President Joe Biden, statesman
President Joe Biden‘s reelection campaign announced a new $50 million advertising campaign this week, aimed at drawing what is described as “contrasts” between Biden and his opponent Donald Trump in advance of their first debate scheduled for June 27. Based on the first ad released as part of this ad campaign (view the ad here), “contrasts” is a nice way to put it. The ad, titled “Character Matters,” begins by stating that Trump has “been convicted of 34 felonies, found liable for sexual assault, and he committed financial fraud.” The contrast part comes in next:
Meanwhile, Joe Biden’s been working, lowering healthcare costs, and making big corporations pay their fair share. This election is between a convicted criminal who’s only out for himself, and a president who’s fighting for your family.”
There are several reasons why this new Biden ad is so good. First, it forcefully goes on offense, something for which Democratic voters have been clamoring for decades, and for which we have been calling since the beginning of Messaging Matters. Second, Biden’s ad is accurate, as opposed to some deceptively edited or “deepfake” ad or video of the type that Republicans are now creating and distributing. Such accuracy is important both to maintain Democratic standards, and because, if the ad was inaccurate, the mainstream media would spend their time attacking it. Third, the ad contrasts Trump’s criminal convictions with Biden’s competent, effective work for Americans, adding the zinger that Trump is “only out for himself.” In short, the Biden campaign ad does a lot, in a simple way, in 30 seconds.
Moreover, this was just the first ad of the new Biden campaign effort. Suffice it to say, we cannot wait for the next one.
Photo by Number 10, used under Creative Commons license. https://is.gd/AbBULo
