US Elections - Times Online - WBLG: Top five attack ads on the internet

16 November 2007

Top five attack ads on the internet

It's that time in the campaign when candidates fling aside their halos and get down and dirty in the trenches, so to commemorate the release of the attack dogs here's my pick of the most scurrilous ads on the web. All of those featured are made not by the campaigns themselves but supporters or advocacy groups, as these are the most vicious (and often the most successful...)

1. Hillary Clinton as Big Sister. An oldie but a goodie. This anti-Clinton ad, originally made by a Barack Obama supporter and repurposed here for Fred Thompson, takes its inspiration from an Apple Computers advertisement aired during the 1984 Superbowl. It's been around in the US for a while, but has yet to be outdone.

2. Gays for Giuliani. This ad plays on Rudy Giuliani's love of cross-dressing and past co-habiting with a same sex couple to put the frighteners on social conservatives. Genius.

3. Fred Thompson "campaign ad". Funny, slick, informative.

4. "Reckless" starring John McCain. This video, made by influential pro-Democrat organisation MoveOn.org, features a clip the McCain campaign would rather you didn't see.

5. Mike Gravel versus the war. Ok, so not so much an attack on a particular candidate as on the whole field, this video manages to simultaneously promote Gravel as peacemaker and paint his rivals with a broad pro-war brush. The Democratic candidate likes it so much it's a favourite in his YouTube channel. Warning - some images may disturb.