The
2012 election is coming to an end and there has been much stated by both
parties. Soon we will see either an extra term from Barack Obama or an entirely
new president through Mitt Romney. Throughout both of their election campaigns
there has been quite a battle of attack advertisements in order to persuade the
audience not to vote for the other candidate. This type of campaigning has
become favored over the years and now politicians rely on it in order to gain
votes. This is contrary to many other elections in which the candidate used
their own beliefs and ideas to gain votes instead of sabotaging the opposing
politician. There has been an ad released against Obama saying that he has
allowed 4 billion dollars of debt to accumulate everyday he has been in office.
The title reads, “We have seen storms in Virginia, but none like this…” This
may be correlated with hurricane Sandy saying Obama’s term has been more
destructive. Along with media, the popularity of attack ads, and the
effectiveness they have been known to acquire all reveal the beliefs and values
popular culture has placed upon mudslinging.
Media has changed the process of
traditional elections. Now it is impossible for candidates to escape the
spotlight. Anything they do is watched and analyzed by people looking to find
fault anywhere at any time. With this pressure and constant watch it is nearly
impossible for a politician to be error free. When they make an error it is
instantly blown out of proportion into a countrywide situation. There is no
such idea as a secret when a political icon gets close to the top.
Now that people have discovered the
entertainment aspect of attack ads it has become the go-to weapon in any
campaign. The popularity and attention the ads get from voters has caused candidates
to resort nearly entirely on them. Without the use of attack ads most
candidates do not stand a chance. The fact that their opponent is revealing all
of their flaws, true or not, without any retaliation causes no reason to vote
against the other competitor.
Along with popularity comes
effectiveness. It is highly easy to win anything if the competitor appears to
be much worse for the whole than oneself. This has led to many victories in comparison
to the traditional way of only explaining the position and beliefs of oneself. Few
competitors rely on the traditional style of campaigning and should be praised
for their efforts because it is a cleaner more proper way of campaigning but
put against an accomplished mudslinger it is nearly impossible to win.
Throughout election history new
ways of campaigning have become aware to the candidates. As this continues it
becomes harder to come up with new ways of gaining votes. It has now
transformed into only degrading the opposing side instead of focusing upon oneself
and the beliefs and ideas that should be known. Through media, effectiveness,
and popularity the traditional styles of campaigning are over and now attack
ads are the only way to become an accomplished politician.
