Commentary

Trump's New 'Deplorable' Ad Scores Deplorably Among Undecideds

Hillary Clinton had her own “47%” or “they cling to guns and religion” moment when she likened half of Trump supporters to a “basket of deplorables” at a fundraiser last Friday. It was what one could call a gaffe — an unintentional remark, whether truthful or not, that causes political harm.

Even though Clinton was quick to clarify the use of the word “half,” the Trump campaign pounced on the comment and quickly put together an attack ad highlighting the moment. They may have done so a bit too quickly.

The ad “Deplorable” aired for the first time on Monday, and as of Wednesday the Trump campaign had already spent over $772,000 on 1,275 broadcast spots, according to real-time political ad tracking firm Advertising Analytics. The buy is focused in Florida, Ohio, North Carolina and Pennsylvania.

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According to Ace Metrix, a company that analyses the sentiment around video and TV ads, “Deplorable” performed well below average among all voters save Republicans. Respondents of all ages, genders and incomes were desperately uninspired by the ad.

Ace Metrix compiled a couple of verbatim responses and found that negative ads that repeat what other candidates have said are increasingly difficult for voters to stomach.

“We all saw Hillary on the news … no need to make that into an ad. It doesn’t prove any point and show us anything we don’t already know,” said one respondent. “Both candidates do nothing but slam the other. Not what I’m looking for in a leader,” explained another.

A third pointedly noted, “This is deplorable, stop attacking people and instead talk about how you are going to change the country.”

Voters are starting to get annoyed with the negativity pervasive throughout the political advertising landscape. Political marketers need to catch on and start telling voters why they should vote for their candidate, not why they shouldn’t support their opponent.

Both campaigns are guilty of this.

Those voters who are still undecided, know the arguments for why they shouldn’t vote for either candidate. They are yet to be convinced as to why they should vote for one of the two.

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