Invasion of issue ads:

Harry and Louise were just the beginning

January 15, 1996

From Correspondent Brooks Jackson

SAN DIEGO, Calif. (CNN) -- From a television, the following dialogue blares from the speaker: "Mr. President, we have a national emergency! We've detected a ballistic missile launched at the U.S. from the Middle East....I can't shoot it down-- we have no defense against missile attack! There's nothing I can do to stop it."

A sci-fi flick, right? Maybe the late show. It isn't the news, is it? No, none of the above. It is an invasion, though-- an invasion of political TV ads which try to influence legislation. (672K QuickTime Movie)

More and more, political consultants are using the techniques of negative campaigns to influence voters on issues. Campaigns like the "Harry and Louise" ads against the Clinton health care plan are proliferating.

The nuclear missile ad was produced by the Coalition to Defend America, a group of Pentagon contractors who lobbied for the building of a "Star Wars" defense system.

It won second place in the American Association of Political Consultants "Pollie" awards, in San Diego, California.

It had a lot of competition. Lobby groups are spending millions of dollars to try to influence policy through television. "I think there's something of an arms race here" said Christopher Arterton, a political management specialist. "In the last five years it's really mushroomed and taken off."

One factor behind the boom in issue campaigns is that consultants love to do them. There is a lot of money to be made, and they don't have to deal with candidates.

Scare tactics are favored, as in an ad from the American Tort Reform Association called "Heroes." It pushes for new laws that would limit damage awards. It depicts firefighters in conversation whose dialogue includes "If we don't stop lawsuit abuse ... I might not be able to do my job ... And my job just might be to save your life."

That one got an honorable mention at the "Pollie" awards. The third-place winner purported that germs and chemicals could end up in local drinking water if utility workers' jobs were contracted out rather than unionized.

That fake nuclear attack by an Arab country might be hardly believable but consultants figure, "So what, if it works?" "It was almost comical because it was pretty far-fetched," said political consultant Donna Lucas. "It was pretty effective. The judges really liked that one."

The awards were supposed to be for public policy ads -- but first place went to a Washington state Republican party ad that attacked candidate Bill Clinton and his position on a balanced budget. It strings together soundbites from the president himself.

"I would present a five-year plan to balance the budget ... We could do it in seven years ... I think we could reach it in nine years ... balance the budget in ten years ... I think we could reach it in eight years ... so we're between seven and eight now." A narrator then implores the president to balance the budget "for our kids, for America." (160K AIFF sound or 160K WAV sound)

Consultants say these ads make citizens better informed. But a lot of the ads run in Washington, and are aimed at politicians, not voters. "I think the striking thing about it is that there is very little evidence that it has influence on the voters, particularly when there are ads on both sides," Arterton said.

So, one ad breeds another.

Copyright © 1996 AllPolitics
All Rights Reserved

Terms under which this information is provided to you