The 1964 daisy commercial produced by Lyndon Johnson’s campaign for the presidential election is considered the most effective and memorable negative ad in American politics. It exploited America’s fear of nuclear warfare and implied that Senator Barry Goldwater could destroy everything if elected. The ad was only aired once but was broadcast on news networks, leading to Johnson’s re-election. The ad is available online and is worth watching. Today’s negative ads are considered weak compared to the daisy ad.
Ever since there have been election announcements, politicians have appealed to fear and emotion to sway the vote in their favor. While the ads often run negative, most are nothing compared to the 1964 daisy commercial produced by Lyndon Johnson’s campaign for the 1964 presidential election. For fans of negative campaigns, there’s no ad that’s been equally effective in American politics, and aired only once as an advertisement, before being broadcast on network news. To others, the daisy commercial is an atrocious example of the purposeful exploitation of America’s deep-seated fear of annihilation through nuclear warfare.
The daisy commercial begins with a sweet girl counting the petals of daisies as she picks them off a single flower. She runs out of numbers and starts counting again. A voice-over replaces the count of her, with the typical “countdown” sequence for the launch of a nuclear weapon, and several explosions of mushroom clouds replace the image of the girl. Lyndon Johnson’s voice is heard talking about the need for people to “love each other” or die, and the announcement ends with an injunction to vote for Johnson because “the stakes are too high” to vote elsewhere.
Advertising firm Doyle Dane Bernbach created the daisy commercial, primarily in response to statements by Senator Barry Goldwater (the Republican presidential candidate) that limited use of nuclear weapons might be appropriate. It was an easy step to take between Goldwater’s statements and the threat of what might happen if the United States used nuclear weapons to end a war. Many people feared the consequences, and while the ad doesn’t even mention Goldwater, it certainly implies that he could destroy everything if elected.
The Republican Party and Goldwater’s campaign enraged over the commercial, which led to a decision by Johnson’s campaign not to air the commercial again, but major news networks aired it on their newscasts. Anyone who missed the primetime ad had a chance to catch it again. Many cite the commercial as a major factor in Johnson’s re-election, resulting in a landslide victory.
If you haven’t seen the daisy ad, (also called a daisy ad, daisy chain ad, or daisy ad) it’s worth checking out. It is available online on several sites. While the ad wasn’t the first example of extremely negative ads that are based on people’s fears, it is considered to be the most effective and memorable to date. The negative ads from today’s campaign are relatively weak when viewed next to the daisy dot.
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