Q: What do atomic explosions, wild bears and homicidal rapists have in common?
A: Their images have all been used in campaign advertisements, and 18 UVA students will be studying them in a new course this semester: Political Advertising and American Democracy.
After all, who could go through life without seeing “Daisy,” the 1964 TV ad that implied electing anyone other than LBJ would lead to nuclear war? And who could forget the Bush team ad in ’88 that lumped Democrat Michael Dukakis together with the murderer Willie Horton?
TV spots are undoubtedly the 900-pound gorilla of political advertising, but the course doesn’t stop there. According to political science Professor Paul Freedman, students will also examine the many campaign ads which are now being released exclusively on the Internet. C-VILLE to politicos: We applaud your attempt to rise to the same footing as Nigerian bank scams and pitches for Viagra.