Get ready for it, because it's coming. And it's going to be ferocious. We sit here now with ONE week left before primary election day and the Atlanta Journal had a really good article yesterday about the television advertising blitz that's going to occur:
So be prepared if you watch a lot of local television, you're going to have to sit through more and more ads. In the thirty minutes or so that I've been sitting here, using the computer and watching TV, I've already seen ads for Roy Barnes, Ralph Hudgens, Nathan Deal, Thurbert Baker, Brian Kemp, Karen Handel and Eric Johnson. I'm sure by the time I'm through typing John Oxendine and Sam Olens will make their presence known also. These 30 second TV spots are EXTREMELY CO$TLY, as demonstrated by the figures in the AJC's article. Politicians are spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to make sure that you know who they are when you walk into the voting booth. They want you to remember their names, a kind face and a short, simple message. I don't have a problem with that on principle. I think TV ads have been shown to be one of the most effective ways of advertising in political campaigns. My problem is with the fact that these ads are a crutch on which most politicians have chosen to lean.
30 seconds in no where near long enough for you to learn everything you need to know. There is always another side to the story. The Republicans aren't going to mention their plethora of ethics violation (accusations), and Roy Barnes won't emphasize his "King Roy" persona, just as Thurbert Baker won't tell you that he's lost a lot of respect in the African-American community because of his handling of the Genarlow Wilson case. Those are the counter-ads that you'll never see on TV...until the general election. You know what I'd like to see? I'd like to see a candidate pledge to run only as many ads as the number of meet-and-greets that he or she is willing to attend. 1 instance of personal interaction with a question and answer group gets you 1 piece of airtime on television; because I can sit here and yell at the Republican ads about eliminating the income tax and ripping a $9 Billion hole in the state budget and what a worthless, pandering idea that is that they're trying to wrap up in pretty political bows to sell to Tea Partiers...but try as hard as I might, they won't hear me.
If TV ads work to drum up interest in candidates or elections, then I say more power to them, they're doing their job. But if 30 seconds worth of airtime is all you take into the polling place with you, then be careful in the next week; your brain may not be able to process all the soundbites you're gonna hear.
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