll never see the light of day.
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Barack Obama has slipped in the polls since John McCain began his negative ad blitz, but now the Democrat is throwing a few punches of his own, including this ad, which capitalizes on McCain’s house collection. Update 2
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Celebrities have become mere pawns in the tussle between John McCain and Barack Obama, both of whom have now released campaign ads accusing the other of being a celebrity and snuggling up to celebrities. Celebrities = bad!
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John McCain has found a theme he likes and he’s sticking with it: Barack Obama is popular and that’s bad. Much worse, apparently, than the Reagan-era economic philosophy the presumed Republican nominee is peddling.
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Do you think that when John McCain helped craft the legislation requiring “I approved this message” at the end of political ads he could have envisioned himself attaching his name and approval to this silliness? Behold, McCain’s attempt to elevate the discourse ... by likening his opponent to Britney Spears and Paris Hilton.
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businessweek.com
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A recent advertising partnership between search giant Google and competitor Yahoo has antitrust authorities worried. Not only does a Google-Yahoo deal look ridiculous in name, but critics (such as Microsoft) say the partnership would consolidate Google’s control of Internet search ad revenue to a whopping 90 percent of U.S. market share.
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A new Hillary Clinton campaign ad plays up the popular vote issue while striking a positive tone. Mixed reports have Clinton dialing down expectations that she’ll suspend her campaign after Tuesday’s final primaries, in Montana and South Dakota, as she is widely expected to do.
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With a soundtrack as shifty as its logic, here is another captivating self-parody from the Sam Graves campaign. The shameless Missouri congressman, who has tried to paint his Democratic opponent as an unholy champion of gayness because she held a fundraiser in San Francisco, has launched another attack ad allegedly based on that city’s values.
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Barack Obama brushes up on his Español for this commercial airing in Puerto Rico. The Democratic front-runner trails Hillary Clinton ahead of the island’s Sunday primary.
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Barack Obama responds to the Tennessee GOP, which went after his wife, Michelle, in a recent ad.
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John McCain may have the Republican nomination wrapped up, but that isn’t stopping Ron Paul from campaigning in Pennsylvania, where he is attacking McCain as insufficiently conservative. It’s an odd posture for a candidate who won much support for his anti-war position, a topic that Paul omits here.
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It’s getting ugly out there. With just a day to go before the much anticipated Pennsylvania primary, the Democrats are running a blitz of negative ads, like this one from Hillary Clinton that features a cameo from a certain bearded terrorist.
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Robert Greenwald’s Brave New Films is behind this ad targeting Condoleezza Rice for her role in the Bush administration’s torture policy. The 30-second spot is set to air following Wednesday’s Democratic debate in Philadelphia.
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MoveOn has a new ad that ties John McCain to the Bush administration’s “victory is just around the corner” approach to selling the Iraq war. Will that tired line still work five years later? We’ll find out in November.
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A few months ago columnist Amy Goodman argued that the principal beneficiaries of our current campaign finance system are the media conglomerates that rake in all those advertising dollars. That’s especially true this week as Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama bombard Pennsylvania with commercials.
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Al Gore’s Alliance for Climate Protection has launched a $300-million ad campaign in hopes of getting every last SUV-driving, thermostat-cranking Bush voter to see the fluorescent light. Warm monger William H. Macy narrates the first of what will surely be many ads.
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A joint probe by the Center for Investigative Reporting and National Public Radio traces the money behind a new anti-McCain ad, revealing an alliance of top Democratic donors who’ve already raised millions to take back the White House.
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Something called the Campaign to Defend America has purchased a reported $1 million worth of air time in Ohio and Pennsylvania to run this ad, which connects John McCain to George W. Bush. Update
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