1. framing-science
  2. Obama Ad Primes the Supermarket Scanner from Campaign Lore while McCain Returns to the Wolves Metaphor

Obama Ad Primes the Supermarket Scanner from Campaign Lore while McCain Returns to the Wolves Metaphor

By nisbetmc on September 12, 2008.

As I wrote last month, one key advertising strategy for the Obama campaign is to use aspects of McCain's background along with his media gaffes to paint the Republican nominee as out of touch with the economy and with average Americans. As I wrote, it's a strategy that worked effectively for the Clinton campaign in 1992, an angle that was fueled by George H.W. Bush's repeated missteps, notably the moment when on a campaign stop at a supermarket the former President appeared to have never seen a check out scanner before.

Now in a new ad released today (above), the Obama campaign uses McCain's admission that he doesn't know how to use a computer or the Internet as another signal of how out-of-touch (and how old) he might be. (Notice also the footage of McCain riding in a golf cart with former President Bush.)

The McCain team has their own priming strategy at work in an ad released yesterday. They take off the shelf the proven Republican metaphor of a "bear in the woods" or the "wolves ready to attack" (see this post) and apply the metaphor in alleging sexism on the part of Obama (ad below). The advertisement triggers both race and gender stereotypes while making several false claims, as FactCheck.org reports.

In a response Web clip, the Democratic National Committee makes the comparison between the Bush "wolves" ad and McCain's latest use of the metaphor, linking it back to their preferred theme of "more of the same" from McCain (See below).

Tags
2008 Election

More like this

Expect McCain to "Prime" the Russian Bear
Rewind 1992: Bush's public approval shifted as the public turned its attention from war to the economy. As tensions with a newly aggressive Russia escalate, the return of America's Cold War enemy heavily favors McCain's election chances. Here's the reason: The issues that are most salient in…
Expect Obama to "Prime" the Scanner Moment
Is McCain's "House" Gaffe Similar to George Bush's 1992 "Scanner" Moment? In his first major negative ad of the campaign, Obama is defining McCain as out of touch with Americans' economic woes. Obama is seizing on McCain's gaffe yesterday when he stumbled over a question about how many homes he…
Mark McKinnon on McCain's Advertising Strategy
Mark McKinnon was the genius behind Bush's 2004 media strategy. The Bush campaign successfully portrayed Bush as "a strong leader in a time of change" while redefining Kerry as "weak, waffling, and weird." For more, see the clip above, with McKinnon discussing how they turned 9/11 and metaphors…
And yet another political roundup...
Under the fold.... WHAT MAKES PEOPLE VOTE REPUBLICAN?: When Republicans say that Democrats "just don't get it," this is the "it" to which they refer. Conservative positions on gays, guns, god, and immigration must be understood as means to achieve one kind of morally ordered society. When Democrats…