I was assigned to the 1988 Bush v. Dukakis campaigns ads. When comparing the two, the biggest flaw that I saw with Dukakis’s campaign ads was that they were mostly all centered around defending his points that Bush was accusing him of. They were mostly surrounded by his government spending and the situation around Boston Bay. A few of his attack ads actually when against Bush, but they were not very convincing or full of detail. Dukakis also made political ads that focused directly on the Republican Party. He would throw on Bush’s name at the end of the commercial and made it seem like an afterthought. His ads mostly followed the idea of: I’m not Bush. Dukakis’s campaign pitch focused on the America of tomorrow and looking into the future. Bush focused his ads on being reliable and a proven leader. He also ended his ads with the idea America cannot risk the election of Dukakis.

During this time in history, the Cold War was coming to a close. National security was still the nation’s top interest and having Bush be in charge of ending the Cold War was a key selling point for the Republicans. I think his best ad/my favorite was when his campaign made the point that America needs a proven leader to end this conflict. Bush had just finished his vice presidency and already had a proven track record. The ad will Gorbachev really epitomized this point and I think the results of the election proved that America also agreed.

Overall, the campaign ads that were made by both parties were almost the cliche of political ads. Both had clips of each candidate waving to crowds, epitomizing the American dream, and showcase a lot of hard-working American laborers. The video content of each candidate was extremely similar. The differences lay only in their political views.