Wednesday, the Republicans pulled from the air one of their campaign ads accusing Harold Ford, Jr. of unethical behavior. If you missed a blonde “Playboy bunny” winking and asking Ford to call her, the clip is still available for viewing at nytimes.com, along with 109 other campaign ads from Tennessee and other states.
Ads attacking Bob Corker are almost just as laughable: a man with a fake British accent describes the wealth of the “Fabulous Life of Bob Corker,” accusing him of taking too many pay increases. Around the picture of Corker are spinning SUVs, flickering stacks of money and flashing dollar amounts.
Campaign ads have a long history of mudslinging, but recently it seems they have become even more ridiculous, complete with MTV-like shots and soap opera-like drama, and Tennessee Democrats and Republicans are not the only guilty ones.
In a North Carolina ad supporting Republican Charles Taylor, a 65-year-old lady says, “If Heath Shuler (Taylor’s opponent) was my kin, I’d wash his mouth out,” as though she was speaking of a grandson who had repeated some dirty words.
After Arizona Republican candidate Jon Kyl was accused being in the pocket of “Big Oil” by his opponent, Democrat Jim Pederson, he launched a defensive ad, including a quote from the East Valley Tribune that read, “Pederson should quit trying to give (Kyl) a black eye.” Ironic, considering another ad endorsed by Kyl mockingly accuses Pederson of overspending, specifically on pork. The “pork ad” is complete with swirling, animated red text, spring-like sound effects and multiple shots of pigs. Not only are the creators of Kyl’s ads hypocritical in their accusation of Pederson for mudslinging, they do not even try to present their rebuttals in a professional, serious way.
Attempts to appeal to logic are few and far between. Supporters of Republican Robert Simmons accuse Democrat Joe Courtney of wanting to raise or maintain “income, sales, business, beer, wine, cigarette, tires, gas and hospital taxes.” When Simmons approved this message, he merely said Courtney was wrong “because we pay enough taxes.” There was no mention about how he, Simmons, would deal with taxation. Perhaps the creators thought the longer the list of taxes, the more convincing their point would seem. They assume that viewers would fail to notice that a tax on cigarettes or beer is not nearly as important as a tax on income, businesses or hospitals, or fail to miss Simmons’ failure to propose a policy.
Courtney’s own campaigns are no better. In one ad, Courtney is in a noisy stadium, surrounded by supporters holding huge foam fingers and chanting, “Rob Simmons is George Bush’s number one supporter in Connecticut.” As individual supporters take turns accusing Simmons, they pass a hot dog down the row.
Maryland Republican Michael Steele tried to beat opponents to the punch by running an ad saying that they would accuse him of “hating puppies and worse.” Holding a puppy, Steel says that he “likes puppies” but doesn’t say what the “worse” is. The strategy backfired when the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee aired the slogan “Michael Steele likes puppies, but he loves George Bush,” showing a picture of Steele with the puppy and then one with George Bush in a red heart-shaped frame. As a pair, the two ads are laugh-out-loud funny, but do not add prestige to either candidate.
The political advisors in charge of public relations are probably correct in assuming that mad old ladies, puppies, pigs and other flashing images attract more viewers’ attention than staid speeches by the candidates. Unfortunately, they destroy credibility of the candidates they seek to promote. After laughing or scorning ads endorsed by candidates, it is impossible to take seriously the earnest ads thrown in between the ridiculous. I don’t pay attention to Corker’s heartfelt ad in which he claims he will “never forget where (he) came from” or Ford’s that he will “always fight for you” – I just want to laugh at the bad British accent describing Bob Corker’s “fabulous life” and the blond “bunny” begging Ford to call.
Katie Vick is a junior in the College of Arts and Science.
