Political ads: Goodbye

After today, we’re free.

Free from long lines of lawn signs. Free from a paper so full of political advertisements it gave the illusion of a seven-day-a-week voters guide. Free from horribly designed and produced commercials, complete with fake smiles and exaggerated promises.

The races in South Dakota have spent millions if dollars on political advertising. But how much of it do you remember?

The problem with political advertising is that no one tries to break through the clutter. Very few signs make any sort of impact. There are very few newspaper ads or commercials that have been noticeable. Personally, I wasn’t knowingly influenced in any positive way by any political ad. I was, however, negatively influenced by a few – ads with such poor quality that the candidate’s platform and beliefs couldn’t be taken seriously.

Candidates have admitted that their political advertising doesn’t work that well. They why do they do it?

Special interest groups expect their donation money to be used. If a candidate isn’t advertising, it looks as though they’re not helping the cause. So if you’re running for office, it seems to make sense to advertise Just Because.

Also, there are so many names being bounced around – in every race – that a candidate sinks their campaign if they don’t have their name out there. During September and October, the only thing you can do is pay huge amounts of money in order to simply keep your name out in the open.

In that case, maybe the advertising works.

Unfortunately, there’s nothing spectacular. You’d think that with all of the candidates, and all of the money being given for promotion, and all of the great minds we are supposed to have in political public relations, we’d see a few “outside-the-box” marketing methods.

Running for Public Utilities Commissioner? Send your advertisements on a piece of plumbing. Or on a light bulb. Running for Governor and promising better education? Send some direct mail pieces that mimic a teacher’s lesson plan. It isn’t hard. It just has to be different.

Listen, if I can listen to the radio and remember the name and location of a local auto parts store but can’t manage to figure out what you’re running for, or why I should care – you’re doing something wrong. Next time around, think a little differently. You’ll be surprised what it might do for your campaign.

In the meantime, please come take these lawn signs away.

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