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Favorite Campaign Ad of 2008: Paris Hilton For President

LibertySugar — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 03:00:32 -0800

Paris Hilton never had a chance of winning the US Presidency, but she did prevail as the candidate behind CitizenSugar readers' favorite campaign ad of 2008.

Not quite a mandate, Paris' announcement of her faux-candidacy, which came as a response to John McCain's Celebrity ad, received 32 percent of the vote. Barack Obama's 30-minute infomercial came in second with 28 percent.

While this could mean a bright political future lies ahead for Paris, I suspect it says something about everyone's distaste for the typical campaign ads that invaded our living rooms and computer screens for much of 2008! Don't forget to check out all our Best of 2008 coverage. And to see the winning video,

Local Ford Dealer Blasts Americans Who Buy Toyotas

LibertySugar — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 09:30:01 -0800

A South Carolina Ford dealer wants Americans to put the brakes on buying foreign cars, and he's using the radio to accelerate the spread of this message. In a controversial ad the local dealer chastises Toyota customers saying:

All you people that buy all your Toyotas and send that money to Japan, you know, when you don't have a job to make your Toyota car payment, don't come crying to me. All those cars are rice ready. They're not road ready.

Since he began running the ad, the Ford dealer said he's experienced a boom in business and positive feedback. But not everyone's excited about the controversial ad, claiming that it reeks of racist undertones. Besides, 60 percent of Toyotas sold in the US were in fact made in America, according to the Japanese company.

Even if the radio ad wasn't the most tasteful marketing pitch, do you think Americans have an obligation to buy American brands, or do the car companies have an obligation to produce something Americans want to buy?

Source

Obama Ad Uses Winking Palin

CitizenSugar — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 12:07:46 -0700

Obama Ad Uses Winking Palin The Obama campaign is directing reporters to an ad it released Wednesday morning that goes at both John McCain's understanding of the economy and (somewhat unusually) his selection of Sarah Palin for VP. The script (no narration) asks, "His choice?" — before cutting to footage of Palin winking at the vice-presidential debate. Too much?

Interactive Info on Ads: Who Spent How Much & Where

CitizenSugar — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 06:00:05 -0700

We've been soaking in a bathtub full of political ads for so long, my fingers are beyond pruney. Though there's great talk of who has how much money to spend on making the suckers, it's not until you can see the true data behind of the ad campaigns compared side by side that you can get a real fix on it.

Ever the masters of the interactive graphic, the Times has maps that let you pit the groups with money side by side to see how much was spent, and where ads were bought. The McCain vs. Obama number is interesting ($90,415,962 to broadcast 57 television ads compared to Obama's $145,064,338 to broadcast 86 television ads) but I was most struck by the DNC vs. RNC as shown in the maps above: $436,015 to $10,080,774. That's a discrepancy. Most of the RNC dough as you can see is pretty geographically targeted.

There are more fun features to play with,

Cleese Calls Palin a "Parrot" & Gossip Girl Stumps for Obama

CitizenSugar — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 07:51:04 -0700

Perhaps it's because dear old dad hails from the land of Cleese, or because that accent can make anything sound measured and thought out, this video of John Cleese on Sarah Palin caught my attention this morning. His pointed commentary on Palin comes as the Troopergate probe expands and at one of her becoming-signature enthusiastic rallies yesterday, Palin mistook a group of supporters for protesters.

The crux of Cleese's argument is that if one were to take the whole of Europe, regardless of political persuasion, one wouldn't find "5 percent" who think she's good enough to run the US.

Cleese says:

Can they not see that she's basically learned certain speeches — and she does them very well, she's got a very good memory — but it's like a nice looking parrot. Because the parrot speaks beautifully, and kind of says 'Aw, shucks,' every now and again but doesn't really have any understanding of the meaning of the words that it is producing, even though it is producing them very accurately. . . the extraordinary thing is that so many people are taken in by it.

Does Cleese's argument strike a bad chord — or ring true?

An entirely different generation and genre of entertainment is getting into the mix too. To see the Gossip Girl gang's new Obama ad,

ABC Refuses to Air Gore's Ad: In the Tank For Oil Companies?

CitizenSugar — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 09:00:12 -0700

With all the talk lately about who's "in the tank" for whom, this is one story where the imagery just might fit. The CEO of Al Gore's big We Campaign is accusing ABC of putting the concerns of big oil over their message of planetary goodwill by refusing to run the latest Al Gore ad, called, "Repower America."

In a scathing email the CEO said:

“Did you notice the ads after last night’s presidential debate? ABC had Chevron. CBS had Exxon. CNN had the coal lobby. But you know what happened last week? ABC refused to run our Repower America ad – the ad that takes on this same oil and coal lobby.”

The We Campaign is striking back with an online petition aimed at getting the ad on the air during Friday's airing of 20/20. The petition has over 80,000 signatures.

To see whether ABC has an agenda,

Barack Obama First Candidate to Buy MTV Ad Time

LibertySugar — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 15:45:00 -0700

For the first time MTV's networks have decided to accept political advertising, and Barack Obama has taken them up on the offer, buying ad time on Comedy Central, VH1, and Spike. While Obama has many fans among musicians and celebrities featured on MTV's networks, he also has won over consumers of that culture. According to a recent USA Today/MTV poll, Obama has a 2-1 lead among 18-29 year-olds.

Obama didn't get the first shot of the campaign season, as the first national political ad to ever air on MTV came in July from a conservative group, attacking Barack as a flip-flopper. Even so he had the advantage in the MTV demographic, and the ads could help solidify the crucial steps of voter registration and turnout among young voters.

Obama's Ads Haven't Been Truthful, Despite Honest Claims

CitizenSugar — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 13:00:03 -0700

After ruthless finger-pointing at news reports of the verity of McCain's campaign ads, it appears Obama hasn't been as blameless as he might like us to think. The Illinois senator is showing he can play the truth-bending game, especially as the campaign flies toward the finish line. In the past two weeks, the Obama campaign has released five ads featuring less-than-factual statements about McCain.

Despite Obama saying, “I just have a different philosophy, I’m going to respond with the truth,” and, “I’m not going to start making up lies about John McCain," that philosophy crumbled in the following ads recently aired:

One commercial claims that Mr. McCain prevented federal financial support for stem cell research when, in fact, since 2001 he consistently broke with President Bush on this very topic. His running mate, Sarah Palin, however, supports President Bush.
Another ad highlights Mr. McCain’s vote against alternative energy incentives when the truth is he proposed a tax break that would cover both oil companies and those developing new power sources. Perhaps the most misleading has McCain’s immigration policies linked with those of radio personality Rush Limbaugh. In fact, Mr. Limbaugh is a fierce critic of Mr. McCain’s immigration stance and many other of his policies.

To see who's worried about this,

Showing McCain's Cancer Scars in Ad on Health: Ugly Tactic?

CitizenSugar — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 10:03:53 -0700

A 30-second spot airing on MSNBC and funded by two liberal PACs are choosing John McCain's historic bouts with skin cancer as the face of worries about the candidate's health. The ad shows his scars following skin cancer procedures with the text, "John McCain is 72 years old and had cancer 4 times. Why won't McCain release his medical records?" One of the PACs behind the spot is helmed by DNC Chairman Howard Dean's brother, a connection the RNC calls "despicable." The spot highlights the groups' efforts to gain more access to McCain's medical records. So far 2,500 doctors have signed a petition put forth by one of the PACs calling for the documents to be released. A total of 1,173 pages of medical records were made available to reporters in May.The records showed that the last bout with melanoma was six years ago, and described him as having a strong heart and good health. He receives a thorough cancer check every few months. Barack Obama's health records have not been similarly made available. With the black-and-white closeups of the aftermath of McCain's procedures and doctors intoning, "Another bout of cancer for John McCain while he's president of the United States would profoundly affect his ability to lead," combined with the tie to the DNC — is this ad fair? Where are Obama's records? Is it just an age thing or the ugliest of politics?

Showing McCain's Cancer Scars in Ad on Health: Ugly Tactic?

Ugly politics. Zooming in on his scars is a baseless scare tactic and irrelevant.

Fair argument! He's had cancer. All of his records should be public, now.

Both candidates health records should be equally accessible and open.

Other. I'll give you the reflection of my opinion in the comments.

Biden Calls Email Ad Terrible, Then Regrets Hitting "Reply All"

CitizenSugar — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 10:02:41 -0700

Did Joe Biden gaffe again? In a train-based interview with Katie Couric, she asked Biden about an ad being run by the Obama/Biden campaign mocking McCain's technological capabilities. Biden said of the ad, "I thought that was terrible by the way. I didn’t know we did it and if I had anything to do with it, we would have never done it”

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The ad uses a disco ball and Rubik's cube to paint McCain as "out of touch" and says he "doesn't know how to use a computer," and "admits he can't send an email." What prompted Biden's discomfort with the ad? Perhaps this quote from a Forbes piece in 2000:

In certain ways, McCain was a natural Web candidate. Chairman of the Senate Telecommunications Subcommittee and regarded as the US Senate's savviest technologist, McCain is an inveterate devotee of email. His nightly ritual is to read his email together with his wife, Cindy. The injuries he incurred as a Vietnam POW make it painful for McCain to type. Instead, he dictates responses that his wife types on a laptop. "She's a whiz on the keyboard, and I'm so laborious," McCain admits.

It didn't take long for Biden to realize he'd just slammed an ad approved by the ticket he's on, and an ad he'd never actually seen. To see his clarification and his "terrible" conversation with Katie,