John McCain's Ads Are HORRIBLE - Pay Attention to the Images

[writes3000]

I work in entertainment. I know enough about sales and messaging with sounds and images.

John McCain's attack ads are HORRIBLE. The thing people remember most about ads are the images. Let me repeat, the images.

Think about the Move On ad against McCain where the young mother is holding her baby protectively. Think about that classic ad that ended with a nuclear bomb going off. Think about Hillary's 3am ad. Sleeping children with ominous music.

Now take a look at McCain's recent ads.

The images. Obama playing basketball. Obama smiling. Obama speaking to crowds of hundreds of thousands. Obama's name being chanted passionately.

When the 3am ad came out, Obama's team answered it immediately. (With an ad that I thought was wrong-headed because it reinforced the same beginning as the other ad - bad move.)

Perhaps the reason why Obama's team isn't hitting back hard now is because they realize these images help him.

What's that story about the hard hitting news piece against Reagan that the reporter was sure would piss off his people, when the Reagan camp saw it, they thanked the reporter.

Why? Because the images were all positive - showing Reagan playing with children, etc.

They knew it's the images that count.

[gblady]

1. I agree....

this last one shows the huge German crowd...and lots of smiling Obama stills...
If the sound was off, it's almost like an ad for Obama...

[GirlieQ]

17. I saw it today waiting at the DMV

and thought that it was an Obama ad, until I saw McCain's face toward the end. Good Obama pics there.

I actually haven't seen any political ad this summer with the sound on, because I don't watch TV without my fast-forward capability.

[rsmith6621]

2. One More Time

.....McSame is a throw away candidate....they are letting him do this run as a thank you and they don't have anyone else that is electable against the Democratic party...

The PUKES knows McSame is not going to be sleeping in the White House come January 20th,2009.

Anyhow Cindy as First Lady....just plain YUK.

[napoleon_in_rags]

16. Then what's going on with Obama?

If they are throwing away McCain, wouldn't they be fighting to gain influence with Obama? Could that have anything to do with this?
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x3701080

[Renew Deal]

3. I noticed that too.

Obama is smiling in every picture. I thought it was strange for an attack ad.

[writes3000]

5. Plus, the public will grow weary of them. You can't attack for six months straight

And expect people to remain worked up about it.

I do expect the Obama camp will release negative McCain ads. But they will do it post convention. And I bet they will be far more effective than these.

[Renew Deal]

6. I think the republicans are looking at the calendar.

The Olympics start August 8. The convention starts when the Olympics end. I think they're trying to hurt Obama before the convention.

[TwilightGardener]

4. The smiling, the crowds are meant to attack his strength, play to

the "cult" or celebrity perception. It's insidious, and I'm afraid it's effective--after all, they're just using Hillary's playbook, mocking Obama supporters--it almost worked for her.

on edit--it's also supposed to make Obama somewhat sinister.

[writes3000]

7. But there's nothing sinister about it.

No ominous music. No dark skies. Nothing that works on a visceral level.

It may cause some to view the convention with skepticism but even that is doubtful.

There's no pop to these ads. At all. And the images help Obama.

The sound is anti-Obama. But people take in images more than they take in sound.

[TwilightGardener]

9. I disagree--the tone is mocking, with an undercurrent of other things--

pretty white girls, chanting crowds--if you don't see how it takes Obama's popularity and turns it into something sinister, then I don't know what to say.

[writes3000]

10. Yes, it reinforces the fact that Obama is popular.

And it spends most of the ad time doing it.

It's weak. Turn off the sound and watch it.

That's what most smart ad people do.

[TwilightGardener]

13. Well, unless the ad is going to run without sound, then it's going to

have an impact.

[writes3000]

14. I'm talking about the science of how people absorb advertising.

I know you're upset about the ads.

I'm just making the case about why these ads are not as impactful against Obama. And in fact, they may reinforce some positive messaging for Obama.

Based on the science of it - Images are much more impactful than sound.

[snooper2]

11. But it didn't work for her

And at least her ads had some quality; these look like they were made on a plane flight with a shitty laptop :rofl:

:)

[TwilightGardener]

12. Please. Hillary did much better almost everywhere after the Kitchen Sink started.

Obama limped to the primary finish line. That's a fact. The GOPers figured out that some of what Hillary did worked, and are using it now.

[Virginia Dare]

19. We live in a society that worships celebrity though..

I agree it could backfire on them. You can't make Obama look sinister, it's just not going to work. That's like trying to make Bill Clinton look sinister, he was too likeable.

[ecstatic]

8. MSNBC playing the "Celeb" ad nonstop. How many Obama ads have they aired today?

[Supersedeas]

15. but Mika Brezensky went on and on and on and on about how great the Hoff ad was

[writes3000]

18. David Shuster JUST made the same comment that I did - the images for Obama are great in this ad. nt

[Coexist]

20. I was just coming to tell you that!!

[writes3000]

21. I was sure I was the only one who saw it! It's such a BAD ad.

You know the part near the end where they say "Obama says no more drilling for oil"

They show a HUGE close up of Obama smiling. It's a great picture.

Then they say "this is the real Obama".

He's handsome, smiling and confident.

This is a HORRIBLE attack ad.

[Coexist]

22. my thoughts exactly.

that photo of Obama was gorgeous. When I first saw the ad, I thought, "what, they couldn't find a bad photo of Obama?!"