The race to the White House this year could be the closest, the costliest and the most crucial election to Americans, with hundreds of commercials in support of different camps and positions. Not only are candidates drawing attention, but also the advertisements themselves.
“(It’s) the most dirty and negative campaign I’ve ever seen,” said advertising Professor David Koranda. “The media is vying for people’s attention in a world that gets harder and harder to grab attention.”
Koranda added that there is no other product with such an intense time frame as the presidential race, so ads must appeal to people quickly and in any way possible.
Both parties have tried to do just that, starting the campaign season earlier than in most elections and also raising more money than in previous election years. The Bush campaign has
spent $338,341,211 so far and Kerry’s campaign is coming close to matching that with $310,851,634, according to OpenSecrets.org, a Web site that studies funds in political campaigns and groups. And while it’s hard to measure ad spending due to the candidate’s and his party’s personal funding, advertising from the campaigns are high.
Oregon, as a battleground state this election, aired more commercials than most states. The total cost of ads from both Kerry and Bush was $586,988 with 770 ads running. President Bush led in both spending and in TV ad occurrences in Oregon. Nationwide, the total spending was a little more than $40 million and election commercials have run 41,522 times, according to the Campaign Media Analysis Group.
“I think it’s annoying,” said freshman Heather Carley. “All Kerry and Bush try and do is draw blood from each other, so I’m ignoring the ads and not watching TV.”
Koranda says attack ads are the most influential because
people see the commercials and immediately make a decision about what they have seen, later making rationalizations to support that choice instead of focusing on the facts. He said the most influential advertisements are the 527 groups, or “soft money” advertisements that aren’t directly affiliated with a candidate’s campaign, but by groups that support a
particular party.
The Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, possibly the most influential 527 group against Kerry, spent $1,735,000 on three ad campaigns that denounced Kerry, according to OpenSecrets.org. The anti-Bush 527 MoveOn.org has spent much more defaming Bush — approximately more than $13,440,000 in television commercials.
“I think the campaign is more confusing with soft money and 527 groups making ads because they can make claims Bush or Kerry wouldn’t,” said Koranda. “I think that’s when it reached a more negative level in the election.”
Whereas the most negative Bush and Kerry commercials were about “flip-flopping” and “misleading America” respectively, the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth undermined Kerry’s war record and called him untruthful, while MoveOn.org made a commercial comparing Bush to Hitler. Both Bush and Kerry later
denounced the commercials.
But these attacks aren’t just on TV, Koranda says; both parties are using all variety of media to diminish the other candidate’s character. Republican and Democrats are filling libraries with books such as “Unfit for Command: Swift Boat Veterans Speak Out Against John Kerry” by John E. O’Neill and Jerome R. Corsi, and “Bushworld” by Maureen Dowd. Documentaries also try to shape views, such as Michael Moore’s “Fahrenheit 9/11” and the response to that
documentary, “Fahrenhype 9/11,” created by Dick Morris.
Koranda said he still thinks the campaigns’ commercials tell voters about issues, but they do so
negatively by showing the other candidate’s mistakes.
Graduate student Ben Mackey said some of the advertisements he has seen are “truly unimaginative.”
“When both sides just criticize each other and don’t offer a solution to issues, it doesn’t solve anything,” Mackey said.

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