Does Romney's Ad Against McCain Contain A Subliminal Message?

Is there a subliminal message in Mitt Romney's recent attack (err... contrast) ad against Sen. John McCain?

About seven seconds into a spot criticizing the Arizona Republican for his stance on immigration reform, the screen quickly flashes the word "rat" in a lone white box against a predominantly blue background. The rodent reference, which appears just under and to the right of McCain's name, is a highlighted portion of the word "immigration" and disappears almost immediately.

The inclusion of the word, Romney's campaign asserted, was completely unintentional. Any interpretation otherwise was "positively ridiculous."

"I saw that mentioned on some blog post and just chalked it up for exactly what it was: an over-imaginative scrutiny of a screenshot," Romney's spokesperson Kevin Madden told the Huffington Post when asked about the "rat" shot. "It's the same sort of reasoning that would argue that the 'gal' in the word 'illegal' is a subliminal appeal to female voters."

But some in the blogosphere have latched onto the word's appearance in the campaign spot because of the blatant historical parallels. In the 2000 presidential election, the Republican National Committee ran an advertisement against Al Gore's prescription drug plan that similarly included a brief screen shot of the word "RATS." In that instance the word was part of the phrase "BUREAUCRATS DECIDE."

The creator of the 2000 advertisement, Alex Castellanos, initially said there was nothing subliminal about the spot before later acknowledging that the word was included as "a visual drumbeat designed to make you look at the word bureaucrats." Castellanos currently serves as a high ranking media consultant for Romney's presidential campaign.

"I don't believe he did [the current ad]," Madden said.

Story continues below

advertisement

Beyond the questionable inclusion of the word "rat," Romney's advertisement underscores an intensifying negativity between his and McCain's campaigns. In a television spot before Iowa, the former Massachusetts governor criticized McCain over his stance on tax policies as well as illegal immigration.

McCain - who supported legislation that would allow illegal immigrants who come forward, pay fines, and wait for citizenship before collecting Social Security - has overtaken Romney in several New Hampshire polls. According to the Real Clear Politics average, the Arizona Republican finds himself at 31.3 percent support to Romney's 29.8

The McCain campaign did not return a request for comment.

Watch both ads:

Comments

[georgiaguy]

All the Bush people are supporting Romney and we know they can steal an election, remember 2000? Jeb has endorsed Romney and he gave his Mormon speech at the Bush Sr. Library. I think after the last disasterous eight years that we will never see a Bush elected to any political office. Can you name any accomplishments of the last seven years? A disasterous economy, tax cuts for the rich, and an endless war in Iraq. All the Republicans promise more of the same. It should be a landslide in 2008. The money is drying up for Republicans and look at all their retirement­s/resignat­ions, except for Sen. Wide Stance "I am not gay" Larry Craig.

[beekeeper]

Romney is nothing more than a privileged puke.

[knerd]

Check out Thom Hartmann's "Cracking the Code."

It will definitely open your eyes. This is all stuff GOP pollster Frank Lutz was doing 15 years ago.

[xrepublican]

Romney is trying to buy his way in - rewriting his past as he goes - but the fundies aren;t going to sign off on him.... Mormons aren't really Christians in their view.... and - horrors - we can't have some alien cultist with funny underware waiting to go off to some other planet as Presidnet - look at how the last bunch that espoused such views ended up - wearing Nikes and dead......

The Repub core is scared to death of Huckabee- energising the fundies who are supposed to keep quiet and do as they're told - but they're fed up of promises never kept and pushing their own man now - only to face annihilation in the general if he makes it.....

McCain seems to be the 'annointed' - he was patient - took crap from Bush quietly and waited out his turn..... but he's out of touch and a joke now. Loyalty to a failed President won't get you elected no matter how many voting machines you rig.

Paul is the nutty old codger saying what an awful lot of people are thinking - and is raking in the $$$ - especially from military who see him as the only Republican that'll EVER get them out fo the Middle East pesthole they're stuck in..... funny how the media don't report how popular he is in that demographic....

and Rudy - you're SOOOOOOO post 9/11..... go back to your law firm with all those clients you won't identify and rake in the $$$$ - you can skip the national political office and spare the nation more harm..... You were never really liked - even her in NY.

[Mort]

Subliminal campaign messages? Do we have our tin foil hats on a bit too tight?

[shockmagog]

Subliminally, the word reminds people of Tom DeLay; and of course, this gives them a sick feeing, like they've ingested a small amount of arsenic.

[xrepublican]

OF COURSE there are subliminal 'cues'

Pretty much ALL advertising has them - this is just more crude than you'd expect...... lol

Truth is that it's WAAAY too easy to manipulate the masses - without them having a clue.... but subliminal messages aren't that big an issue.... there's far mroe complex formulas dealing with phrasing, psychological 'triggers' and more

The Repubs have been selling politics for a long time - in a far more organized and concerted marketing effort than the Dems. The Repubs have marketed themselves - quite successfully for a long time - and part of that marketing has been a VERY GOOD campaign to portray their opponents in a negative light - often in very subtle ways.... Word is Romney has hired a bunch of the Repub resident experts in all this....

Of course it doesn't matter how good the advertising is if the product is crap.... in fact the more people that buy, try it and spit it out, the more 'buyer's regret' you have to deal with - people that will NEVER buy what you're selling EVER AGAIN..... I suspect that - having sold some pretty defective merchandise to the 'centrists', fundies, fiscal conservatives and other elements of their 'base' the Repubs are now facing buyer's remorse on an unheard of scale..... except fo the fact that the two major parties have such a lock on fundraising, you'd expect the Repub party to split, and part of it fade to oblivion under current circumstances... it's happened to other parties before....

[WomanInOrangeSweater]

It seems the blogosphere is too far up their own assholes to provide any sort of decent view of the actual candidates. Pity.

[aznurse]

I was expecting a floating rat on a bookcase

[MuseScavenger]

In Advertising, absolutely NOTHING occurs by accident. This was every bit as intentional as Huckleberry's "accidental floating cross." It's too expensive to allow for unintended accidents.

[kburlz]

He's good looking, but make no mistake, he is a NERD.

[collindebein]

What a stupid article. How paranoid. Don't blame the economy on the Chicago school. It is a variety of factors. Mitt Romney is the best chance for the future economy of this country. The world economy is changing and we need someone who understands how to create jobs and compete. Likewise, we need someone with the optomism to keep America great. That man is Mitt Romney.

[Rocketmind]

Are you all missing the point that McCain is considered a traitor by many veterans, and this one says you are foolish to support McCain, for he failed to get an address error- (by the Va which cut off a disabled veterans benefits)- corrected- in over a year...yes a simple "administrative addressing error" has illegally denied many veterans their pay, causing some like me to become homeless at 60 yrs old! McCain cant fix this for me, how could he possibly be competent or effective at the presidency? NOT! PS: Posts should be germaine to the issue upon which we post. Dirty tricks and dirty money aside, who is going to help me?

[GoodDay]

I think the amount of money Romney spent in Iowa and the number of votes he got are a pretty good indication of his quality as a politician.

[shades3]

Isn't it illegal to use subliminal messages in ads since it was revealed that they were being used in advertising a couple of decades or so ago?
It's sneakily deceptive advertising and deceptive advertising is an indictable offence.
But, that aside, resorting to scummy tactics to get the edge would seem to indicate that the candidate can't win simply because he/she is the best choice.
Whatever happened to showing the voter that you are the best choice for the political office for which you are running??
Doesn't willingness to use dirty, deceptive, underhanded tactics still mean that you can't win if you don't cheat???

I guess 2000 and 2004 should have cured us of thinking that honesty would ever be considered by a candidate for public office, especially for President of the United States.
So, George Bush was made President, to everyone's immediate, or eventual horror and regret.
When will we learn??