Political Ads Don’t Get a Break From Pros

The man who brought us Monica S. Lewinsky in Jenny Craig weight loss ads slumped in front of his TV monitor.

“Wasted opportunity,” moaned David Suissa, CEO of Suissa Miller advertising agency. Suissa, a high-octane West Los Angeles ad executive, was reviewing presidential campaign ads, including one in which a soft-spoken Michael Jordan, dressed in a black mock turtleneck, earnestly endorses fellow basketball great Bill Bradley. Suissa was not impressed.

‘It’s Michael Jordan,” he said, “the No. 1 king of the world. This is the first time he’s ever endorsed a political candidate, and what did they do? Nothing.”

Suissa, film director Barry Levinson and ad executive Norma Orci took a break from editing sessions of their own to review some presidential ads that have aired in California. To put it kindly, Tinseltown gave the politicos a thumbs down.

“I don’t think these spots would ever motivate anyone to either vote for one of these guys or change their vote,” said Levinson, director of the dark comedy “Wag the Dog,” which parodied the final, frenetic days of a presidential campaign, including the commercials.

“The only thing that stood out is they all wear red ties,” he said.

Orci, who has made ads for Spanish-language markets for 30 years, said, “What most of these spots have is a lot of fluff.”

Academics and political consultants admit this year’s ads are lackluster but said the conclusions of these Hollywood pros are wrong. Study after study, from Pavlov’s dogs to today’s focus groups, have shown that repetition is persuasive, said Brown University professor Darrell West. That includes flashing repeated images, even banal ones, at TV viewers in the days preceding an election.

Besides, a lowly political ad costs $20,000 tops to produce and is often made overnight. A McDonald’s ad can cost millions and take months to make.

The Hollywood executives were sympathetic. Sort of.

“It’s so hard to love a political commercial,” said Suissa. “Still, you don’t need five months to make an ad more compelling than this.”

Levinson, whose main character in “Wag the Dog” faked a war to capture TV viewers, said the whole idea of packaging political leaders as products is “frightening.”

“They are just commodities, they are bars of soap,” he said. “We’re all used to living in today’s world, but below that level, there is something that makes you say, ‘God almighty, is this what has happened to us?’ ”

So what is it that’s so frightening, so fluffy, so sadly dull? Let’s go to the videotape.

In the Michael Jordan ad, called “Chicago,” Jordan talks to the camera about serious issues such as health care and child poverty. No cartoon characters, no basketball shorts. The camera barely moves from him, though there is one shot of Bradley with his wife on a beach at the very end.

“Terrible,” said Suissa. “They could have gone way beyond the normal talking head with this one.”

“It feels so earnest,” Levinson said. “It’s almost like he’s not Michael Jordan.”

Levinson said he would have put Jordan and Bradley together on camera, to show the viewer the friendship between the two and give a rationale for why Jordan made this move.

Another Bradley ad, “Give Him the Ball,” features a rapid-fire montage of his life, from Rhodes scholar graduation to winning Knicks shots to time in the Senate, complete with driving music. An announcer urgently says Bradley would make a great president, “but first, you’ve got to give him the ball.”

As for the announcer, “he’s a heavy breather,” said Suissa. With five still photos and a few elegant phrases, Suissa suggested, the ad could have powerfully captured Bradley’s “incredible life.”

In George W. Bush’s “Once in a Generation,” the Republican governor of Texas air kisses a Latina girl and poses with a group of elderly and ethnically diverse women. Phrases such as “patients’ bill of rights” and “tax reform” flash across the screen.

“This is the worst,” said Suissa. “Chaos in a kitchen sink. . . . What Bush needs to do is convey to people that he’s got substance. . . . You don’t have a single thought that matters in this.”

“A generic ‘candidate running for president’ ad,” said Levinson. He said he would film Bush endlessly as he campaigned, seeking scraps of authentic behavior.

“Get him talking over his shoulder instead of posing with children,” he said. “Try to find those little moments that seem natural, so you can make the anti-commercial.”

In his “Reagan Conservative” ad, John McCain stands in a living room with tasteful paintings, speaking to the camera. He wears a blue suit, and, yes, red tie. He denounces what he calls the negative campaigning of his opponent and assures viewers he is the anti-establishment candidate.

This spot drew even bigger boos. “Look at him!” said Suissa. “He’s trying to say he’s not a stuffed shirt, and he’s wearing a stuffed shirt! It screams establishment. The visuals just kill the message.”

He had a simple suggestion. “Get him on the bus. The whole message of his campaign is back-of-the-bus revolutionary.”

Bad move, retorted West, the politics professor. Even moderate Republicans are still more traditional than Democrats or unaligned viewers who might like an ad with more gimmicks, he said.

Orci took a more positive view of Bush’s Spanish-language ad, “Nuevo Dia,” as well as one by Al Gore, “Su Voto.” Gore, standing in front of a muted background, talks to the camera about crime, education and health care. The ad cuts occasionally to footage of police cars, a classroom and prescription drugs.

“His accent’s not bad,” she said.

Bush lets a narrator do the talking over footage of students and scientists but says a few words in Spanish. Orci gave both high marks for making the ads but said they were long on pretty words and short on specifics.

“They talk about education. So? What about bilingual education? What about the high dropout rates in urban communities? And they say nothing about the new immigration program that’s being talked about,” she said. “Commercials are supposed to make a promise, then give you reasons you can believe the promise.”

Wrong, said West of all the criticisms of Bush and Gore. Staying vague is the point of political commercials. The last thing you want to do is make specific promises.

There was one snippet of an ad the trio liked--James Brady talking about Gore casting the tie-breaking vote to pass a gun-control law. Brady was partially paralyzed by a gunshot wound during the assassination attempt on Ronald Reagan. After Brady, the ad switches to footage on other issues, with jazzy graphics and racing music.

“The spot is upsetting because you remember this man and the tragedy that befell him,” said Levinson. “It’s very moving, and that’s good.”

But by switching to other subjects, the ad loses the power of Brady’s message, he said. It also lost Levinson.

“I don’t remember whose ad it was, though. Was it Gore’s? I know the Democrats are anti-gun, so I know it’s a Democrat. Was it Bradley?”

Suissa knew it was for Gore but said after the initial “genuine drama” of Brady talking, the ad dissolved.

“We know you want to be president. Tell us why you’re for gun control,” he said. “If you can’t talk about one issue for 30 seconds . . . you don’t deserve to be president.”