Last night, being too tired to read, write a review or even listen to music (that's when I know I'm tired) I decided to do a little vegging in front of the tube. The second show I watched was on the Food Network. It was about the top 5 truck stops in the United States. Aside from the sheer amount of food offered at these places, the other thing that really struck me was how genuine most of the people were: both truckstop workers and truck drivers. Like most of us, they're out there just doing their job.
Why did I notice this?
Well, a couple of days ago, while cooking a birthday dinner (Pad Thai) for my dad, a saw a couple of the latest presidential campaign ads.
The first was out of John Kerry's camp and had to do with the offshoring of jobs. The ad reports that Bush says that sending jobs overseas "makes sense". The problem is that Bush didn't say it, it was in fact a quote from Bush's council of Economic Advisers. The action of Bush being attached to the statement makes it sound like he's being a cheerleader for the loss of U.S. jobs.
The second ad was from the Bush side. In a similar fashion, it attacks Kerry for his supposed support of a 50 cents per gallon gas tax increase. The truth is that Kerry at one time did support such a tax in the context of deficit reduction over ten years ago. Further, Kerry never sponsored or voted for such legislation. The second ad is also 'enhanced' by some old-fashioned black & white movie footage and happy music.
When I see these ads they both scream out to me: "YOU ARE TOO STUPID TO UNDERSTAND".
So I guess my question is: why do we, as Americans, accept this? We're supposedly the defenders of the free world. Beacon of democracy. The reference standard. And yet the way we elect our president, the most powerful person in the free world, boils down to one giant (and embarrassing) case of "he said, she said". The process is sick inside.
We've got a long, long campaign season and the television portion of it, where much of the money is spent, will undoubtedly get worse. I suppose it's acceptable to shake the bits of truth from the ad spots by going to FactCheck, but it just seems wrong.
(First posted on Mark Is Cranky)
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Article comments
1 - David Flanagan
When I see these ads they both scream out to me...
I agree with you 100% Mark. It would be nice to be treated like an intelligent person now and then, wouldn't it? Anyway, good post.
David
2 - Mark Saleski
lookout everybody!! me & david are in 100% agreement.
everybody will be allowed 1 minute to clear the room before the lightening bolt hits!
3 - Eric Olsen
Good post and I agree also: TV ads have almost no bearing on reality and they are directed at the lowest possible denominator. They treat us like idiotic children. I can't even watch them other from a forensic standpoint.
4 - Mark Saleski
maybe i read it wrong, but i also get the idea that the ads actually do sway peoples' opinions...you'll see coverage in various news sources implying the shift in polling data after an ad has been pushed hard over a period of time.
it's hard for me to understand this since i'm not swayed by any of them.
5 - Craig Lyndall
Yeah, and here in Ohio as a "swing state" I understand we will be seeing WAY more than most states.
6 - Eric Olsen
And I'd rather be a schwing state than a swing state.
7 - JR
Then you'd best move south.
8 - Hal Pawluk
"TV ads have almost no bearing on reality and they are directed at the lowest possible denominator."
Totally true.
But the ads work - they change poll results, as Mark said, and they change votes.
As an ad guy for decades, I've always maintained that a standards board was needed for political advertising, just as there is one for consumer advertising, to hold advertisers accountable for implicit as well as explicit claims.
Never happen.
Another solution would be to outlaw political advertising on TV and radio. Politicos would be forced to use print ads that stick around for a while and would automatically carry a bit of accountability. (They use printed direct mail now, but if you've seen any, you can see why a standards board would be a good idea.)
That'll never happen, either.
9 - Shark
And it seems like we just finished the last presidential campaign!
I remember "He's a uniter, not a divider" like it was yesterday.
Lucky for him nobody else does.
10 - RJ Elliott
The reason these ads work is because only a tiny percentage of the US population actually cares enough about politics to do the research themselves. Most voters (or, at least, many of them) go to the polls based on cute sound-bites and "gut-feelings."
Maybe the polling places should require that voters pass a simple "test" that measures whether they have a clue or not? Of course, that begs the question: Who would administer these tests?
Naw, it would never work fairly. I guess I'll just have to live with my vote being cancelled out by someone going "eeny-meanie-miney-moe" on their ballot...