Martin O'Malley: Political Ads
The Ads that I have chosen to talk about are all from Martin O'Malley's 2005 campaign for Governor of Maryland. He was the incumbent and he won the election.
Strategies: In the background of the ad you can hear light and happy music playing softly which adds to the notion that this is a positive ad, not an attack ad. The narrator has a deep, strong, manly voice, but it's not too loud or harsh. It's masculine but not aggressive. The imagery is O'Malley working in his office and working within the community. This shows that O'Malley is hard working both in the office but also takes the time to go into the community. Because he is the incumbent, they talk about the positive record that he has as governor and also mention that Time Magazine named him one of the best governors in America.
I have noticed that incumbent's opponents usually put out more attack ads because they have more to go off, and I think that's a large reason why O'Malley decided to go with a light hearted positive ad. Instead of talking about what the other candidate lacks he was able to talk about all the positive things he has done as governor of Maryland.
This ad is also an image ad. No real one issue or statistic is brought up, but instead it's former President Bill Clinton talking up O'Malley as a person and a candidate.
Strategies: Traditionally Maryland has always leaned blue as a state, so it was definitely a strategy to have Bill Clinton tell people to vote for, "his good friend" Martin O'Malley. Another strategy is that it wasn't an ad where someone was just throwing a bunch of statistics and numbers at you, rather it was a former president building up a candidates' character. Clinton keeps the language vague but that allows him to say more positive things in a 30 second ad. They show images of O'Malley and Clinton together as a way of validating his, "good friend" statement.
Bill Clinton uses words like "dedication" and "making a difference" throughout this ad to emphasis that Martin O'Malley has done positive things for Maryland. Again, there is light hearted and soft music playing in the background which keeps the ad positive and not aggressive. We can start to see a pattern in O'Malley's ads as an incumbent that he is focussing on highlighting his positive records rather than attacking his opponent. Because of how light hearted this ad is it doesn't ever feel like he is trying to defend his record, but simply just talk about it.
Strategies: This ad opens with a quote from a newspaper that highlights the fact that Maryland has become safer since Martin O'Malley took office. It then goes into a diverse group of individuals talking about how they have noticed a difference. They have a range of people who talk including everyday citizens, executives, and even a police officer. They don't attack his opponent, but they do defend O'Malley from an attack ad that his opponent produced.
The use of a police officer was a good strategy for this ad. When talking about public safety and crime rates, who better to have the discussion with than a police officer? Especially a police officer from Baltimore which has had safety issues in the past. It also features people who say that O'Malley worked directly with them to improve public safety which gives them validation. One strategy that stood out to me was the lady who said, "Things aren't perfect, but they are getting better." I think this was effective. A lot of political ads try to make candidates sound like they have created a perfect state and this acknowledges that it's not perfect, but O'Malley has made it better and will continue to make it better if he gets reelected. It gives a sense of hope that if O'Malley is reelected that Maryland will keep getting closer to perfection.
Personal Side Note
On a more personal note, I got the opportunity to meet former Governor Martin O'Malley a couple of weeks ago in Topeka, KS. He was the keynote speaker at the Kansas Democrats annual convention, Washington Days. Unfortunately I wasn't able to see his speech, but I was able to shake his hand and get a picture with him. It was a pretty cool experience to meet someone who could potentially be a very serious candidate for president in 2016.
Do you think if O'Malley decides to run for president he will need to change his strategy for his political ads? Will he need to be more forceful towards his opponents?
ReplyDeleteJorden - I think he would have to. When it comes to a presidential campaign I think you do need to be more forceful with your ads so that you can come across as strong and competent.
DeleteFrom what i've read, O'Malley uses a lot of candidate-positive ads, in the race for the 2016 election, do you think he will produce negative ads as well?
ReplyDeleteL. Kendricks - I do think he will have to produce negative ads. If he doesn't I think he will come across as a weaker candidate.
DeleteDo you enjoy that O'Malley only uses positive ads in his campaign? Do you think that on a larger scale it would be beneficial for him to use negative ads?
ReplyDeleteJack - I do like the fact that he uses positive ads. I personally rather listen to what a candidate has done and what they plan on doing, rather than an candidate telling me everything his opponent hasn't done. But for a nation wide campaign, I do think he will have to use negative ads.
DeleteDid you find meeting him in person to be what you would expect after seeing the ads and researching him for this class? He seems like a pretty positive guy actually.
ReplyDeleteNicole - He was what I expected him to be. He was very upbeat and positive the whole time I got to talk to him. He is potentially building up a campaign though, so I'm assuming that's an important part of his candidate image.
DeleteI love the personal connection at the end, shows how invested you are in this candidate! Also great description of the advertisements and the purpose they each served. Do you think that meeting O'Malley changed your view on him at all?
ReplyDeleteAlyssa - Just meeting him hasn't really changed my views on him. Unfortunately I wasn't able to stay and listen to his speech, but that might have changed my views on him if I was able to hear it.
Delete