Tag Archives: political ads

Mark Pack

Nasty negative ad as political race turns sour

By Mark Pack | Mon 5th March 2012 - 2:50 pm

First there was the positive ad:

Now there’s this:

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Posted in Humour and LDVUSA | 5 Comments
Mark Pack

This 2008 political advert is still hard to beat

By Mark Pack | Thu 12th January 2012 - 11:25 am

Enjoy (but please, don’t copy):

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Posted in Online politics | 5 Comments
Carl Quilliam

The weekend debate: Is it time to end the ban on political TV advertising?

By Carl Quilliam | Sat 5th November 2011 - 8:47 am

Here’s your starter for ten in our weekend slot where we throw up an idea or thought for debate…

A few weeks ago a campaign advert made by ONE, an organisation founded by Bono (of U2 fame) was banned from TV because it breaches political advertising rules. 

Many people seeing this story for the first time might be quite pleased not to have to deal with the unbearable smugness of Bono on their TV screen again. But outside of any personal dislike of a particular celebrity, politician or political party is this an issue where broadcast regulations are simply out of …

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged , and | 8 Comments
Mark Pack

This is not a negative advert

By Mark Pack | Sun 13th February 2011 - 9:55 am

The political advertising put out by people who disdain negative ads is often too self-consciously worthy to be effective. John Hickenlooper’s advert as part of his successful run for Governor of Colorado however was rather different – and was rated as being very effective by those watching the race:

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Posted in LDVUSA | Also tagged | 3 Comments
Mark Pack

Five of the best political adverts: here’s the full list

By Mark Pack | Sat 11th December 2010 - 10:25 am

During this week, we’ve run a series of posts on five of the best political adverts. If you’ve missed any part of the list, here it is in full along with links to the ads and posts:

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Posted in Op-eds | Leave a comment
Mark Pack

Five of the best political adverts: Labour’s Tax Bombshell

By Mark Pack | Fri 10th December 2010 - 9:25 am

This week we’re running a series featuring five of the most effective political adverts. Today the series finishes with the Conservative 1992 classic:

Labour’s margin of victory in 1997 was so great that it would have almost certainly won even if it had run an appalling set of adverts rather than ones of the quality of yesterday’s party political broadcast.

However, Labour’s defeat in the previous 1992 election had a lot to do with the way the Conservatives expertly attacked Labour’s economic policies via advertising, raising fears of a tax bombshell that would hit ordinary people.

As with the Australian Labor Party’s …

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Posted in Op-eds | Leave a comment
Mark Pack

Five of the best political adverts: Britain deserves better

By Mark Pack | Thu 9th December 2010 - 10:25 am

This week we’re running a series featuring five of the most effective political adverts. After looking at the US and Australia, today it is back to the UK and the 1997 general election campaign:

Yesterday’s Australian advert, It’s Time, looked as much like a music video as a political advert. Music too played a major role in one of the UK Labour Party’s 1997 general election broadcasts, and the most powerful of all the ones I’ve seen ‘live’ at the time of broadcast.

As in the Australian Labor Party’s case, Labour too had been out of power for a long time – 18 years this time – and also faced an incumbent government that many felt had passed its sell-by date. The genius of the Labour ’97 effort was to put together ingredients which usually featured in Conservative broadcasts – patriotic music, Union Jacks, Conservative ministers, celebrating Conservative members – and turn them into a devastating attack, raising fears of what another term of Conservative government might do.

As I noted in my previous blog post about this broadcast, watch out for the very different way in which Ken Clarke was viewed then compared with now:

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged and | 6 Comments
Mark Pack

Five of the best political adverts: It’s Time

By Mark Pack | Wed 8th December 2010 - 10:25 am

This week we’re running a series featuring five of the most effective political adverts. Today it’s the turn of Australian politics and an early 1970s musical classic:

Yesterday’s Lyndon B. Johnson Daisy Girl advert was a one-off, but by contrast one of the most effective TV advertisements in Australian political history was part of a well-planned wider campaign. After 23 years of Liberal Party rule, Gough Whitlam’s Labor party in 1972 used the slogan “It’s time“ to sum up its argument that it was time for a change. This theme was reflected widely in the Labor Party’s activities and also in the classic TV advert.

Looking more like the sort of pop video that subsequently became popular, the advert featured an Australian rock singer, Alison McCallum, singing a song about how it was time to change, intercut with stills of Gough Whitlam’s background and a supporting singing chorus of Australian celebrities. It worked far better than that might make it sound!

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged | 1 Comment
Mark Pack

Five of the best political adverts: Daisy Girl

By Mark Pack | Tue 7th December 2010 - 10:25 am

This week we’re running a series featuring five of the most effective political adverts. Today it’s a trip back in time and across the Atlantic to a US Presidential campaign:

As yesterday’s featured Conservative Party advert showed, often with political adverts a little bit of controversy makes the message go a long way.

That too is true of probably the most famous political TV advertisement, the “Daisy Girl” advert screened but the once by the 1964 Lyndon Johnson Presidential campaign. It starts with a young girl innocently counting the petals on a flower, but then switches to an ominous voiceover counting down to zero. The screen is then filled with a mushroom cloud from a nuclear explosion.

The advert played on fears that Johnson’s opponent, Barry Goldwater, was willing to use nuclear weapons in Vietnam. The controversy resulted in the advertisement being pulled – but also in widespread media coverage which spread the advert’s message far and wide:

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged and | 2 Comments
Mark Pack

Five of the best political adverts: Labour isn’t working

By Mark Pack | Mon 6th December 2010 - 10:25 am

This week we’re running a series featuring five of the most effective political adverts. Today it’s back to the 1970s and the then opposition Conservative Party:

In the summer of 1978 phone calls went out to members of Hendon Young Conservatives, asking them to turn up with their parents at a council car park for a secret project. Partly due to the short notice, less than a fifth of the hoped for 100 volunteers turned up, nearly causing the plans to be cancelled. Instead, some clever trick photography – melding together repeated images of those who did turn up standing in different …

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged | 9 Comments
Mark Pack

Still the best political advert I’ve seen all year

By Mark Pack | Wed 18th August 2010 - 1:20 pm

The stretch from 7 seconds in until 22 seconds in is fairly normal. But as for the rest…

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Posted in Europe / International | Also tagged and | 6 Comments
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