Political ads won't die with elections: ; Museum creates online exhibit using candidates' spots

DAILY MAIL WASHINGTON BUREAU

WASHINGTON - Once every four years, political commercials fillthe airwaves, crowding out the advertisements for laundry detergent,luxury cars and fast food chains. They're omnipresent, butfleeting, guaranteed to disappear after the second Tuesday inNovember. Or not.

The American Museum of the Moving Image has designed an exhibitchronicling the era of political advertising on television, 1952 tothe present. In its first incarnation, eight years ago, the exhibitwas featured only at the New York museum. But today "The Living RoomCandidate" can be viewed online at www.ammi.org.

Beginning with candidate Dwight Eisenhower's mini-televisionmovies, the exhibit contains 183 commercials from the 11presidential elections of the television age.

"They're one of the more interesting uses of the moving image,"said curator David Schwartz. "They're like little movies."

Television commercials matter, Schwartz said, because they are"the one area where a candidate has total control over theirmessage."

Although the ways candidates utilized the medium changed over theyears, the messages stayed consistent, Schwartz found.

The exhibit is organized so it can be viewed eitherchronologically or by themes such as "commander in chief," "lookingpresidential" and "real people."

Negative advertising, too, is not a new strategy. Commercials inthat area date back to 1952.

A 1972 ad ridicules Democrat George McGovern's defense plans byillustrating it with toy soldiers. A 1968 commercial shows atelevision screen with "Agnew for Vice President" and a man'slaughter growing stronger and stronger. "This would be funny if itweren't so serious," the screen says at the end.

Schwartz said the ads encapsulate the politics and issues of thetime. It's striking, for example, to review the commercials of theCold War and to contrast them to the advertisements of this electionseason, which concentrate on domestic issues like prescription drugsand education

But some of the ads are memorable for years, even decades afterthe fact. No rewinding is necessary for Lyndon Johnson's daisy girland George Bush's revolving door.

Writer Karin Fischer can be reached at (202) 662-8732 or by e-mail at kfischer@dailymail.com.