By Rashad Mulla<\/p>\n
Negative presidential campaign advertisements are effective in forming and changing public opinion, according to Thom Mozloom, founder and owner of The M Network, a professional media planning and branding agency.<\/p>\n
Broadcast live via video conference from Washington, D.C., Mozloom spoke to college students from the University of Denver, Pace University in Manhattan and George Mason University in Fairfax, Va. on Sept. 11. Mozloom said negative campaign advertisements, no matter their factual merits, are effective in shaping this election.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe reason why you keep seeing negative ads or fear tactic ads come out is, quite simply, because they work,\u201d said Mozloom, <\/p>\n
George Mason guest instructor Steve Taylor pounced on to the question of truth 20 minutes into the broadcast.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s depressing to learn I was right,\u201d said Taylor, a former White House correspondent for ABC Radio. \u201cIt\u2019s a lowest common denominator system. It basically proved lies work.\u201d<\/p>\n
Feedback from the George Mason students reflected Taylor\u2019s perception of truth being looked over in campaign advertisements.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think truth should be important,\u201d George Mason student Monica Block said during the live taping. \u201cBut I think when it comes to a 30-second ad, people aren\u2019t really going to do their research.\u201d<\/p>\n
In response to Block\u2019s comment, Mozloom said truth should be in the discussion, but politicians don\u2019t deem it important.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe politicians who use these spots (aren\u2019t) fact-checking them,\u201d Mozloom said. \u201cThere\u2019s no repercussion to it.\u201d<\/p>\n
In an example of his assertion, Mozloom said Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain\u2019s famed celebrity advertisement, in which McCain compared Sen. Barack Obama to Paris Hilton, was meant to counter the Democratic presidential nominee\u2019s trip to Europe.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat issue was exasperated by the Obama camp\u2019s response,\u201d Mozloom said. \u201cThey gave a response to this ad, which, for the life of me, I couldn\u2019t fathom. You want that news cycle to change again as fast as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n
Instead, Paris Hilton came out with her own celebrity advertisement, Obama made one of his own, and the media covered the advertisement for three weeks. McCain\u2019s strategy worked, and no semblance of fact was needed, Mozloom said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe time that was spent talking about (the advertisement) was far greater than the ad run itself and the money they paid for that ad,\u201d Mozloom said.<\/p>\n
C-SPAN political director and University of Denver professor Steve Scully asked Mozloom to analyze historical presidential advertisements, including \u201cThe Daisy Girl,\u201d a 1964 spot by former president Lyndon B. Johnson\u2019s campaign when he was running for election against Republican opponent Barry Goldwater. This ad is one of the \u201challmarks of negative advertising,\u201d Scully said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt caused such a reaction, that they pulled it,\u201d Mozloom said. \u201cThe fact that you and I are talking about this 40 years later has to qualify it as one of the greatest political ads of all time.\u201d<\/p>\n
After the presentation, Taylor reiterated the importance of advertising in presidential campaigns.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is a close connection between political advertising and political journalism,\u201d Taylor said. \u201cYou can judge whether the campaigns are playing it safe or going on the attack. It shows the direction they think they are headed in.\u201d<\/p>\n