When Good Ads Go Bad

Marketers of the political products known as presidential candidates pay close attention to Madison Avenue as well as Main Street. Since there's vastly more money at stake, commercial market researchers usually detect trends in public opinion and consumer behavior well before their colleagues in campaign consulting.

Being subjected to the glut of ads repeated ad nauseum during the Olympics almost forcibly made me wonder if Madison Avenue is on to something that the political wizards haven't spied yet.

So I asked Harrison Hickman, Vice President Al Gore's pollster, if he had noticed anything about the ads running on the Olympics. "Yeah, they're dark," he said.

That's what I thought. There are some real downers on the air during these happy games, amidst these happy times. What's it all mean?

One ad caused a stink. That was the bizarre Nike spot that featured a hockey-masked, chain saw murderer stalking and chasing 1,500-meter runner Suzy Favor Hamilton. It was supposed to be funny. It certainly scared the pants off my nine year-old daughter who was watching gymnastics. Apparently, her reaction wasn't unique. The ad was pulled.

Another oddly dark ad is the Coke spot where a soldier comes home to Ma and Pa's farm. He leaves when he finds out they have no more Coke, as the family hound viciously chews up Sis' rag doll. Quite a change of pace for the folks that once wanted "to teach the world to sing."

A series of ads for the John Hancock Life Insurance Company is every bit as weird as these failed attempts at black humor, but the ads are more interesting. My favorite features a forty-something couple, whispering so their off-screen son can't hear:

WOMAN: I just think you can do more.

MAN: I'm late with one payment in four years -

WOMAN: It's not about the money, Ron.

(AWKWARD PAUSE)

WOMAN: You just don't get it.

MAN: Victoria wants me to move to California with her.

WOMAN: Why don't you go tell Joey then? You tell him.

On screen graphics: "Insurance for the unexpected. Investments for the opportunities."

Pretty creepy, right? Another in the series is called "Saturday Night." It features a slimy man asking an obviously divorced woman to spend the night. She can't because she has a babysitter waiting. So the slimy guy proposes. But she can again say "no" because she has the independence that only a portfolio of John Hancock products can secure.

Ads for financial services generally feature glamorous young rich people or fly-fishing retired people who have gray temples but the bodies of teenagers. But these John Hancock commercials are "hard times" ads.

Now, if Madison Avenue has spotted a looming economic pessimism, a black lining in the silver cloud of American prosperity, it would be big political news. The ground zero fact of political life this year, the political scientists agree, is that Al Gore's biggest asset, by far, ithe booming economy. Character, Medicare plans, and vice presidential selections are second tier factors. So any change in the electorate's economic mood would be crucial.

The Bush forces are trying to nurture such a mood change. Witness their new ad called "Education Recession." The topic is education, but the subliminal message is "recession." To put it in Bushspeak - clouds loom, trouble ahead. "The point of this is that while the economy is strong, there are problems in society," according to Bush's communications director, Karen Hughes.

If the Bush team is listening to Madison Avenue, they'll knock off the subtle, subliminal stuff quickly. Expect the chain saws to come out soon. "It's Morning in America - NOT."