Over 50 Years of Presidential Commercials

Yes, the election is still months away, but couldn't you do with just a few more Presidential campaign commercials? Of course you could. Especially when the feature folks you haven't seen in years. The American Museum of the Moving Image is offering The Living Room Candidate: Presidential Campaign Commercials 1952-2004, and it's available at http://livingroomcandidate.movingimage.us .

When you visit the site, you'll get a list of election years. Choose a year and you'll get an overview of the campaign, links to the candidates (how they campaigned, their platforms) and the results. On the far right you'll see thumbnails of the ads for both parties. Click on the thumbnail to play the ad.

Ads may be played in high or low bandwidth, in Windows Media Player or Real. You may also choose to play the video in an external player. Transcripts are available for the commercials.

If you're less interested in a timeline, you can also view commercials by type (from "backfire" to "real people"), or issue (from civil rights to welfare.) The site also offers "The Desktop Candidate," an overview of how candidates today are using the Internet.

Posted to Government-Elections | TrackBack