The Origins of This Nasty Business Called Political Advertising

With all this talk about presidential candidates launching their national advertising spots — and the super fun rebuttals that come with 'em — it's worth a trip back some 56 years to the very first television ad from a White House hopeful. Here's one of Dwight D. Eisenhower's ads that aired in 1952. The ad gets bonus points for featuring zero racial stereotypes or Swiftboating.

It was produced by Disney, in case you couldn't tell, and helped successfully get Ike elected over Democratic candidate Adlai Stevenson, who thought it was tres un-presidential to appear on television. Eventually, he bagged that position, and had this produced:

 

Jul 30, 2008 · posted by david · Link · Respond
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