Ad Man
November 11, 2024 at 09:04PMI like to think political ads are annoying background noise. You like to think so, too. But campaigns and PACs spend big bucks on advertising for a reason, and the reason isn’t that they don’t work. Alexander Sammon traveled to Montana, home of one of the mostly hotly-contested Senate races in the U.S. — Republican Sheehy ended up flipping the seat, claiming Democrat incumbent Tester’s spot — to see just what kind of advertising onslaught Montanans were subject to. Spoilers: it’s intense, and it’s only going to get worse as more ads move into the unregulated online space.
Here is the deal with Wipeout Xtra: It is a game show where contestants run an elevated obstacle course, competing against various hazards and the clock to finish. Mostly, they do not succeed, and I have no idea what happens if they do. Still, I wheeled around and watched a column of spirited Australians being successively and violently deposited into mud and water.
The battle of Wipeout Xtra quickly became the greatest advertising clash I’d witnessed all weekend. An Australian woman got socked by a spring-loaded punching bag and then, for 20 years, Jon Tester had been running on his haircut and Tim Sheehy could pass a national abortion ban. An Australian man fell off an elevated platform and Jon Tester took on Big Pharma and a lifelong Republican just didn’t trust Tim Sheehy. An Australian slipped in mud and Jon Tester was cracking down on price gouging and military veterans warned that Tim Sheehy wants to privatize health care and veterans’ benefits. Down went the Australians and a lifelong Republican just didn’t trust Tim Sheehy and for 20 years Jon Tester had been running on his haircut and don’t trust the attacks on Jon Tester they’re all lies.
My head pain was quelled thanks to the drugs, but now my neck and back began to flare up, the previous day’s slouching and craning setting in. I felt for the Australians.
I asked the four patrons what they thought of the Senate ads. They groaned. “Can’t avoid ’em,” said Tom, the man sitting closest to me. I asked them, too, if they thought they were working. Again, the answer was a resounding no, and a lot of shaking of heads. I asked them if they were voting, and for whom.
“Sheehy,” said Francis, another patron, because Tester had been running for so many years, and everyone knew what he was about. “Tester,” said Tom, because taking that choice out of a woman’s hands, that’s terrible. “I don’t care if he did take money from China,” he added.
On the road back to my confinement, I listened to the radio and there, too, were Tester and Sheehy. Someone sang about a new truck and someone sang about heartbreak and someone sang about loving drinking and then Jon Tester saved Medicare.
from Longreads https://longreads.com/2024/11/11/ad-man/
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