Political Ads

            While browsing the Huffington Post, I happened to run across an interesting editorial written by Ron Howard, a well known and respected filmmaker, about campaign ads.  The article put an interesting spin on a hypothetical scenario: What if candidates running for office were required to follow a specific format when making political television advertisements?  What if the U.S. government required all candidates to run campaign ads that were identical to one another in format and basic content?  For example, there could hypothetically be a law requiring all candidates to stand behind the backdrop of the American flag while speaking directly to the people about the issues.  Mr. Howard believes this would give all candidates a level playing field and would lower the cost of campaign marketing. 

            While I can agree with Mr. Howard on the desire for a more level playing field, with less flash and more substance, I do not think his proposal is the most effective way to market political messages to the American public.  Although campaign ads today may be more about bashing one’s opponent than addressing the issues, one thing the advertisements are effective at is grabbing the attention of the American pubic.  I believe Ron Howard’s proposal would fail to accomplish this objective.  With political engagement declining, the last thing we need is for political ads to be less engaging and fail to gain the interest of the voter.  More importantly, this proposal interferes with a candidate’s constitutional right to freedom of speech.  While I do not believe candidates should be able to give false information in their ads, I think it un-American to dictate identical campaign ad requirements.   

            One point that I do agree with of Mr. Howard’s is that campaigning and political advertising should be less expensive.  Money should not be as big of a factor in a candidate’s success or failure as it is today.  A candidate’s success or failure should come down to the issues.  I would like to see more focus on the issues in both political advertising and in the minds of voters. 

            In conclusion, Mr. Howard is reaching out to an audience of political observers.  He is attempting to use his credibility as a filmmaker to comment on campaign advertising.  However, his thesis lacks evidence and falls short of persuasion.