Students see political advertising in new light

By: Tyler Will

Posted: 3/27/08

03/27/08 - University of Rhode Island political science professor Maureen Moakley told students yesterday to be critical of political advertisements and to be aware of their distorted qualities.

"I'm hopeful that people will get more discerning [about ads]," Moakley said.

She showed the audience, largely composed of Library 120 students, video of about 30 political advertisements dating back to the 1950s, with an advertisement for Dwight D. Eisenhower's candidacy that Library 120 instructor Jim Kinnie said was made by Disney.

The Eisenhower advertisement depicted smiling cartoon characters marching across the screen chanting, "I like Ike, you like Ike, everybody likes Ike." At the end of the ad, a voice said, "Now is the time for all good Americans to come to the aid of their country."

A second ad, for Lyndon B. Johnson's campaign, had several nuclear explosions, and the ads progressed through the decades up until the 2004 presidential election and Rhode Island elections.

Moakley said common features of political advertisements are "fear factor" such as the nuclear explosions, a "fuzzy feeling," like in an advertisement about Ronald Reagan, which depicted Americans getting married, buying homes and families gathering.

Other tactics are more ruthless. Moakley showed an ad by former Republican presidential candidate and Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee that talked about Mitt Romney's time as Massachusetts governor. The ad said Romney, Huckabee's GOP rival in early primary states, left office with Massachusetts in a deficit and raised taxes for the state's residents.

A second "smear ad" was between Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, (D-R.I.) and former Sen. Lincoln Chafee, (R-R.I.), during the Rhode Island primary.

"It was really an attempt to undermine the credibility of Chafee by associating him with Bush, who was widely unpopular," Moakley said. The ad claimed that Chafee's voting record was exactly what President Bush wanted.

Moakley also discussed the effect of the ads on the election.

"Whitehouse only won by 27,000 votes," she said. "It was very close. But the ads raised enough doubts."

The presentation was interactive; Moakley asked for responses from the audience, and, when volunteers were shy, she called on unsuspecting students.

"Whitehouse spent the bulk of his campaign attacking Chafee," said Jamie Morrone, who was commenting on the series of Chafee-Whitehouse ads. Morrone said the seminar helped her understand political ads. "I think I look at them critically regardless," she said.

Then Moakley showed ads from the current presidential campaign. One was of Hillary Clinton speaking, which was widely described as "cheesy" by the audience. A song by Celine Dion played in the ad's background. A second ad, from Sen. Barack Obama's campaign, portrayed highlights from several of his speeches, which have been highly attractive to young people.

"With Hillary Clinton, I look more at the glittery font," Morrone said. "Barack Obama makes me want to listen." The audience generally agreed with Morrone's opinions. Moakley was unsurprised, and said that Obama appeals to the young demographic.

Moakley showed an ad from the 2004 presidential election and put out by the group Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, which denounced Democratic presidential nominee Sen. John Kerry, (D-Mass.), calling him a liar.

"There's no such thing as over the line, but if there was such a thing, that would be it," Moakley said. She called the ad "tremendously effective."

"Negative advertising works," Moakley said. "There's a certain context. It may be negative, it may be marginally true, but it works."

But Moakley ended on a positive note.

"Given peoples' expectations and given the variety of mediums, I think [the ads] are going to be a little less vicious than in the past," she said, citing internet sources like YouTube as mediums.

Library 120 instructor Kate Cheromcha expressed faith in the young generation of voters.

"You guys have very good bullshit meters," Cheromcha said. "These ads, they're made by old white farts and they're made to what they think you will respond to."

Moakley said restricted ads would violate freedom of speech and would not help make the elections more democratic.

"I think self-regulation is the only way to go," Moakley said. "You have to have free speech."

Scott MacKay, a political writer for the Providence Journal, was scheduled to appear but canceled due to illness, Kinnie said.