Wednesday, September 10, 2014

‘Daisy' at 50: A Look at America's Most-Influential Political Ad

LBJ's Attack on Barry Goldwater Changed the Game

In 1964, political advertising on TV was still in its infancy. What Americans had seen of national political spots in the previous presidential runs was rudimentary, lacked sophistication and failed to harness the full potential the medium had to offer. A spot called "Daisy," crafted by DDB, would change all of that in 60 seconds.


Today we take many things for granted, media-wise. This includes nasty attack ads from political campaigns that are full of half-truths or don’t even bother with the truth at all, and feature video or still images that make the opposition candidate look weak, crazy, or worse. As we head into the fall campaign season, Ad Age took a look back at this groundbreaking ad from LBJ’s 1964 campaign against Barry Goldwater. Like Apple’s masterpiece “1984” spot, this one only aired as a paid spot once, but it reaped the campaign millions more in unpaid exposure by making itself a news item.

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