Negative Ad Techniques
Advanced Technology Gives Political Strategists More Attack Tricks
Oct 17, 2008
For decades, political strategists have been accused of borrowing commercial advertising techniques to "sell their candidates like soap." But in recent years the political consultants have been teaching other advertisers a few tricks of their own, including the use of advanced video editing technology to mock their opponents.
With more firms beginning to use comparative advertising, some of those political tricks might eventually start showing up in company advertising.
Newspaper and magazine cartoonists have long been able to ridicule politicians by exaggerating prominent behavioral and physical features, such as the size of George W. Bush’s ears and Bill Clinton’s weight. Cartoonists always stuck a cowboy hat on Lyndon Johnson. Other times they have ridiculed by simply attaching a head shot of the politician to a cartoonish or animal body.
For a long time, it was difficult to transfer these print techniques to television commercials featuring real people.
Picture Worth a Thousand Words?
It used to be said that a picture was worth a thousand words and a video clip was worth even more. But that was when pictures and video could be trusted to be true images. That isn’t necessarily so anymore.
With today’s technology, editors can change photos and video as they wish. They can remove a politician’s hair, increase his hair to caveman proportions, reshape his nose, change his complexion, widen or slant his eyes, fatten him or make him look as thin as a pencil point. They can change his hats and turn his smile into a scowl.
Photo and video changes are limited only by the imagination and self discipline of the people directing the television spot.
Attack ads today are often produced by carefully screening video tape of an opponent and then freezing a single frame to catch the politician scowling, looking wild-eyed, with his mouth wide open or in some other negative position. Almost any politician can be caught this way while he is speaking or being interviewed.
Take Words out of Context
An older, simpler trick is to pull out a segment of video to isolate a few negative words, often taking them out of context. Repeated often enough, these frozen frames and carefully edited words can take up residence in the brain of some viewers.
While such techniques may not change the opinions of many voters, they can help solidify negative feelings about a candidate and help motivate his opposition.
Jossip.com says political ad tricks are so common that they are now in "the public domain."
"Black-and-white imagery conveys negative associations, as does slow-motion video that makes people look like sloth-y monster...Close-ups on faces convey ugliness. Oh, and fear," Jossip says.
In one 2008 U.S. Senate campaign, a series of commercials consistently shows a female candidate apparently heavier, puffy-faced and generally less attractive than she actually is. In another commercial, the video is edited to portray her winking knowingly as the narrator discusses alleged corruption in office.
The trick in such cases is to edit just enough to make the opponent unattractive. The smart director resists making too much change because the commercial may lose credibility if the portrayal becomes unbelievable when compared to pictures and video seen in news reports. Drastic editing can also stir negative reaction against sponsors of the commercial.
The tricks behind producing television commercials have become so well known that at least one agency is offering generic attack spots that can be tailored to individual local candidates. The price: $799.
References:
Jossip.com
Spotrunner.com
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