Study: Record TV campaign ads halted for Sept. 11

The much-anticipated ceasefire in political television advertising by 2002 candidates across the nation was confirmed in a study released Friday by the Wisconsin Advertising Project at UW–Madison, funded by the Pew Charitable Trusts.

The project, using data supplied by the Campaign Media Analysis Group, recorded only 61 airings of political commercials in America’s top 100 media markets Sept. 11. The previous Wednesday, Sept. 4, the project recorded a whopping 9,586 political spots aired across the nation. Two years ago, on Sept. 11, 2000, viewers saw more than 7,000 political spots.

“With campaigns in full swing, and candidates trying to hit the ground running after Tuesday’s big primaries, this is as close to silence as we could ever expect to see at this point of the cycle,” says professor Ken Goldstein, director of the Wisconsin Advertising Project.

A third of the 61 spots aired Wednesday were run by John Wolfe, the Democratic candidate in the solidly Republican 3rd congressional district of Tennessee. The ad, designed specifically for the occasion, featured the candidate talking to the camera in front of a huge American flag, expressing his sympathies to those affected by the tragedy and his support for the Constitution.

“Other than Wolfe’s piece, most of the other ads had been running in past weeks and my belief is that the airings were clearly mistakes by the television stations and not deliberate campaigning by candidates on Sept. 11,” says Goldstein.

Candidates have largely avoided issues related to the terrorist attacks in 2002 ads. The Wisconsin Advertising Project’s researchers found that less than 1 percent of ads made any explicit mention of Sept. 11 or the attacks. Fewer than 4 percent mentioned anything related to the broader topic of terrorism.

Nevertheless, flag waving in campaigns is alive and well. More than a quarter of congressional and gubernatorial ads in 2002 have featured an American flag, with a small increase in the past weeks. Candidates at all levels featured the flag prominently; American flags were seen in U.S. Senate ads (32 percent), House ads (31 percent), and gubernatorial ads (23 percent).

Senator Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, leads the flag-waving trend with all of his positive ads featuring the Stars and Stripes (including his July 4 spot showing him reciting the pledge of allegiance). Of note is the fact that no ads this year have characterized opposing candidates as unpatriotic.