The Daisy Girl

On September 7, 1964, a 3 year old girl counting daisy petals changed how American politicians campaigned forever. The ad's aggressively clear message that candidate Barry Goldwater was a genocidal maniac ready to destroy the world through nuclear war shown by the innocent girl dying from a nuclear attack won Lyndon Johnson the presidency. The ad did not even say Goldwater's name, but it was the simplicity of its message that left an imprint on viewers. There were dozens of other ads from Johnson's campaign, but the Daisy Girl ad became iconic because of the risky and innovative method of negative advertising that the country had never seen before.

Because of how terrifying and visceral the ad was, it was only run once. The ad was made by Doyle Dane Bernbach, a collective of ad men who had worked on groundbreaking campaigns for car companies Avis and Volkswagen. Their goal with Daisy Girl was not to revolutionize political advertising, but to break the rules of political ads that had been established over the few years the option had been available. The firm's principal founder, Bill Bernbach believed advertising to be an art and wanted to appeal to people's emotions in order to leave an impact instead of playing it safe as he had seen politicians do in the past.

Relying on instinct and emotion rather than research and facts and utilizing Goldwater's rash statements against the ban on nuclear testing against him, DDB was able to depict unforgettable images of the world in turmoil from nuclear war and they were able to convince the viewers that Goldwater would be the cause. Another impactful but less famous ad against Goldwater's vote opposing the nuclear test ban featured a young girl eating ice cream as an announcer talked about the radiation from nuclear testing could enter the food supply.

Most political advertisements had been negative up until this election, but they were all rational and based on facts, but Johnson's ads were emotional based. Other elections saw candidates such as Kennedy attacking Nixon and his record as vice president or Eisenhower accusing Stevenson of being connected with corruption in the Truman administration, but Johnson's ads by DDB did not accuse Goldwater of anything, they only appealed to people's fear based off of claims Goldwater was making. Emotional appeals after this election became a staple of politics.    


Sources:
http://www.livingroomcandidate.org/commercials/1964/peace-little-girl-daisy
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/how-daisy-ad-changed-everything-about-political-advertising-180958741/