This advertising was intentionally shown on American television to provide President Lyndon Johnson political mileage against Barry Goldwater in the 1964 presidential election. The advertisement opens with an innocent girl counting petals from a daisy floral component. As the video zooms in on the girl's eye, a gruff voice begins to count. A large explosion is eventually visible, and a voice warns the voter to choose between war and peace. The advertisement concludes by encouraging voters to vote since the stakes are high (Billy).
The advertisement used context-appropriate material to increase voting turnout. Barry Goldwater had said he would support the war on Vietnam and encouraged the use of nuclear weapons against Vietnam. In such events the civilians suffer and children are often affected disproportionately. Thus, this negative ad succeeds in instilling fear among the electorate that should they fail to turn out and vote against Goldwater, they would be in war and people will suffer. Even though Barry Goldwater’s name is not mentioned, the ad has exploited his utterances to his disadvantage. The use of a child in the ad also helped capture audients’ attention and hence vote in numbers against a warmonger. The ad however, is not attractive to Goldwater’s supporters since they are not promised anything by Lyndon Johnson.
Goldwater is portrayed as an extremely reckless person who lacks considerations for the
consequences of his actions/war on his people and humanity. He is seen as a ruthless warmonger
who would use nuclear weapons against Vietnam to kill people. Indeed, he has been portrayed as
an authoritarian leader who has no value for human right.
Work Cited
Billy, Mike. (High Quality) Famous "Daisy" Attack Ad from 1964 Presidential Election. 15 July 1964. Film. 15 July 2017.
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