: The lucky 60 percent…
Nielsen Monitor-Plus and the University of Wisconsin Advertising Project released a report about how the presidential candidates have been spending their TV ad dollars. The focus right now is on the battleground states of Ohio and Missouri, so:
Despite record television advertising, nearly 60% of Americans live in areas where no presidential campaign TV commercials have been broadcast since the end of the primary season on March 4.
Those lucky dogs! There are few genres of communication as infected with deception as the typical campaign ad. No matter the topic (image, issues, or attack), the primary appeal is always pathetic, and it is always used to obscure or ignore inconvenient facts. Certainly, pathos is a strong appeal in our electronically-mediated age, and it fits the content requirements of television.
So I’m wondering, then, how will those 60 percent decide? Surely, they will see some ads between the conventions and the general election. But now they must be doing two extraordinary things (if, as I assume here, they are paying any attention at all to the campaign): reading and talking to their friends and neighbors–media of propositional content.
Here’s another telling bit from the report about what programs the candidates are buying:
Both campaigns heavily favored local news in their media buying. Local news accounted for over 40 percent of each presidential campaign
