Negative Political Advertisements

Political advertisements generally fall into two broad categories. According to Ted Brader (21), in Campaigning for Hearts and Minds, most commonly "scholars have characterized ads as either positive or negative according to the 'tone" of the information given." A recent political advertisement by Republican presidential candidate John McCain is being characterized as a negative ad, showing images of press fawning over Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama as if he were a celebrity. To make that point even more clear, the advertisement features media-frenzy celebrities like Britney Spears and Paris Hilton. The ad, called "Celeb," juxtaposes images of Obama speaking to a massive crowd in Berlin with those of the female celebrities known more for their celebrity than substance (McCain 1). The ad has generated criticism for McCain, from the Obama camp as well as from Hilton, who made a response video throwing herself into the political ring for president and in which she refers to McCain as that "old dude with white hair" (McCain 1). Despite the negative tone and tenor of the ad, it attempts to inform Americans that throughout his candidacy for the presidency the media has fawned after Obama and seldom challenges him on significant issues. Because negative ads often expose truths or comment on real issues that are significant to a presidential race, they do offer informative value to Americans.

Negative attack ads in politics have been around for

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ed criticism of the negative ad as merely an appeal to "humor," the Obama camp has been placed in a difficult situation. According to an analysis by the Pew Foundation's Project for Excellence in Journalism, the McCain ads "offer Democrats an unappealing set of options: Respond to the substance of the criticism and look humorless - or play along, and risk permanent laughingstock status" (Sinderbrand 1). The negative tone of the McCain ad and others he has recently released has offended the Obama camp and others. According to Brader (21), in most cases the tone of a political ad "refers to the type of arguments made about the candidates: negative or 'attack' ads criticize the opponent, positive or 'promotion' ads praise the sponsor, and 'comparison' spots contrast weaknesses of the opponent with strengths of the sponsor." The "Celeb" ad tries to play on McCain's history of bucking authority while Obama has done little more than make good speeches. Both Paris Hilton and mother Kathy Hilton joined the media fray in response to the ad. Paris made the video previously mentioned. Her mother, who along with her husband donated $4,600 to McCain's campaign earlier this year, was outraged, saying of the ad, "It is a complete

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