more ads!

This ad that Mondale put on in 1984 when he was running against Reagon definitly plays upon the fear factor! Note the low, strong drum beat that plays in the background--it sounds like one of those mystery movies when something bad is about to happen: doom! I also took a peek at the commentary to the side of the video which discussed some of what was happening in 1984 (a year before I was born :-) ! Interestingly enough, it turns out Mondale had picked a woman VP:

"The unenviable task of running against Reagan fell to former Vice President Walter Mondale. Mondale made two bold choices in his campaign, both of which backfired. First, he selected a woman, New York Representative Geraldine Ferraro, as his running mate. Media scrutiny of her husband’s finances put Ferraro on the defensive."

Well, doesn't that sound oddly familiar? Looks like picking a woman for a VP is tricky business...I guess before you do that you need to make sure she knows what she's talking about (ahem..Palin) and hopefully has a clean record behind her and her spouse (Palin's husband has been scrutinized as well in this campaign...and for much of it Palin has been on the defense of herself!)

"A smile that can prove only one thing: honesty"--so says one woman who was interviewed about why they would vote for Eisenhower. (well, we all know how deceiving those grins can be...)
Given the time period of this ad, it was incredibly surprising that a whole video was devoted to what women thought about Eisenhower! Although women did have a lot more rights in this time, it was interesting to see how much power they seemed to give to the election, since the narrator said : "let's not forget, it was women who voted in Eisenhower in the last election!" One thing to note: towards the end of the video they briefly discuss how vital a role women play in raising a family--notice how the woman is helping the children with their homework while the husband sits reading his newspaper!! Very 50's!
I think Eisenhower was definitly trying to make the point though that women play an important role in our society which probably gave him many bonus points!

These ads are also much longer than the ones we have today, which run at most a minute. They also seem to speak directly to the people about the issues, rather than stating what their opponent will/won't do!