From Lyndon Johnson’s “Daisy” to Hillary Clinton’s “It’s 3 A.M.,” we go behind the scenes of some of our most historically influential political ads with the people who made them.
Daisy
Perhaps the most famous political ad of all time, this early television spot ran on air just once, but generated enough media coverage to become a real factor in the 1964 presidential election of Lyndon B. Johnson versus Barry Goldwater.
Morning in America
Future warm and fuzzy ads can trace their lineage to this one. For his reelection campaign, Ronald Reagan employed a team of advertising all-stars, resulting in one of the most famous catchphrases in American politics.
Willie Horton
The infamous Willie Horton ad pioneered a new, controversial and brutally effective approach to campaign advertising. It portrayed Michael Dukakis as a soft-on-crime-liberal, but it also played to racial stereotypes to feed white fears about black criminals.
The Rock
In 2007, long-shot Democratic candidate Mike Gravel released one of the strangest ads in political history. Gravel now admits he didn’t quite understand it either.
It’s 3 A.M.
After a string of critical losses in the 2008 Democratic primary, Hillary Clinton’s campaign put out a hard-hitting ad that questioned Barack Obama’s readiness for the White House.
Smoking Man
In the 2012 Republican primary, Herman Cain’s campaign produced an unusual video featuring Cain’s chief of staff, Mark Block, giving a pep talk while smoking a cigarette.
