A campaign ad has the potential to make our break a presidential campaign A good ad, like Ronald Reagan’s “Morning in America,” can help a candidate win an election by a landslide. Likewise, one bad ad can ruin your entire political career.
I previously profiled the Best and Worst Campaign Ads thus far from the GOP 2012 presidential primary. Here’s a closer look at how three of those ads ultimately changed the trajectory of individual candidate’s races for better or for worse:
Herman Cain: “Now is the time for action!,”
[NOTE: We apologize there isn’t an embedded video for this ad. The Cain campaign removed embedding capability for the ads on the web. You can still click on the above link to view the actual video, though. Sorry for the inconvenience!]
“Now is the time for action!” is as much related to Herman Cain’s eventual downfall and withdrawal from the Republican Primary as his alleged sexual harassment charges.
The ad, which first aired at the peak of his popularity and just days before news of the sexual harassment allegations broke, featured Cain’s campaign manager, Mark Block, smoking on-camera.
Critics argued that the ad “glorified smoking,” and the former Godfather’s Pizza CEO’s was forced to spend his final days before the allegations broke defending the commercial in what ended up being the beginning of the end of his campaign.
Rick Perry: “Strong,”
Rick Perry’s ill-fated attempt at promoting traditional Christian values backfired on him. Perry launched the ad “Strong” in early December, in which the Texas governor promised to end President Obama’s “war on religion,” in response to President Obama repealing Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.
Perry quickly received backlash both from the media and those in his party who support gay marriage, and even his own pollster denounced the ad. While the ad temporarily gave him a small boost in the polls, Perry was not able to use the ad to resurrect his struggling campaign by winning back social conservatives. He placed a disappointing fifth in the Iowa caucuses, allowing Rick Santorum to surge to a first place finish and become a front-runner in the presidential primary.
Newt Gingrich: “The French Connection”
In “French Connection” Gingrich compares GOP presidential candidate and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney to fellow Bay State presidential candidates, Democrats Michael Dukakis and a French-speaking John Kerry. The ad, coupled with his strong performance in the Fox News debate in Myrtle Beach, marked the beginning of his surge and come-from-behind win in the Palmetto State.
This isn’t to say that Gingrich’s ad is the best of the cycle, or that Perry’s and Cain’s are the absolute worst. But at the end of the day these three ads will be remembered, not just for their content but because they changed the outcome of the race – for good, or for bad.
