Saturday, September 27, 2008

TV comes to politics: 1952 Eisenhower ad

6 comments:

Unknown said...

Interesting fact: This was made by Disney.

And I like how the ad shows mostly blue-collar workers marching - a definite emphasis on the middle class vote - which is what we see the candidates fighting for in today's campaigns.

And the Harry Truman donkey is adorable.

Lia said...

Nice use of the new medium of TV to campaign. Good to show his appeal to the middle class. His plans to expand Social Security and raise the minimum wage definitely apply to them.

Joy said...

This was so much more peppy and upbeat than any political ad you'd see on TV today. No negative attacks on Eisenhower's opponents - it was positive the whole time.

Just the whole tone of the ad seemed so bizarre. I feel like the point of the ad was to attract the attention of little kids sitting at home in the 50s during the afternoon and get them to run into the kitchen and tell their mothers "I like Ike and you should vote for him, Mommy!" or "Everybody likes Ike!"

I think the simplistic ring of the media message was brilliant - something everyone, even 5 year olds, could understand and repeat around the house. Goes with Eisenhower's common man appeal.

TJDaSilva said...

The best part (or the saddest) is that this isn't nearly as silly as some of the ads we see today (which aren't meant to be silly).

It's such a happy little tune...too bad the lyrics don't tell you anything about why you like Ike. But the images certainly convey their point (the middle class) effectively.

I won't lie, I can't get the tune out of my head now. If you start hearing someone singing in class on Monday...that would be me.

Meggie Cramer said...

It sounds more like an early Kellogg's jingle than a presidential ad.

Definitely reflects the idealistic start of television - using it to beam a "positive" message to the country, no subversive politics, no pandering, no attacks. Refreshing...

It seems to me almost geared more towards women voters for some reason...I can't say exactly why but in the same vein of seeing a child say, "I like Ike, Mommy!" I can see a wife saying to her husband, "My, that Ike fellow sure seems like a stand-up guy."

tclarke said...

I'd be interested to see how a simplistic campaign commercial would fare in today's society. Knowing myself, it would attract me to the candidate to see how down to earth they are, even with a bit of humor and light-heartedness. But now that campaigning and politics is more of a business, I'm afraid we won't be witnessing any fun clips such as this!