Not to mention TV and radio commercials. “Come on, it’s everywhere!” he laughed. “Are you kidding me? Ad after ad after ad!”
And what about negative versus positive messages? “There’s no doubt that negativity is more memorable,” she said. “It is more emotion-provoking.”
But these days, you and I won’t see the same messages. It’s not just three TV channels anymore. According to Tiffany Rolfe, chief creative officer at the ad agency R/GA, “Everything has become a media channel, in a way.”
So, both candidates are now using all their fans as ad agencies? “Yeah, I mean, that’s our competition out there!” Rolfe laughed.
In 2010 the Supreme Court handed down the Citizens United decision. That and subsequent cases removed all limits on what corporations and billionaires can spend on political campaigns. “It struck down a century of campaign finance law,” Waldman said. “Now, politicians know who’s giving; the donors know who’s giving. The only people who don’t know who’s giving is the taxpayers.”
He said there was legislation that came very close to enactment in the last Congress that would require the disclosure of who gave the money. “That would make a big difference,” Waldman said.
Could it happen? “Voters really care about this – Democrats, Independents, Republicans really care about it,” Waldman said. “When people get mad enough, when people get organized enough, throughout history, our country has acted to improve our political system, and it can happen again.”
The segmented messages, the ad targeting and the secret funding may all be new, but if you ask Tiffany Rolfe, some things will never change: “At the end of the day, it’s not just the policies or the product features. It really is, like, Is this person for me? Do I like this person? Do I believe them? And I think, no matter what, that will not change.”
As for Pennsylvania voter Jack Levis, there was one question left: Has he voted? “Mailing it today,” he replied. “So, it’s decided!”
For more info:
Story produced by Gabriel Falcon. Editor: Remington Korper.
See also:
