More Ad History!

If you missed the link from InstaPundit yesterday, you should definitely go check out this archive of presidential candidate TV ads from 1952 to the present day.

My personal favorite so far (I haven't viewed them all) is the flirtatious chick singing "I Love the Gov" about Adlai Stevenson. Why don't we have more of that kind of thing these days?

Comments

[Frank Borger]

My dad was a musician and was working at a night club when Stevenson came into the club.

The band had been tipped that the then Governor of Illinois would be coming in, and immdiately switched to playing "Illinois"

One of the pols sauntered up, flipped the band a fifty and said, "Cut out that Illinois bleep, play Sweet Adoline!"

[Hanah Metchis]

TWC: No, I'm definitely not James Lileks. But maybe I'm Natalie Lileks come back in time from the year 2024.

Elvis: I didn't get the Ike/Bob thing. Who is Bob?

[dead_elvis]

You know, I started wondering the same thing. For a second I assumed it must be the vice president or something until I remembered that the vice president was Nixon. It only adds to the bizarreness. Perhaps this was an early sign of Dr. Bob Dobbs' pervasive influence?

[dead_elvis]

I'm sorry, that's "J.R." Bob Dobbs, not Dr.

[Bob]

Bob was Sen. Robert Taft

[allez Lance!]

64: particularly good, one forgets how potent the daisy ad is until watched again, then it's a goosebump festival.

also Reagan in great form going down swinging with the Goldwater ship. i.e., "you may have heard about how he's impulsive or some such nonsense." So Gipper.

[TWC]

Gnat, I mean Hanah :), just in case nobody mentioned it, you've added a nice flair to this blog.

[joe]

I think Hannah's last question is worth thinking about. I suggest a "Bowling Alone" answer - such ads depend upon a view of politics as something that one engages in as a social activity - heck, she looks like the entertainment at a Legion Hall.

[Warren]

"In your heart, you know he's right"

Worst. Campaign. Slogan. Ev-Er

[Warren]

"In your heart, you know he's right"

Worst. Campaign. Slogan. Ev-Er

[Lisa Simpson]

"In your guts, you know he's nuts!"

[Douglas Fletcher]

Nixon's the One!

That was pretty bad. It was like a Jeopardy question for comedians.

[dead_elvis]

OMG... That's hilarious. Check out Ike...Bob! (1952)

[TWC]

Great stuff, are you really James Lileks? 🙂

[Lisa Simpson]

Hey, just repeating the popular retort at the time, not editorializing. I (heart) Barry G.

[Paul Z]

The Ike and Bob thing is a take-off on the classic Stan Freberg "John & Marsha." (I wonder if the Stevenson campaign paid Freberg any royalties.)

But why does it end with "Adlai . . . and John"? I seem to remember that Stevenson's running mate was Senator Estes Kefauver, the well-known fighter of crime and corruption. (Or was that only in 1956?)

[Call me snake]

Lisa: Perhaps he was nuts, but now I feel like Kevin Dillon running away from LBJ's "great society" blob.

Doug Fletcher: It got Nixon elected, right? That seems to be the primary goal of a campaign.