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A new kind of television advertisement has crept into our collective consciousness here in the age of virus. In an effort to show that they care, and you know, sell stuff, major corporations are inundating the airwaves with saccharine-sweet, super-sincere TV spots that are not a little bit dystopian. Indeed, the virus, it seems, is inescapable even when we cut to a few words from our sponsors. You’ve all seen them. They include phrases like, “In this time, more than any other,” or “As we all rise to the challenge,” or “Stay safe, stay home.” The last one is particularly...

An Australian television commercial for a popular fast food chain has been taking heat over a premise that has been accused of being blatantly sexist and enforcing “archaic stereotypes.” In the 15-second spot for KFC, a young woman — apparently on her way to some type of festival — checks herself in the reflection of a car window, adjusting her low-cut dress to showcase her cleavage.

In case you thought he was going to back off... So far, Trump has managed to run a powerful juggernaut of a campaign while spending only a fraction of the cash being burned by his competitors. By deftly exploiting the media, Trump has kept his payout to a minimum and his exposure to a maximum. In fact, he famously called out Jeb Bush supporters for squandering $50 million dollars on a “low energy” presidential bid that has failed to gain any sort of momentum. Now things are about to change - at least in terms of Trump’s spending. According to...

The firebrand senator from Texas is finally ready to deploy a strategy years in the making in a full frontal assault on the 2016 presidential race.Ted Cruz has stockpiled the necessary armaments to make his march on the top spot in the GOP field. Cruz has the most cash on hand of any Republican contender, with $13.8 million, according to fundraising reports released last Thursday.The senator is tied for fourth place in the RealClearPolitics polling average, but he has remained in the top tier despite having the third lowest burn rate of the entire 15 candidate field. Now, Cruz is...

There's one person Hillary Clinton really wants the voters of America to get to know more than anybody else. And her name is Dorothy Rodham. Dorothy is Clinton’s late mother. She died in 2011. But she's playing a starring role in her daughter’s presidential campaign, and is the focus of Clinton’s first television ads. On Tuesday, Clinton’s campaign will begin broadcasting two TV ads in Iowa and New Hampshire. The one-minute spots, which will air over the course of five weeks, emphasize Clinton’s mother’s story over her own. The first ad, titled “Dorothy,” is almost completely devoid of any discussion...

Don't tell us that Al Sharpton and MSNBC are hypocrites? Noooo!! The Reverend Al opened his show by praising President Obama's efforts to promote tougher gun control laws. But 28 minutes into the show, a commercial appeared for, of all things . . . Henry Repeating Rifles. Go to Henry Rifle's website and you'll find one rifle described as "big, brutal and beautiful" and noting that it fires ammunition "said to have killed more game, big and small, and more men, good and bad, than any other in existence." Another rifle offered for sale, the AR-7, is based on a...

North Carolina is not included in the newest round of TV ads being aired by the re-election campaign of Barack Obama. One new ad is running in Nevada, Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Ohio and Virginia. A second ad is running in those states as well as New Hampshire and Wisconsin.

Looks like an angel; strong as the devil . . . Hey, it's the Friday after Thanksgiving, a classically slow news day. So let's have some fun. For months I've been fascinated by the TV commercial for DirectTV. The focus is a man we instantly understand to be a Russian billionaire businessman/mobster. "I like the best. Opulence: I has it," he explains as the commercial opens. And sure enough, he's surrounded by the flashiest things—and women—that money can buy. With no Morning Joe to bust today, I was catching up on some House episodes I'd DVD'ed, and during an October...

There I was, harmlesly Olympics-watching something called the "men's snowboard parallel giant slalom"—quite a cool event, actually—when some nanny-state advertising broke out. We were suddenly subjected to a commercial telling us not to phone or text while driving. And of all people, it was terminally un-cool Obama Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood inflicting the message and directing us to some website called www.distraction.gov. View video here.

As a loyal Clinton campaign email subscriber, rarely a day goes by that I don't hear from Hillary or Bill. It's good to know they're thinking about me. But today brings some very troubling news: Hillary is WAY behind on her fundraising goal for TV airtime in Pennsylvania. The gist of today's message from Hillary is that we supporters are being given a cafeteria list of PA campaign expenditure needs, and we get to designate exactly where we want our contribution to go. I had been torn between door hangers and yard signs, when I decided to check out some...

There are certain categories of ads on TV which offend me, and no doubt you, whenever they appear. There are the impotence ads. (Known as “E.D.” to its friends.) Plus the constipation/diarrhea ads. Plus the mobility (scooter) ads. The implication is that older men can’t get it up, can’t get it out, or can’t get it moving. Throw in the Alzheimer ads, and we can’t remember whether we’ve done any of that. I say “we” because all these annoying ads are my fault. Yes, mine, and I apologize. Yes, I am falling apart. It was only a month ago that...

This coming Saturday, when Hillary Clinton arrives in Iowa for the first time, she'll be greeted by a series of TV commercials featuring Democrats who want no part of her as a candidate for the presidency. The 60-second TV spots, which bear the title "Trust" are the brainchild of the Stop Hillary PAC, a group chaired by former New York congressman and NewsMax.com columnist John LeBoutillier. They feature registered Iowa Democrats who all agree that Sen. Clinton cannot be trusted. LeBoutillier stressed the fact that the commercial features only registered Iowa Democrats and exposes what he called "Hillary's biggest underlying...

Contact: Tracey Schmitt 202-863-8614  WASHINGTON – The Republican National Committee today unveiled a new television advertisement targeting the Harry Reid-led Democrat obstruction of the PATRIOT Act. The advertisement, entitled “The PATRIOT Act: Connecting The Dots,” will begin airing on national cable and local Las Vegas television stations this weekend. The ad will also be emailed to Republican grassroots supporters and is available for viewing now at www.GOP.com Republican National Committee:60 Advertisement“The PATRIOT Act: Connecting The Dots”  VIDEO AUDIO  Senator Harry Reid (D-NV)December 16, 2005When Law Enforcement And Intelligence Agencies Cannot Communicate9/11/01Our Security Is ThreatenedThe PATRIOT Act Connects The Dots“It’s Important We...

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court said Monday that a lower court should take a new look at a challenge to federal restrictions on political advertisements, delaying a major ruling on the constitutionality of ad limits until after this year's elections. Justices could have used the case, brought by an anti-abortion group, to spell out when so-called grass-roots ads are allowed at election time. Without dealing with that issue, the court overturned a decision that barred Wisconsin Right to Life from broadcasting ads that mentioned a senator during his 2004 re-election campaign. In an unsigned opinion, justices said that the Supreme...

Contact: Jessica Boulanger 202-777-1569 WASHINGTON Progress for America Inc. (PFA) today announced an initial one-week, $1,000,000 advertising, grass roots, and e-campaign to persuade opinion leaders in Washington, DC and across America that Judge John G. Roberts is a fair judge who deserves a fair up or down vote. "Judge Roberts was confirmed unanimously by the Senate just two years ago," said Brian McCabe, president of PFA. "His colleagues have praised his 'integrity' and 'fair mindedness.' A fair minded judge deserves a fair up or down vote." "BRILLIANT" TV AD (30 Seconds) & "ROBERTS" RADIO AD (60 Seconds) National television and...

*ALERT* The U.S. Senator who smeared U.S. Troops with claims that they were barbaric torturers akin to "Nazis, Soviets with their Gulags, or some mad regime like Pol Pot or others" is now trying to silence Move America Forward [website: http://www.MoveAmericaForward.org ], a pro-military not-for-profit organization. In keeping with his outrageous conduct, U.S. Senator Richard Durbin's office intimated to an Illinois newspaper that the IRS should shut down Move America Forward, telling the newspaper: "Have you ever seen that H&R Block commercial where the guy leans in and says, 'I see an audit'?" One of the grounds used to threaten...

Progress for America Voter Fund Launches Fourth National Social Security Ad: Stopwatch The $1 million national TV buy is part of a $4.85 million March media and grassroots campaign. 3.22.05Laura Braden DlugaczProgress for AmericaWASHINGTON - Progress for America Voter Fund launched a powerful new ad challenging Democrats to present plans to reform and save Social Security. The ad is entitled "Stopwatch" and began running today in a national cable television buy costing $1 million. This 30 second ad will run for approximately 1 ½ weeks on national cable channels, complimented by a grassroots program designed to educate lawmakers and the...

SACRAMENTO — Television ads supporting a constitutional amendment that would allow Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and other foreign-born citizens to run for president will begin appearing next week on cable stations across California, a newly formed group based in Silicon Valley announced Friday. The ads feature Lissa Morgenthaler-Jones, a mutual fund manager from the Bay Area and major donor to Schwarzenegger's campaign, telling viewers: "You cannot choose the land of your birth. You can choose the land you love." It's the first large-scale effort to generate public support for allowing Schwarzenegger to run for president. The Republican governor, who was born...

ARLINGTON, VA -- Today, Bush-Cheney '04 announced the release of the campaign's newest television advertisement, "No Limit."  Kerry will say anything for political gain, and is now claiming he'll always support our military despite voting against $87 billion to supply our troops with body armor and bullets.  He even proposed slashing our intelligence budget after the first World Trade Center attack.        Script For "No Limit"Voice Over:Just when you thought there was a limit on what John Kerry would say, now he claims he’ll always support our military.The same Kerry who voted against 87 billion for our troops in combat in the...

Four years ago, in the final weeks before the presidential election, cash-strapped Democrats faced an excruciating tactical choice for their advertising dollars: Ohio or Florida? They chose the latter, and lost both. Now, Democratic nominee John F. Kerry is on the television airwaves in full force in both crucial states, according to data from Republican and Democratic sources and an independent advertising monitor. Kerry's spots, on average, are getting seen by more TV viewers in Ohio and Florida in the closing days of a tight election than President Bush's. When ads from parties and outside groups are factored in, the...