“The Greatest Comeback Story is Written” is the theme of a new TV commercial called “Comeback” for the Donald Trump re-election campaign.
For the week of May 2
through May 8, Advertising Analytics says the commercial had 1,737 airings. The week before, the Trump campaign spent $1.8 million from April 26 through May 2.
A few quick questions:
Where is that story written, who was the author, and did anyone do the fact-checking?
Pardon me -- this is advertising. That aside, the attempt is a promise that advertising can be
aspirational. Pulitzer Prize potential? No.
It's a hodgepodge of clips from the press, starting off with an initial one-minute spot, where the words “attack,” “mocked”
and “torn up,” appear. The latter features House Speaker’s Nancy Pelosi famously ripping up a Trump State of the Union speech.
Over Trump’s words: “No
matter how hard they try to stop us...” we see a video snippet of Pelosi laughing. Military jets flying overhead. Warships cruising the oceans. The usual patriot stuff. Especially the
laughing.
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And then a COVID-19 reference: “Together, we are beating back the invisible enemy,” which was followed by two positive sound bites from New York State Gov. Andrew Cuumo,
and California State Gov. Gavin Newsom -- where we are reminded they are Democratic leaders of their respective states.
After this comes the requisite images of first responders, nurses and
other key workers.
“With the grace of God, we will win this war, and we will win this war quickly.” Yes, and what about dismissing those early COVID-19 warnings? Or the lack of
adequate testing or gear for those first responders?
But it is the last message from Trump that is the clincher, which might give many a double take of sorts: “.. and we will make
America great again.”
Trump didn’t say whether this was a continuation of a promise made in 2016 -- or a new “greatness.”
Perhaps it refers to the
"great’" period in January/February of this year -- before the virus? Maybe it’s about a comparison to the Ronald Reagan era, George W. Bush period, the 1950s, or possibly during the Obama
Administration’s eight-year run. He didn’t elaborate.
Using the “making America great again” phrase is tricky. Even the most ardent of Trump supporters, may be
thinking: “What? Didn’t we just do that?”
Either way, I’d call it a TV rerun. Bad news here, as many TV analysts will tell you. Reruns always produce lower viewing and
call to action data -- same for re-airing a previously seen political campaign.