Mark Penn Gives Advice: Negative Ads Work

Yesterday's Atlantic piece on the inner workings of the Hillary Clinton campaign didn't do much for Mark Penn's reputation. On the contrary, it showed him to be an unabashed (and unsuccessful) dirty campaigner. But that doesn't stop Penn from offering some self-congratulatory campaign advice in the Politico:

Clever negative advertising works. That is reality.

The tactic meets with media and pundit disapproval and spawns accusations of negativity, but the reality is that a clever negative ad can be devastatingly effective. ...

Some negative ads crystallize voters' opinions without presenting any new information. That's what was behind John McCain's recent ad equating Barack Obama's celebrity status with that of Paris Hilton -- that viewers would associate the Democrat's leadership with mere celebrity, not substance. Fair or not, as advertising it did its job: It used humor, stuck viewers with memorable images and created a debate, just as Lyndon Johnson's 1964 "Daisy" ad, Walter Mondale's "Red Phone" spot 20 years later and Hillary Rodham Clinton's "3 a.m." commercial in 2008 did.

There's no mention of the memos he wrote pushing Clinton to paint Obama as un-American. But the whole thing can be read here.

Comments

[jahjah]

can this guy shutup who can take advice form him and KARL ROVE the worst people in the WORLD

[lvdragonlady]

Penn is a neanderthl that should be on a very 'short' leash.

[Topfeeder]

I just know his underwear is skid marked and has missing elastic.

[CharlesJ]

Who cares what Penn says. The man ran managed a loosing campaign. Bottom line is Hillary lost because SHE, did not maintain control of her campaign which was totally disfunctional, fiscally irresponsible, and filled with so many over inflated ego's that they could come together on one single topic. So why is she in the news any more, why are they in the news any more. This is no longer about them but about getting the winner of the primary elected which was not Hillary.

[ruthinking]

Mark Penn: the lint in the navel of the earthworm.

[shel3364]

Did I miss something or did this man run a LOSING campaign???
Wasn't he the one who thought California was a "winner-take-all" state in the primaries?


Why are we listening to him?

[rextrek]

Negative ads ONLY Influence the STUPID,Uninformed Voter! I tend to CHANGE the channel the second a negative ad comes on TV.....plus I already KNOW as a 48yr old White Man, that I'm Voting OBAMA 08!

[000Jade000]

That's precisely what this incompetent "pollster" doesn't understand--what kinds of people negative ads work on. And like Clinton, he obviously thinks the entire citizenry is stupid. Something else he doesn't get, even some "lower information voters" can sense BS a mile away, and know enough to steer clear of chronic liars and those who twist logic in he hopes of shaping reality.

[comacoma]

People like Penn belong on the back of garbage trucks hauling waste away as opposed to creating more of it....

[cheshirecat831]

Does this man own a mirror and a comb?

[Podewumun]

Bloodsuckers like Penn don't cast a reflection.

[marymansour]

When did Penn emerge from his cave? Like he knows? I think his candidate lost.

[Madcitychick]

Uh, duh, it didn't help his candidate win. Why does anyone even care anymore what this man thinks or says?

[highlyamused]

Maybe they do work...........if you're counting on your audience being stupid. hmmmm

[Freesia2]

The trick to "negative" ad if it were done right (not mean and clumsy like McCain/Clinton) is what he says right there - if It used humor, stuck viewers with memorable images and created a debate. Penn just didn't execute it right.

Obama could run ads that parody McCain, with images that stick in people's minds (either striking or funny) and causes people to talk - about the stupidity of the original McCain ad it's parodying. (is that a word?)

"Negative" is relative. It doesn't have to be the nasty creepy "3:00 a.m ad". Or the borderline racist dollar bill ad. It can be what the DNC did with the "Exxon John " ad which is negative, but funny and right on the issue. And throws it back to John to defend that $2,000,000 paycheck from big oil.

Penn personifies the word negative. (And rumpled and cheesy and yuck) But his definition isn't the only way to negate and it can be done with humor and intelligence. And class.

[ohiodem250]

Spot on. I'm running for dog catcher next year. Want a job?

[wanj]

Swift boaters are licking their chops it looks like - Blast this to everyone!

http://strategy08.wordpress.com/2008/08/12/this-caught-my-eye/

[MrChris]

Barack, you better listen to him or you won't win the election and you'll end up LIVING IN A VAN DOWN BY THE RIVER!!!

[Freesia2]

lol. Thank you for that. My husband uses that expression all the time and it just fits here. That's what the doomsayers (or dumbsayers like Penn) are always making it sound like.

[abigail1]

i am not sure that I would take advice from someone who ran the campaign of an inevitable front runner with a seemingly insurmountable cash and name recognition advantages and lost.
just sayin.