The 2012 Guide to Negative Political Ads

The presidential election season is upon us and we'd like to dedicate an article to one of the most important foundations of Democracy - The Negative Political Advertisement. Negative Ads have been with us since the beginning and provide voters with exactly as much information as they need to know - in short they represent both our heritage and the primary mechanism for conveying political knowledge. But there is a problem - Negative Ads aren't always done properly and when that happens, chaos follows.

Negative Ads are as American as Ground Beef

We'd like to take a few moments and provide a guide for producing more effective political ads - we'll start with the basics... The Negative Political Ad typically consists of the following elements:

1. An illogical argument.
2. An unsupported personal attack on your opponent.
3. Disturbing imagery or music or both (both is preferred).
4. An emotional plea targeted at unrelated issues so as to somewhat distract the true intent or agenda of the sponsor of the Ad.
5. A good catchphrase or slogan that people can remember.

Now, we must ask ourselves, why do these ads work so well?

• Because politics is supposed to be easy - so making it easy makes people happy.
• Because it is easier to get mad at something than to support something.
• Because politics is entertainment and people love to be entertained - the more sensational - the better.
• Because ad space and attention spans are short.
  
• Because no one running for office wants you to know what they really support or who they might work for - so focusing on the opponent is rather helpful.
  

Let's look at an example TV ad and rate it based the core guidelines listed above.

A Typical Negative Ad

Point 1 - The argument is not logical, good - in this case there doesn't even seem to be one.
Point 2 - It is an unsupported personal attack.
Point 3 - Lot's of disturbing imagery, sound effects. The cadaver model is especially effective.
Point 4 - It's emotional and unrelated to running for Congress - good.
Point 5 - Good catchphrase "He just can't be trusted."

Overall rating = A-

But of course that ad was pretty timid in some respects. We feel that the best negative ads are those which go to extremes. Check out the following video which recreates some historically profound dirty ad campaigns:

Who said the Founding Father's were nice guys?

We have left out an important element though that is often critical in developing exceptional negative ads - creative use of farm animals. There are few technique as effective as using pigs, sheep and monkeys when developing your political ad. For example, if you can't find a wretched photo of your opponent - substitute it with an orangutan. Check out of the following example of the farm animal technique in action.

Don't be messing with these silent lambs...

Last but least, there are times when negative ads can be mixed with a positive political message - while we don't recommend this it sometimes works - check out the following example.

If only more politicians would admit they are monsters...

Just remember - if someone can't explain to you in 30 seconds why his opponent is a jerk, he has no business holding office.


Copyright 2011, Raving Reviews™