« back to main

Who Approves These Messages?

by Alan Stuart on September 23rd, 2008   Comments [2]

Has it really come to the point when we have to look to Saturday Night Live to put us in perspective? I think so.

As long as any of us can remember there has existed slanderous ads during election time. At ATM we are trying to bring these ads to the forefront–at the very least–to start a discussion. In somewhat recent history a few stand out above the rest as being particularly long-lasting and effective (destructive):


- In 1964 we saw a little girl pulling daisy leaves for Lyndon Johnson.

- In 1984 the Reagan campaign warned of "A Bear in the Woods"

- In 1988 there was the Willie Horton ad

- In  2004 the Swiftboat Veterans Association took to discrediting John Kerry's military record.

- And again in 2004 the Bush campaign released a simple ad of John Kerry windsurfing to
   illustrate "flip-flopping"

- In the current 2008 campaign Barak Obama released a contemporary "Yes We Can" ad.

- And John McCain's campaign was quick to rebut the benefit of having a celebrity in office.


Just this last Saturday SNL seemed to sum the entire process of creating a political ad and it's lack of checks and balances. The ads are created so quickly and run for so short a period of time, that even if inaccuracies are exposed they are rarely seen as much as the original, giving candidates little incentive to be more accurate (or even ethical).

Here's the SNL skit.

Comment on this article

« back to main