"Daisy" Ad Creator Dies

For better or worse (I think mostly worse), Tony Schwartz revolutionized televised political advertising with his 1964 "Daisy" ad for the Lyndon Johnson campaign. Schwartz died over the weekend at the age of 84. A history of the Daisy ad can be found here.

Communication scholar Kathleen Hall-Jamieson believes that the Daisy ad was actually the "cleanest" political ad of 1964:

"Tony's messages involve listeners and viewers in an intricate and subtle dance, that ultimately leaves you in a partnership. And so, in the typical Schwartz message you're left feeling very involved. And you're also left with powerful residual impact. The reason people read Goldwater into the 'Daisy' commercial was because everything in that ad is speaking to their fears about nuclear weapons, and everything in the campaign was magnifying Goldwater's stands about nuclear weapons. And so you naturally invest that into an open message that invites those fears. That makes that the most powerful ad of that campaign. It also makes it the cleanest ad of the campaign. Because to the extent that Goldwater is in the ad he was invested there by the audience. And the audience isn't going to indict itself for dirty campaigning. Tony's ad is absolutely clean."

I think Tony Schwartz was kind of like the Jimi Hendrix of political advertising. Hendrix, an electric guitar icon, inspired some great and some dreadful imitators. Schwartz, the icon of electronic media advertising, inspired some great imitators but can also be linked to swift-boating and other horrible muck based on sheer audience manipulation.