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August 31, 2005

Hilarious or sobering, you decide. "The voice behind the candidate"

October 23, 2006 11:25 AM EDT

views: 25 | rating: 10/10 (1 vote) | comments: 5

From Minnesota Public Radio's In The Loop feature The voice behind the candidate:

There is art and science behind political advertising. Campaigns fret over when to go positive, when to go negative, and how to deliver ads so voters get the message, without feeling like they're having a message pushed on them. It's delicate work, and those who make the ads are focused on how to get the most bang for their 30 or 60 seconds.

Yeah, I work for Minnesota Public Radio, but as a listener I laughed and winced at this feature. How many of these ads just hit our ears? You simply have to listen to the audio to hear the samples from Gary Groomes and Susan Fuller, two voiceover artists.

____________________
Julia Schrenkler
Minnesota Public Radio Interactive Producer

Tags: public radio, advertising, campaign 2006, minnesota politics, minnesota public radio, in the loop, election 2006, political advertising, politics, minnesota

To Groups: Minnesota Politics, In the Loop Group, Public Radio Forum

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Comments: 5

Ron (in complete sheeple overload) W. Oct 23, 2006, 12:00pm EDT

We need to ban all campaign ads, and instead make a series of debates mandatory. The ads are cotton candy, debate is meat. We will never know more about what a candidate stands for by listening to, or watching, an ad. They are buffed and polished to a high sheen to get you to vote based on emotion, not reason. Debate can't be buffed, and can't be polished. They can still lie, but it puts the liars on notice that it's in the public record, and they will answer for it sometime. JMHO

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Julia Schrenkler Oct 23, 2006, 12:09pm EDT

Thanks for speaking out, Ron. Did you hear the piece? They talked about how the ads are voiced to position them as you said. Groomes' point about how the opposition's name is voiced in a negative, dismissive way taps that.

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Ron (in complete sheeple overload) W. Oct 23, 2006, 12:50pm EDT

No, I didn't. Public radio comes in fairly static ridden in the hollow I live in. I was merely speaking generally. I do get it online occasionally. Gave it a ten though, good topic.

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Stacey "Yeah, I Said It" H. Oct 23, 2006, 1:49pm EDT

Smoke and mirrors...it just highlights to me that politics is a lot like running a con game...

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Julia Schrenkler Oct 23, 2006, 2:17pm EDT

Stacey, the online audio really made it sound like a sell. The examples are very, very much a sales technique. Your article "The Devil You Know vs. The Devil You Don't Know" mentions political ads getting nasty... what do you think the turning points are?

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