Political Advertisements
Web Sites | Videorecordings | CD-ROMs | Background Reading
Web Sites
Web site free to all 
Penn State Access Account required
Political Advertising
University of Iowa, Online Communication Studies Resources.
Political Campaigns
Political Communication Lab, Stanford University
The Living Room Candidate
Presidential campaign television commercials, 1952 to the present.
The :30 Second Candidate
Companion Web site to the PBS television program, a "one-hour documentary adventure into the world of political advertising".
AllPolitics : Candidates (CNN)
"Steve Forbes wasn't the first presidential wannabe to make effective use of the airwaves. With roots going back to Dwight Eisenhower and Adlai Stevenson's 1952 contest, politics and TV advertising are inextricably linked in the modern era."
The Desktop Candidate
"Internet-based campaigning does not replace the use of television or direct mail, but serves as a powerful addition, fundamentally altering how campaigns are conducted and how political messages are communicated."
Ad Spotlight
Available to researchers with a Penn State Access Account, National Journal's Ad Spotlight compiles political ads in RealAudio™ and RealVideo™ format back to 2004. View issue ads, campaign ads for President, Governor, House and Senate Representatives, and "Miscellaneous" political ads.
Political Media Buying : A Brief Guide by Tobe Berkovitz
"Tobe Berkovitz, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor at the College of Communication, Boston University where he teaches courses in advertising and political campaigning. He has worked for twenty years as a political media consultant specializing in media buying."
Overview: "For political commercials to be an effective means of persuasion they must be seen by the voter. The goal of media buying in an election campaign is to reach a defined target audience in the most efficient and economical way possible. The media buy should be an inherent part of the overall advertising strategy, and effective media planning should work within the framework of the broad communication goals established by the campaign."
Yahoo! Elections > Political Advertising page
Videorecordings
Many of the titles below are available only at Penn State Campus/College Libraries. With a Penn State Access Account, you may request these titles by using the "I Want It" button. Without a Penn State Access Account, you may request these titles via your local library's Interlibrary Loan.
The Best Campaign Commercials of 1992
The 25 Funniest Political TV commercials
Prime-time Politics : New Directions in Political TV Advertising
Best Campaign Commercials : the Year of the Woman
Political Advertising of the 60s
The Best of 1988 Political Commercials
[Presidential Campaign Ads 1952-1988] Longer Ads
The Classics of Political Television Advertising
A Walk Through the 20th Century with Bill Moyers ... The 30-second President
Presidential Television Commercials [1952-1980, 1950-1980, and 1980]
CD-ROMs
Political Communication : Special Issue : MultiMedia Politics includes videos 1998
The Annenberg/Pew Archive of Presidential Campaign Discourse "The Archive contains transcripts of speeches, television ads, and debates of twelve United States general election Presidential campaigns — 1952 through 1996." [no video or images]
Background Reading
Most titles have no illustrations
Mediating the Vote : The Changing Media Landscape in U.S. Presidential Campaigns 2007
In Defense of Negativity : Attack Ads in Presidential Campaigns 2006
Mudslingers : The Top 25 Negative Political Campaigns of All Time 2006 includes some illustrations
The Sage Handbook of Political Advertising 2006
Going Dirty : The Art of Negative Campaigning 2006
Entertaining Politics : New Political Television and Civic Culture 2005
Air Wars : Television Advertising in Election Campaigns, 1952-2004 2005
When Stereotypes Collide : Race/Ethnicity, Gender, and Videostyle in Congressional Campaigns 2005
The Medium and the Message : Television Advertising and American Elections 2004
Lights, Camera, Campaign! : Media, Politics, and Political Advertising 2004
The Millennium Election : Communication in the 2000 Campaign 2003
Pulp Politics : How Political Advertising Tells the Stories of American Politics 2003
Videostyle in Presidential Campaigns : Style and Content of Televised Political Advertising 2001
Crowded Airwaves : Campaign Advertising in Elections 2000
The Mass Marketing of Politics : Democracy in an Age of Manufactured Images 1999
Seeing Spots : A Functional Analysis of Presidential Television advertisements, 1952-1996 1999
Elections in Cyberspace : Toward a New Era in American Politics 1997
Manipulation of the American Voter : Political Campaign Commercials 1997
Video Rhetorics : Televised Advertising in American Politics 1997 - book and video
Packaging the Presidency : A History and Criticism of Presidential Campaign Advertising 1996
The Logical Choice : How Political Commercials Use Logic to Win Votes
The Presidential Campaign Film : A Critical History 1993
The Spot : The Rise of Political Advertising on Television includes some images and transcripts
Television Access and Political Power : The Networks, the Presidency, and the "Loyal Opposition" 1990
Television and the Crisis of Democracy 1990
From Whistle Stop to Sound Bite : Four Decades of Politics and Television 1989
30-Second Politics : Political Advertising in the Eighties 1989
Media Technology and the Vote : A Source Book 1988
Videostyle in Senate Campaigns 1988
Political Television Advertising Objectives : The Viewpoint of Political Media Consultants dissertation, 1985
An Analysis of Images, Issues, and Presentational Methods of Televised Political Spot Advertisements in 1980's American Presidential Primaries dissertation 1981
(e-reference)