The Daily Background

Some time ago, I compared two television ads: the first was Lyndon Johnson’s infamous 1964 daisy ad, the other was a similar scaremongering one from the Clinton campaign. Let’s revisit both of those right now.

Here’s the LBJ one:

Now here’s the Clinton one:

At the time, I noted the following:

Another interesting accidental parallel between the two ads: the language used itself.

LBJ’s 1964 ad ends with the narrator warning “Vote for president Johnson on November third. The stakes are too high for you to stay home.” Hillary’s ad’s narrator similarly warns “With your job and family security in the balance, the stakes have never been higher in choosing our next president.”

With that in mind, check out the Clinton campaign’s new fear-mongering ad:


The ad’s clear unmistakable implication is that if someone other than Hillary Clinton becomes president (i.e. Barack Obama), your children will be less safe, and may even die because of it.

Just as the “Freefall” ad was modeled after “Daisy,” Clinton’s new telephone ad is modeled after this 1984 ad for Walter Mondale, which he ran while running against Gary Hart:

An interesting coincidence: Democratic media consultant Roy Spence was responsible for Mondale’s original telephone ad, and according to Ben Smith of The Politico, is also supervising Clinton’s advertising efforts.

Filed under: Z-TDB Blog