Remember in the 2000 election when the story for about two weeks in August was the so-called “RATS” ad by the George Bush campaign? I’ve captured some stills from it below (you can see the whole thing here). The “RATS” was part of the word “BUREAUCRATS” that was flowing onto the screen.
Now the Mike Huckabee campaign is the story of the week for a Christmas ad with an alleged subliminal cross in the background (it’s actually a bookshelf). Here’s a still (you can see the whole thing here).
Having worked in a few campaigns, one during which I was partly responsible for the content of our print and TV ads, I can tell you that nothing in a campaign ad or piece of literature is an accident. Every single square inch of the background of a set or a location, every single frame of a graphic, every syllable, is scrutinized. So, I have no doubt that the intent of both of these was what appeared. And I have no problem with that. It’s called advertising. Some people are just better at it than others.
