經久耐用的競選廣告

11月6日，每四年一次的美國大選結果將揭曉，持續了數月的喧鬧也將落下帷幕，又到了審視各式競選廣告是否有效的時候了。競選者換了一茬又一茬，廣告媒體空前發達，但廣告手段與內容卻與六十多年前沒什么變化，甚至連口號都是一樣的。競選廣告為什么沒有進步呢？

Host: Though the sums spent on campaign ads may be 1)unprecedented and the media on which they appear may be new， their message is as old as politics. David Schwartz is chief 2)curator for New York’s Museum of the Moving Image， where he curated The Living Room Candidate， which traces campaign ads from the birth of television， starting with the 1952 campaign of Dwight Eisenhower.

We asked Schwartz for a quick retrospective of that campaign， which set the 3)template for so much that followed. For instance， in Eisenhower’s ads， he talked to real people， just like candidates do now.

David Schwartz: Of course， the people were filmed separately. They actually filmed them a day before， asked them the questions， and then they filmed 4)Ike separately in a studio reading off of big cue cards. Announcer: Eisenhower answers America.

Correspondent: General， the Democrats are telling me I never had it so good.

President Eisenhower: Can that be true， when America is billions in debt， when prices have doubled， when taxes break our backs and we are still fighting in Korea? It’s time for a change.

David: Everything goes back to Eisenhower—’cause things really haven’t changed a lot.

Host: Which brings us to the biographical ad， which apparently， is as old as campaigning itself.

David: In the beginning of a campaign， the candidate introduces themselves with an ad that sort of tells their story in one minute. So， again， Eisenhower， he had an ad showing he was from the heartland of America.

Correspondent: The man from Abilene! Out of the heartland of America， out of this small frame house in Abilene， Kansas…

David: And， actually， if you look at the Obama campaign， he also did biographical ads.

President Obama: I was raised by a single mom and my grandparents. We didn’t have much money. But they taught me values straight from the Kansas heartland where they grew up.

David: 5)Adlai Stevenson was the man from Libertyville. The Eisenhower campaign criticized that at first and they said， this is just made up， but he was actually from Libertyville. These are the feel-good ads， and then the 6)mudslinging starts. Then all the attack ads begin.

Host: Now， attack ads， that’s a category that’s so big that it’s broken down into a variety of subcategories， one of which is the backfire ad， which I thought was a new phenomenon but， as you said， it goes back to Eisenhower.

David: Adlai Stevenson did backfire ads in 1956， and they took bits and pieces of the Eisenhower commercials from ’52 and then showed how he didn’t live up to his promise.

主持人：雖然花在競選廣告上的總費用可能是空前的高，廣告出現的媒介可能很新式，但它們傳達的信息卻如政治一樣古老。戴維·施瓦茨是紐約移動影像博物館館長，他負責一個名為《客廳里的候選人》的展覽。該展覽收集了電視機面世以來的競選廣告，最早從1952年德懷特·艾森豪威爾的競選開始。

我們請施瓦茨回顧那次被眾多后來者作為范本的競選，作一個簡要的介紹。例如，在艾森豪威爾的競選廣告中，他像現在的候選人那樣與真人對話。

戴維·施瓦茨：當然，那些人是被分別拍攝的。實際上，他們是在前一天先拍了那些人，向他們提出問題，然后在攝影棚單獨拍攝艾森豪威爾看著大提示卡讀稿的畫面。播音員：艾森豪威爾回應美國人民。

男聲：將軍，民主黨人告訴我，我的生活空前的好。

艾森豪威爾總統：當美國負債累累，當物價成倍上漲，當稅收壓彎了我們的腰，而我們還在與朝鮮打仗時，這會是真的嗎？是時候作出改變 了。

戴維：一切都從艾森豪威爾那時開始——因為情況并沒有很大改變。

主持人：這就讓我們轉到傳記式廣告這個話題，此類廣告顯然有著與競選活動一樣長的歷史。……