COMM 337: OK, now *that's* out of the way, let's go negative ...

In class today, I didn't have time to find it. But there was an article in Politico.com in September about negative ads that nobody paid (very much) for but still got coverage. And, more than we realize, they help drive the media message.

In a story that ran Sept. 17, Jonathan Martin interviewed Evan Tracey, head of the ad-tracking Campaign Media Analysis Group, who said:

Not on the air Sunday, however, were the very ads that have been shaping much of the recent campaign coverage.

That retro ad from [Barack] Obama featuring the Zack Morris-sized cell phone, primitive computer and Rubik’s cube aimed at framing [John] McCain as old and out of touch?

Didn’t air once, according to Tracey.

Those two ads meant to garner sympathy for [Sarah] Palin as a victim of sexist attacks, the first featuring a pack of wolves and the other noting Joe Biden had called her “good-looking?”

Never ran on tv, said Tracey.

“These ads are basically for the press’s consumption,” he observed. “They’re lobbing discussion items into the echo chamber with the goal of getting them to debate the most negative caricature they can come up with.”

Martin said both campaigns aired different ads developing other messages, both postitive and negatives. Obama, who was then behind or just breaking even in the polls, had 310 positive and 1,146 negative ads. McCain, still enjoying his post-convention bounce, aired 745 positive ads and 544 negative ads.

(By the way, Martin didn't raise this issue in his story, but I will: What do those numbers tell you about who airs negative ads? And why?)

Martin added, "With all the competing demands on voters’ time and the many mediums from which they now get information, the campaigns are open to any avenue that get their preferred narrative across."

The unpaid ads seem to work best, he suggested, with under-the-radar negative messages that news media are likely to pick up -- as sort of a trial balloon.

"If the narrative holds and voters are seen as susceptible to believing the line of attack, a real ad campaign could follow along these lines," he added.