http://www.livingroomcandidate.org/commercials/1980
My favorite ad from the 1980’s is the first ad you see on this link: Reagan’s Record. This ad epitomized what I expect from a presidential ad; catchy music, boosting of candidate, cheering and handshaking, and so on. One of the main reasons that I liked this ad was because of their use of “advertising” and statistics, which I found interesting and relevant from last class. For example, this ad states “Reagan was elected governor of California, which, next to president, the biggest job in the nation.” I saw this statement as a parallel to one of the examples that our reading gave, like “number one pizza in America.” Furthermore, the ad also introduces statistics. The ad states that when Reagan was elected “California was faced with a 194 million dollar deficit, which he then turned into a 550 million dollar surplus.” I found these statistics and comments incredibly interesting because they are crammed into a one minute long campaign ad. Therefore, they provide almost no depth or no context. Taking these statements at face value, Reagan seems like a pretty awesome candidate for the presidency. However, given our readings and class discussions from last class, I wonder what is “true” and is solid information to use as a basis.
I also liked this ad because it did not attack Jimmy Carter but instead, it boosted Reagan. Carter’s ads dealt mainly with military issues and attacking Reagan (not many focused on Reagan, but a few). There were also a few ads focused on faith, leadership, and patriotism but in regards to substance and “reform”, his ads talked a lot about military. However, Reagan’s ads did talk a lot about interest rates, security and prosperity, and peace. There were of course a few ads attacking Carter and his foreign policies. However, I found Reagan’s ads to be more appealing to the average American voter and saw how they would be more successful. The reason I picked this ad as my favorite is because I feel that it is the most emblematic of all of Reagan’s ads and found it to be the most successful in appealing to American voters.
I agree with you because this ad is smart in convincing the audience to vote for Ronald Reagan. It is interesting how the ad doesn’t explain how the budget surplus was created in the state of California. This style of ad can be seen in many modern presidential campaigns because small sound bites can be effective to voters who do not research candidates.
This ad takes such an interesting tact in in order to receive votes from citizens. It seems more appealing than a lot of the fear mongering at the time.
I like that you chose an ad with the statement, “Reagan was elected governor of California, which, next to president, the biggest job in the nation” because this is such a bold and blanket statement to make. Just because he was elected governor, does that necessarily mean he would make a good President of the entire nation? There is no prediction that being elected as governor would make him a good president, so it’s very interesting the ad campaign chose to take this route. It makes me think of Trump’s campaign and how he appealed as a businessman.
I agree this ad is pretty persuasive. It’s also probably the last time a Republican presidential Candidate said something that positive about California.