CLR - Presidential and Political Party Ad Project

During elections years, presidential candidates spend millions of dollars to create a series of ads that attack opponents along with a series of biographical campaign ads. Presidential rallies and presidential debates will help candidates to shape new ads, but it will be up to the voters to decide if the ads will influence their decision in the election.

For this project, you will explore historical presidential campaign ads and then create your own political party ad.

Part 1: Exploring and Analyzing Historical Presidential Campaigns

In the age of Internet and social media, candidates continued to spend big bucks on TV ads. Battleground states are usually inundated with presidential candidate ads and national ads run in all markets. There are two main types of ads. Attack ads are used to point out the failings of the opponent while biographical ads are used to emphasis the positive aspects of a candidate. 

Some ads are very memorable and have played a role in choosing the winner of the presidential election. Please take some time to visit the website The Living Room Candidate. Links to an external site. You will find Presidential Campaign Commercials beginning in 1952.

For more insight, read the following article about effective presidential campaign commercials: Ten of the Most Effective Presidential Campaign Commercials Ever Made Links to an external site.. Take the time to watch the videos that are included. 

Here are what is considered the 10 most influential. There is a wide variation between positive/optimistic and negative/fear inducing.

After reviewing the historical presidential campaign ads, select one biographical and one attack ad to answer the following questions.

1. Choose a biographical/positive ad that you find compelling.
   • Include the title of the ad and the names of the candidates in the ad. Which candidate is supported by this ad?
   • How would you describe the visual images in this ad? Think about subject matter, color, style of photography, etc. Does this ad seem to focus on a particular image or repeat a certain image? If so, what is the effect of this visual technique?
   • Does this ad contain music or sounds? If it has music, is it instrumental or does it have lyrics? What is the impact of the music or sounds?
   • How would you describe the tone of the narrator’s voice? What impact does this have on the message of the ad?
   • Overall, what have you learned about the candidate who is supported by this ad?
   • Would this ad persuade you to vote for this candidate? Why?
2. Choose an attack/negative ad that you find compelling
   • Include the title of the ad and the names of the candidates in the ad. Which candidate is being attacked in this ad?
   • How would you describe the visual images in this ad? Think about subject matter, color, style of photography, etc. Does this ad seem to focus on a particular image or repeat a certain image? If so, what is the effect of this visual technique?
   • Does this ad contain music or sounds? If it has music, is it instrumental or does it have lyrics? What is the impact of the music or sounds?
   • How would you describe the tone of the narrator’s voice? What impact does this have on the message of the ad?
   • Overall, what have you learned about the opponent in this election? Do you believe the charges that the candidate made about him/her?
   • Would this ad possibly make you think negatively about the candidate, rather than his/her opponent?
   • Would this ad persuade you to vote for this candidate? Why?
3. After reviewing both biographical/positive and attack/negative ads, discuss which type of advertisement you find the most persuasive and why.

Part 2: Exploring and Creating a Political Party Advertisement

For this project, you need to research one of the major political parties that you may or may not affiliate with in the United States. You will create a visual presentation using presentation software to illustrate your political party's platform, history, decal or image, key members, and current events/major issues. The goal of the project is to advertise your political party and get others to join.

All the following information must be included:

• Political Party History including founders
• Political Party Platform
• Major Issues and/views (Guns, Abortion, Health Care, Immigration, etc.)
• Current Leaders
• Famous People or Stars that support your party
• Businesses that contribute funds to your political party
• Party Mascot

Works Cited Page should be included with your submission.

Use a MLA citation guide to cite your sources. You can use information from the content pages and reputable internet resources for your research. You will need to cite all information appropriately. Include the citations in your finished file.

For Works Cited, find examples and information from the MLA lesson in your course or by searching Purdue Owl - Online Writing Lab - MLA General Format.

Scoring Guideline

Part 1: Analyzing Historical Presidential Campaigns

1. Biographical/positive ad Responses to the 6 sets of questions. (20 pts.)
2. Attack/negative ad Responses to the 7 sets of questions. (20 pts.)
3. Discuss which type of advertisement you find the most persuasive and why. (5 pts.)

Part 2: Political Party Advertisement

• Political Party History including founders (5 pts.)
• Political Party Platform (5 pts.)
• Major Issues and/views (Guns, Abortion, Health Care, Immigration, etc.) (10 pts.)
• Current Leaders (5 pts.)
• Famous People or Stars that support your party (5 pts.)
• Businesses that contribute funds to your political party (5 pts.)
• Party Mascot, decal, or images (10 pts.)

Works Cited page (10 pts.)

See the Scoring Rubric below for grading insight.