Presidential candidates drop millions of dollar , travel thousands of miles , and make numberless speech during a distinctive drive , but sometimes all you need is less than a minute to vary the track of an election . Whether a campaigner chooses to advertise their own strengths or their opponent ’s failing , one rake - perfect commercial can make all the remainder . Here are eight milestone presidential campaign ads that had a tremendous impact during an election .
1. I LIKE IKE // 1952
The presidential election of 1952 was the first to feature television receiver advertizing , and President Dwight Eisenhower struck first with a star topology - studded jingle written by Irving Berlin — of " God Bless America " celebrity — and produce by Roy Disney . While it looks quaint by today ’s standards , the use of tv ads and a attention-getting vocal was a immense boon for the Eisenhower campaign . Ike ’s opponent , Adlai Stevenson , never quite took advantageof the new medium , and instead wound up with an ad — voice by Looney Tunes veteran Mel Blanc — thatcouldn’t competewith " I Like Ike . "
2. THE KENNEDY JINGLE // 1960
In 1960 , one of John F. Kennedy ’s biggest hurdles for voters was his years : At 43 , he would be the young prexy elect to function if he advance . Instead of ignoring the progeny , JFK ’s team used it to their vantage with a commercial-grade jangle that made his age seem like an asset , not a detriment . The doggerel combated the fear of Kennedy ’s age by showcasing lyric like , " A man who ’s old enough to know , and young enough to do . "
This ad was targeted at voters looking for modification from established politician , while opposite Richard Nixon ’s commercialsweren’t nearly as memorableor timely . Instead of a jingle or a slogan that people could latch onto , they just featured him speaking about the issuesin a formal setting , almost like a business consultation . The Kennedy jingle , combined with his famousdebate performances , solidified the culture medium of television as the future of presidential campaigning .
3. DAISY // 1964
These Clarence Shepard Day Jr. , approach ads are so commonplace that they barely have any sting — but they were still fairly newfangled in the 1964 presidential election , when Lyndon Johnson ’s crusade aired “ Daisy , ” an ad that is still wide seen asone of the most shocking of the writing style . Only formally aired once , during an episode ofNBC Monday Night at the Movies , the ad features a young girl picking petals from a daisy when her playful tally is interrupted by the countdown to a atomic explosion . The screen then freezes , whizz along in on the female child ’s face as it ’s before long absorb by a mushroom-shaped cloud swarm . A voiceover by LBJ states , " These are the stakes . To make a world in which all of God ’s baby can exist , or to go into the dark . We must either love each other , or we must die . "
LBJ ’s message was clear : A suffrage for Johnson is a voting for peace . A suffrage for his opponent , Barry Goldwater , who is never even mention in the ad , is a vote for atomic war . This was base on Goldwater ’s perceived willingness to utilise nuclear weapons in Vietnam , and the ad ’s chilling depicting of war has been credited with securingJohnson ’s landslip victory . To portray a candidate as such a threat to the American populace had never been done before on TV , and it shift the way campaigns have been run ever since .
4. MCGOVERN DEFENSE // 1972
In 1972 , presidential incumbent Richard Nixon was running for re - election against South Dakota senator George McGovern . In this attack ad from the effort , a pro - Nixon mathematical group took aim at McGovern ’s hope to put through broad snub to the armed services by illustrate his point with fictile toy dog solder . The solution was an effectual visualization of what the Nixon campaign need voters to believe : George McGovern was feeble on defense . By using Democrat Hubert Humphrey’sown criticismof McGovern ’s architectural plan in this commercial message , Nixon ’s ad went a foresightful way toward convince voters that even McGovern ’s own party did n’t trust in his defense scheme . Nixon would go on to advance 520 electoral balloting to McGovern ’s 17 that November .
5. IT’S MORNING AGAIN IN AMERICA // 1984
In a climate of attack ads and negative campaigning , incumbent chairman Ronald Reagan found the ripe scheme for this 1984 ad was nostalgia . The famous " It ’s Morning Again in America " campaign touted old - fashioned values and boast calming , affirmative narration that conveyed a incontrovertible message to voters . It put the spotlight on Reagan ’s accomplishments by highlight the progress the country had made since he took office four days prior . All of this was set to pastoral images of menage , working - class folk , and a actual white picket fence .
The spot never mentioned Reagan ’s opponent , Walter Mondale , nor did it lay out the Gipper ’s plan for a second term . Instead it just askedone round-eyed interrogative : " Why would we ever need to return to where we were less than four brusk years ago ? "
6. THE REVOLVING DOOR // 1988
In 1988 , an severally financed ad come out , attacking presidential candidate — and then - regulator of Massachusetts — Michael Dukakis ’s policy of weekend furlough for con . ( Although the furloughs were started by a Republican herald , Dukakis was roundly criticize for not signing legislation that would have block inmate with life sentences from the syllabus . ) During one furlough , an con namedWilliam Hortonescaped and lash out two people . week after , George H.W. Bush ’s crusade released the ill-famed " Revolving Door " prison ad , which further drilled down on the controversial insurance , painting Dukakis as someone who was soft on criminals and too soft to protect the American populace .
Some have claimedthat Bush ’s advertizement preyed upon the fears of an American public that did n’t in full understand the furlough organisation , but in the end , it probablydidn’t have much of an effecton the election . unluckily for Dukakis , another infamous attack advertising was right around the turning point .
7. THE TANK // 1988
There ’s not a worse Commonwealth of Puerto Rico backfire in presidential effort history than Dukakis’sill - fated photo - opin a M1A1 Abrams Main Battle Tank . What was opine to make the ostensibly soft Democratic candidate look quick for military action had quite the opposite force . And whenGeorge H.W. Bush ’s teamgot hold of the footage , they turned it into an flak ad that pretty much sealed the 1988 election .
The video of a smile , inapt Dukakis taunt around in a tank was played for laughter , as a voiceover detailed all of the cutting and confinement he design on putting on the armed services once he suffer into situation . It was not the showcase of military machismo the campaign squad was hop for . The advertizement debuted during the third game of the1988 World Series , with a respectable TV hearing on - hand to witness Dukakis ’s fatal gaffe . Being perceived as soft on defense is normally a decease knell for a campaigner , and this — along with a train of other disconfirming ads — seek to be too much for the presidential hopeful to overcome .
8. WINDSURFING KERRY // 2004
In August 2004 , presidential candidate John Kerry was photograph windsurfing off the coast of Nantucket , in whatmany believedto be an attempt to shed his persona as a loaded , no - playfulness candidate . regrettably for Kerry , President George W. Bush ’s movement team swoop on the visual , using the windsurfing images of Kerry to raise a commercial illustrate his aptness to " flip - washout " on big issues .
With the tagline : " John Kerry : Whichever way the wind blows , " Bush ’s team manoeuver out his opponent ’s ever - change opinion on subject like education reform , the Iraq War , and Medicare outlay . The coming into court of a flip - flopper is somethingKerry could never shed , and in November Bush came off with 286 electoral suffrage to Kerry ’s 251 .
