by
NARR 1:
We've heard them time and time again…
NAT SOT 1:
(bring up "waterfall" of negative political ads)
NARR 2:
Negative campaign ads...it's enough to make you want to…
NAT SOT 2:
Lamont scream
NARR 3:
David Procter, a professor at Kansas State University, studies ads. Despite voter complaints, he says they work.
AX 1: Procter
"Negative ads have the power to be more effective in changing voters or getting voters to vote in a particular way..."
NAT SOT 3:
A little ambi of negative ad by Connecticut's Simmons (R)
NARR 4:
Negative ads like this one, target voters and subtly…or not so subtly…try to influence the way you cast your ballot. George Marcus, president of the International Society of Political Psychology, says they cause anxiety or anger in voters.
NAT SOT 4:
(Bring up NJ Menendez ad, leave it under the following narration.)
NARR 5:
In the hotly contested New Jersey Senate race, democratic candidate Robert Menendez uses music to stir anxiety while fuzzy black and white images flash across the screen.
NAT SOT 5:
(Bring up Kean ad "…Federal prisoner 25038-050…he's Tom Kean's newest advisor…the Star Ledger reports…" Bring down audio, but keep during transition back to AX.)
AX 2: Marcus
"…the emotion of anxiety is the brain's way of cuing us that there's something wrong and you better pay attention//…(bring up NJ ad again) if you were in a slight slumber, if you weren't paying much attention, if this soundtrack was on it would wake you up."
NARR 6:
Music isn't the only way to influence voter behavior. Probably the most controversial ad of this election is this one that targets Senate Candidate Harold Ford of Tennessee, who is African American.
NAT SOT 6:
(Bring in "…I met Harold at a playboy party…")
AX 3: Marcus
"The implication of that is to remind Tennessee voters that he is black, and that he is violating certain norms, that whites should socialize with whites, blacks should socialize with blacks, and that would mobilize, particularly those who have a degree of racial
racism, to mobilize that racism and to turn away from Ford."
NARR 6:
The Republican Party pulled the ad after a few days. But it is negative ads like these that campaign ad expert David Procter says are designed to do two things. Mobilize the base, AND turn off other voters.
AX 4: Procter
"It turns off the independent, moderate, less politically attentive voter…it is absolutely intended."
NARR 7:
But Procter says there's a price to the success of negativity. He says research shows that negative ads increase voter cynicism and distrust of the political system.
Kate McCarthy, Columbia Radio News.