TV ads are still a major battleground in presidential elections. Here, a political advertising expert breaks down the 2020 presidential candidates' TV spots.
(via Brut News)
(via Brut News)
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00:00We know in our bones this election is different.
00:03The stakes are higher, the threat more serious.
00:06We have to beat Donald Trump.
00:24We are not going to retreat on women's rights.
00:29Sanders pushing a bold agenda that includes protecting DACA recipients
00:33and comprehensive immigration reform.
00:35There is no end to what the great people of our nation can accomplish.
00:59You could imagine Bernie taking pieces of this ad and turning them into TV messages that are 30 seconds long.
01:05So just kind of packaging certain sections of it very simply.
01:09So it could serve multiple purposes in that way.
01:15I believe we should move to make college affordable for everybody.
01:19There are some voices saying, well that doesn't count unless you go even further.
01:22Unless it's free even for kids and millionaires.
01:25But I only want to make promises that we can keep.
01:27It almost evokes an older type of ad, which back in the late 60s and early 70s, that had a similar feel to them.
01:37There was an old ad that George McGovern aired when he was running in 1972.
01:42It basically had his shirt sleeves up, surrounded sort of by blue collars or factory workers.
01:48And McGovern sort of giving his sort of no-nonsense take on what he thought needed to happen.
01:54And the guys in the hard hats are nodding their heads and recognizing that McGovern's making a really good point.
02:01And so it's a traditional message in that way to kind of show the candidate in a quasi-natural setting making his pitch.
02:16He fears Elizabeth Warren most.
02:18The Trump campaign is internally somewhat concerned about her.
02:22They see her as a threat.
02:24I'm Elizabeth Warren and I approve this message because I'm going to beat him and be a president who works for you.
02:33She just basically says it, you know, if he's worried about me, then I must be the one who can do it.
02:39So that gets at the heart of what many Democrats are debating now.
02:43Interestingly, what that ad also does is somewhat, I would say slyly, is it quotes various people talking about Trump being worried about her as the nominee.
02:55And actually sort of cites at the bottom that Trump is worried about Warren MSNBC.
03:01You'll oftentimes see political ads contain citations to information to kind of bolster the argument.
03:06But it's only sort of lightly documented.
03:09There's no real way to go back and verify how many times Trump expressed this concern or Democrats or Republicans have been talking about this relative to Warren.
03:18So it makes a strong point, but it's not easily, shall we say, verifiable.
03:27We have to beat Donald Trump.
03:29And all the polls agree Joe Biden is the strongest Democrat to do the job.
03:33No one is more qualified.
03:36For eight years, President Obama and Vice President Biden were an administration America could be proud of.
03:42Yeah, this is a good ad as well.
03:45Very strong appeals to a variety of things.
03:49Policies, experience can beat Trump.
03:52There's emotional appeals there as well, in addition to policy appeals.
03:57I also like the voiceover, which kind of evokes Biden himself, which is sort of hokey and sort of straightforward talk.
04:07You know, it's very the voice itself kind of reflects the way Biden will talk.
04:16I know exactly who I'm supporting for president.
04:19Amy Klobuchar.
04:20She knows how to get things done.
04:22She does not back down from hard problems.
04:25Better health care for National Guard and veterans.
04:28Amy has determination and grit.
04:30She's not afraid to take on the big issues.
04:32And nobody is working harder to lower prescription drug prices.
04:36What's neat about this ad is, and especially in relation to the Biden ad, is it it really, I think, reflects somewhat of the personalities of these candidates.
04:45So Biden's got the grizzled voiceover.
04:48Amy Klobuchar's ad is a little feels a little more Midwestern nice in that sense.
04:53Right. So it's got Midwesterners, her people in the ad.
04:57You can you can hear that the accent, the color and the scenes evoke a sort of more happier place.
05:06Right. Not not a gritty place for the soul of America, which is Biden's message, but a place about accomplishments, getting things done.
05:14America can be a happier, better place because of someone like Amy Klobuchar.
05:18So I think it nicely reflects the the type of campaign that she wants to run.
05:29I'm the only person on this stage who will say that climate is the number one priority for me.
05:35It's a state of emergency. And I would declare a state of emergency on day one.
05:40We save the world and we do it together.
05:42Do you think that would pull America together? I do.
05:45I think this is on the cheap use of this strategy because he's quoting himself from from the debate.
05:51One effective strategy in campaign ads is for the candidate to talk directly to the camera.
05:58And oftentimes you'll see the candidate in a sort of stage setting from a fire or in some sort of living room or something.
06:06And Steyer has done a lot of that in his ads.
06:09And so he's been talking directly to the camera that way all year.
06:14And it can be an effective strategy because, you know, people are tuned in to someone who's talking directly to them.
06:22And and that, I think, is Steyer's sort of style in that regard.
06:26And he can deliver the message with a sharpness that conveys authority, which is important for him to convey so that people give him a good look.
06:36There are still a lot of people in America who watch traditional live television.
06:41And in particular, those folks disproportionately vote at higher rates than voters who are getting most of their information online.