Madison Miller
April 20, 2016
Advertising and Society
Kreshel
Prep Task on Political Advertising
In the past I have tended to have a negative view towards politics and political advertising
as there is a lot of negativity, scrutiny and corruption around these topics. After our
discussion in class on political advertising, watching the videos and reading about Citizen
United and FECA, and doing a little extra research on my own, my views have slightly
shifted. Although I have always had a negative view on political advertising and have tried
to avoid these advertisements at all cost, I feel as though they are somewhat beneficial now
with a better understanding of what they are all about. No matter if the political
advertisement is positive or negative there is going to be a great effect on the people seeing
them. Obviously, it is the advertisers job to create campaign ads that people pay attention
to. With this being said, I found it interesting that negative political advertisements seem to
do this best. More specifically, the new term spin is ruining politics. Spin is the deliberate
crafting of words and images for political effect. Spin is everywhere from scripted laugh
lines and speeches that candidates use in debates to the ads displayed and viral videos on
our televisions and computer screens. Although this is a “new” term politics have always
involved spin.
With the death of Justice Antonin Scalia there is question whether there is a possibility of
reversing the 2010 decision in Citizens United v FECA and if money will lose its hold on
