Each election year, political advertising gets more and more cut-throat and negative, but is negative advertising of your opponent really effective?

Obama and McCain have great speeches, great rallies, and great advertisements. Their PR teams really implement integrated marketing communications into their promotion of each candidate. Each campaign team picks an idea or theme and hammers it home hard! I have points from the Democratic National Convention memorized because I have heard it so much. Ideas such as "McCain will only continue the 8 years that Bush had" and that "McCain is only going to help rich people." And from the Republican side all I have heard is that "Obama does not have the experience to run the country" and "Obama is only a celebrity (or a show horse not a work horse)." But why do their themes and advertisements have to be so negative? Frankly, I am sick of it. I feel that it is tacky and a bad representation of our country.

Most political advertisements focus on the candidates image, the problems with the United States, and negativity about their opponent. With all of the political advertisements that I have seen over the past 8 years, I am beginning to wonder if campaigns are more about getting oneself elected or just making sure that their opponent is not elected? Political advertisements seem to attack opponents rather than supporting the candidate running. However, the negative ads do seem to be effective at positioning candidates in a certain way in one's mind. For example, I see Obama as inexperienced and radical because that is the picture that the Republican advertisements have painted. And I see McCain as old, ultra-conservative, and uncaring of the middle class because that is how the Democratic advertisements have made me think. It is important that we as Americans do not fall into this trap and let these PR tactics make decisions for us. We need to be independent and do our own research rather than just listening to what others tell us to do. My main concern here is what is our country coming to? All we hear is negativity in the news and now our parties are becoming so split, it is like polar opposites. I feel like I hear more bad things about the other person running than I do about why Obama or McCain should be elected.

Is negative political advertising really effective? I think that is is effective because it can be remembered, but I believe that it is ineffective because it may cause the candidate to look bad for being so negative and critical of their opponent.

I was impressed by McCain's advertisement that was shown after Obama accepted the Democratic nomination for President. McCain stepped aside from negativity and congratulated Obama on his accomplishment. It is a small step to civility in political advertising.



Check out the ad here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8v_ioN5SyBM