ATTACK AD SEASON IS ALMOST HERE

Spring has barely arrived, but the media build-up to the November election has already begun in earnest. And as much as every candidate for every office will be releasing noble visions of civic prosperity, we are also sure to be drowned in a sea of scathing indictments of their evil, vile, lying, and immoral opponents. Negative advertising is a staple of every political campaign. But why?
 
Many candidates have started campaigns by taking the high road. They offer an idealized vision of why their policy positions and character will elevate their constituencies. And so long as they are 30+ polling points ahead, they might stick to that. But as soon as there is any doubt of the outcome, and often even if there isn’t, the negative ads about their opponents are sure to come. Why? Because they work.
 
Unlike positive advertising, which research suggests can work if done effectively and over a long period of time, negative ads tend to work immediately. It turns out that — surprise! — tearing someone down is much easier than building someone up. There are many reasons for this, including:

• Negative ads tend to be louder and more interruptive – they get noticed more by viewers.
• Most people already hold skeptical views of politicians. Negative ads reinforce these views and thus are easier to accept and believe.
• Negative ads are easier to create. Few politicians can effectively lift up their audiences in 30-second clips, but any campaign can create a faceless smear ad targeting their opponent.
• Negative ads have momentum – the more they work, the more specialized political advertising agencies focus on perfecting and selling them to candidates running for office at every level.

All this negativity, which impacts virtually every race, reaches a crescendo in the run-up to a presidential election. This is especially true in the so-called swing states that will effectively determine the outcome. So, if you live in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, or Wisconsin, buckle up.
 
The real shame in all this is that while individual negative ads might move the needle for a given candidate, over time the cumulative negative ads we see lower our collective opinion of politicians in general and our faith in government at every level. In that way, our elected leaders may have won their campaigns, but they’ve lost their constituencies.

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Image by Jonathan McIntosh