New Campaign Ads From Biden And Trump
[guest post by Dana]
You decide:
“Too Scared To Face The People” is from the Biden camp:
“Kneel” is from the Trump campaign:
As far as clarity of messaging goes, both ads were effective in being clear. And it seems that both camps have figured out that a shorter campaign ad draws more eyes for the duration of the ad.
Overall, though, points go to the Biden camp for a really powerful ad set against the backdrop of the pandemic and the George Floyd killing. The camp ran with the opening given them by Trump. The concluding summation, “Too scared to face the people, too small to meet the moment, too scared to lead,” packs a quiet wallop. The Biden camp knew when, and how to strike, and thus hit their target with precision.
Meanwhile, Trump’s ad relies on a loud WWE sort of narration, claiming that “Biden fails to stand up to the radical leftists fighting to defund and abolish the police.” (FTR, Biden has said that he would not defund the police.) Biden’s deference to the far left is contrasted with a “law and order” Trump, who stands up for, not just minority-owned businesses, but also for the American flag. It’s a pedestrian ad from the Trump camp. Nothing inspiring. Personally, I think it has an amateurish feel to it.
Interestingly, it was reported last week that the Trump campaign is considering dropping the relatively new “Keep America Great” campaign slogan:
The campaign to reelect Donald Trump is testing alternatives to the “Keep America Great” slogan, according to The Washington Post.
The shift to a less triumphant message follows the coronavirus pandemic and widespread protests at the death of George Floyd.
The recent economic downturn has also taken the shine off the slogan, as a strong economy had been one of the president’s key campaign messages.
According to sources cited by the Post, alternative ways of persuading the public are being discussed by key players within the campaign.
Here are a few of the recent slogans the campaign has tried out lately:
Transition to Greatness!
The Best Is Yet to Come
Great American Comeback
Promises Made, Promises Kept
–Dana
Hello.
Dana (25e0dc) — 6/14/2020 @ 3:47 pmFTR, Biden has said that he would not defend the police.
Was that a Freudian slip, Dana? 🙂
norcal (a5428a) — 6/14/2020 @ 4:36 pmI Don’t Take Responsibility At All
It’s A Bible
It’s One Person Coming In From China, And We Have It Under Control.
Dave (1bb933) — 6/14/2020 @ 4:37 pmI assume you meant defund not defend here
Biden has said that he would not defend the police
Though I am sure the version with typo is accurate in its own way.
Kishnevi (a746b1) — 6/14/2020 @ 4:41 pmApparently JoeyBee is too scared to appear– yet alone speak– in his own dark bunker ad: the “I’m Joe Biden and I approved this message” tag isn’t on the end of the spot as posted.
Speaking strictly as an ol’ad man, dour advertising doesn’t project vision, inspiration nor motivate change.
The Trump ad is the better of the two w/t “one-two-punch” messaging. It’s visually brighter to te eye, too, w/more “positive” messaging.
DCSCA (797bc0) — 6/14/2020 @ 5:31 pmit’s a steep slippery ramp but I got it completely under control.
Victor (a225f9) — 6/14/2020 @ 5:40 pmAlso, in the JoeyBee ad, the line ‘too small to meet the moment’ — w/t image of Trump’s hands on the Bible- is a not-too-subtle jab at Trump’s hand size that an aging, hair-plugged plagiarist should know better not to go after. Trying to trump Trump w/personal digs is a losing strategy; Rubio and Cruz learned that the hard way.
DCSCA (797bc0) — 6/14/2020 @ 5:46 pmYikes. Defund, not defend! Thx, guys.
Dana (25e0dc) — 6/14/2020 @ 6:08 pmBoth ads seem effective, but there were two obvious untruths in Trump’s, so the nod goes to Biden.
Paul Montagu (91c593) — 6/14/2020 @ 6:20 pmTrump is 74 as of today and he can’t drink water one-handed, and the lifts in his shoes are taking their toll.
Well, the Biden ad is from a PAC, not the campaign itself, because at the end Biden does not come on and say “I approve this message.”
Trump does at the end of his ad, so it’s clearly from the campaign.
However, blaming Antifa for rioting and looting is a weak strategy. There’s no evidence for that. Antifa is a bogeyman Trump is conjuring up to appeal to his base.
I saw an interview with the author of the Anti-Fascist Handbook the other night. He said that Antifa was an amorphous movement with few followers. When they do protest, only a few hundred show up. And they mostly protest against the alt-right, neo-Nazis and neo-Confederalists, white supremacists. They don’t loot stores and burn down businesses.
That’s mainly done by opportunistic criminals, who use the protests as cover. They don’t belong to any particular political movement, but rather are just looters taking advantage of a situation.
Trump is losing control of the narrative. He is the incumbent. He can’t blame the left for his botched handling of a pandemic. Over 112,000 people are dead. He can’t blame the left for protests against police brutality and racial inequality or injustice.
He’s the “law and order” president, who violently suppressed peaceful protesters for a phot of him holding “a Bible” upside down and backwards in front of a desecrated church.
The economy is in ruin. Businesses closed, many to never reopen; schools are closed: sporting events, concerts, festivals are canceled. And he wants to hold a political rally in the midst of this epic failure at leadership?
In Tulsa, Oklahoma, no less. The site of one of the worst massacres in American history on Juneteenth. Oh, wait, he postponed that rally for a day.
Talk about an executive incompetent. He can’t even keep a staff together!
Millions infected, thousands dying every week, protests all across the world, and he calls it a deep state or some Democrat conspiracy against him. Always the victim. He was a lifelong Democrat, before he changed parties multiple times and ultimately became the Republican nomineeTh
The GOP will regret nominating and electing him.
Gawain's Ghost (b25cd1) — 6/14/2020 @ 7:06 pm@10. That’s ’cause the moment JoeyBee opens his mouth, he drops 7 points in the polls. 😉
DCSCA (797bc0) — 6/14/2020 @ 8:42 pmThe Trump ad only works if 1. He’s been very apparently out front leading. 2. Things are going well. Neither of these is true. All that ad does is remind people that things have fallen apart on his watch and that he’s nowhere to be seen.
Nic (896fdf) — 6/14/2020 @ 9:03 pmBoth ads remind me that the campaign will be virtually all negative — attack ads that include exaggerations and falsehoods. We are facing a grim 5 months.
David in Cal (f8ea8c) — 6/14/2020 @ 9:22 pmThis 1:00 ad blows them all away, narrated by none other than Lindsey Graham, and it says quite a bit about Trump, Biden and, of course, Graham.
Paul Montagu (91c593) — 6/14/2020 @ 10:54 pmDCSCA, it is fascinating how Biden has redeemed himself a bit simply by stopping. That’s rarely a sign of capability.
Perhaps for ‘nevertrumper’ conservatives, a weak Biden is actually better than a strong one, but what the country needs right now is a uniter and a communicator. One of these candidates can communicate division, and the other cannot communicate.
Dustin (d59cff) — 6/15/2020 @ 5:22 amYes, yes, yes!….. Paul Montagu @13.
I don’t find either of these ads very effective. The voiceover in both seems fake and neither are that memorable long-term.
On the other hand, I saw the Lindsey Graham ad put out by Republican Voters Against Trump this morning. Highly impactful. Why? Because Lindsey comes across very sincere when talking about Biden. It could pull Biden’s positive numbers higher with a significant buy. And it’s very memorable especially for those who are familiar with Sen. Graham.
noel (4d3313) — 6/15/2020 @ 5:22 amLee Atwater would be proud.
nk (1d9030) — 6/15/2020 @ 5:41 amThe Lindsey Graham ad could be even more effective without the Senator’s Trump criticisms, depending on the audience. With or without that critique, it makes Biden look real good.
noel (4d3313) — 6/15/2020 @ 5:47 amNegative ads are not very persuasive to me. Yeah, I know Trump hid in a bunker, and then emerged (after the riot squad cleared the opposition away) to take a walk and put his itsy bitsy hands around a Bible. That doesn’t tell me a bit about Biden, who has been spending his time in a basement.
Main thing I noticed about the Trump ad is the makers like shots of Biden in a mask, while Mr. Heroic shows his big, loud mouth in all its big scowling would-be fascist glory. Guess Trump is going for rude and stupid vote with his crass dogwhistle to anti-vaxers, er, anti-maskers.
Appalled (1a17de) — 6/15/2020 @ 7:08 amTHE CITY
@THECITYNY
•
NEW: .@NYCMayor’s new “test and trace” team has been told not to ask people who tested positive for coronavirus whether they attended any demonstrations.
__ _
Hope that makes it into a commercial.
harkin (9c4571) — 6/15/2020 @ 7:23 am_
Appalled, now when I watch Trump ads I see Trump himself as the audience/customer, and the ad maker hoping to keep cashing in on expensive campaigns. Therefore the dramatic Trump shots, like walking down the street after all those people were knocked out of his way. Obviously an embarrassment, but Trump paid a heavy price for that shot so it’s smart to include it. If he’s the audience.
Like you and noel, the negativity in Biden’s ads are not needed. Especially the Graham one. But to the voters, the idiocracy, if you are too nice, you must be weak. If you’re humble or silent, that’s a confession of inability. If Biden wants to win all 50 states he needs to walk up and knock Trump out on the debate stage like Al Gore wanted to do to Bush. Good God that was 20 years ago.
Dustin (d59cff) — 6/15/2020 @ 7:26 amGuess Trump is going for rude and stupid vote
Well … yes.
nk (1d9030) — 6/15/2020 @ 7:27 amI say point Biden. The tone’s a little strong for my taste but over all right on. I think the Trump ad will appeal mostly to those already convinced. Are these guys gonna debate? That’s going to show us whether Joe is still sharp enough to make this happen.
JRH (52aed3) — 6/15/2020 @ 7:53 amHere’s the Rolling Stones on the current situation.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xvEshC4FATU&list=RDxvEshC4FATU&start_radio=1
Black and Blue was the first album recorded without Mick Taylor, who joined the band after the death of Brian Jones, the actual founder of the band. Black and Blue was the first real Jagger/Richards compilation, with Bill Wyman and Charlie Waters of course.
“She’s got a mind of her own
And she uses it well
Because she’s one of a kind.”
I think that says everything about the current state of our country.
Gawain's Ghost (b25cd1) — 6/15/2020 @ 11:07 amYou’re just a memory
Of a love that used to be
You’re just a memory
Of a love that meant so much to me
It’s been a lonely night at the Memory Motel
Gawain's Ghost (b25cd1) — 6/15/2020 @ 11:14 am