“Stripes” 1996 – Dole
This ad was sponsored by Candidate Dole, the Republican candidate running against President Clinton. The entire ad was an attack ad – there was no substance or references to policy or political work. The ad explained how Clinton was facing criminal charges, and Clinton defended that he is “active duty”; therefore, his hearing would be postponed, according to some act. The whole point of the ad was the challenge and bring into question Clinton’s character, as the voice-over ended the commercial with, “Bill Clinton, he’s really something”. It was almost more comical than serious, even if the contents of the commercial were true – it came off as more of a joke than an accusation or questioning of character.
“Surgeon” 1996 – Clinton
This ad was put out by the Democratic party to support President Clinton. It shows multiple children saying what they wanted to be when they grew up, followed by a clip of Dole claiming he wanted to get rid of the Department of Defense. This ad was really interesting to me because it made me wonder how much these candidates manipulate children to appeal to the emotion of viewers. Clinton ran on the promise for a college tax credit and credit toward tuitions. The commercial ends by claiming that Clinton is going to build a bridge to the 21st century, and it makes me wonder about these policies in today’s discussions of elections.
The surgeon ad definetly uses plays at the viewers emotions with the children, but also with some of the things they said they wanted to be when they grow up. The child at the end of the video said he wanted to find a cure for cancer so that also plays on other emotions while watching the ad.
I find ads like “stripes” even more detrimental to the endorsing party. To me the attack ads seem malicious, since many of them twist words and facts, making the endorsers seem like liars and generally not sympathetic people. I saw this happen in a lot of democratic commercials against Trump.
I think that attack ads don’t always provide the context of what a candidate could do for the people. Clearly in Stripes, it was a full on attack towards Clinton that did not explain anything except his personal behavior and not professional behavior. Although nearly never providing a candidate’s ideas, I feel like viewers are more likely to remember those ads because of how dramatic and harmful they make the other candidate seem to be.